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essinink's review
2.0
I struggled to rate this book. I did enjoy it, but my enjoyment sprang primarily from the quality and style of the writing, rather than its content.
Minister Faust has a gift for character voices. Each narrator was distinct within a line or two. That's a gift that I respect. And the writing! So many poetic turns of phrase, and so very many quotable things! I want to praise this book all over the internet!
...but I can't.
As beautiful and as captivating as Minister Faust's command of language is, his command of the plot is distinctly lacking. and that's a problem.
The first couple hundred pages were actually quite interesting. But as I read further, I fojnd myself caring less and less. At the end of the book, I don't feel like there was any major take-home message. I don't think the characters were as fully developed as they could have been. I just... mostly, I suppose that I'm disappointed.
And I'm disappointed because I really wanted to like it. In a lot of ways I do like it. But it's not enough.
I don't know. Perhaps there's something here that my eyes can't see. But at over 500 pages, I'm unlikely to reread later.
Minister Faust has a gift for character voices. Each narrator was distinct within a line or two. That's a gift that I respect. And the writing! So many poetic turns of phrase, and so very many quotable things! I want to praise this book all over the internet!
...but I can't.
As beautiful and as captivating as Minister Faust's command of language is, his command of the plot is distinctly lacking. and that's a problem.
The first couple hundred pages were actually quite interesting. But as I read further, I fojnd myself caring less and less. At the end of the book, I don't feel like there was any major take-home message. I don't think the characters were as fully developed as they could have been. I just... mostly, I suppose that I'm disappointed.
And I'm disappointed because I really wanted to like it. In a lot of ways I do like it.
Spoiler
There are several scenes that I loved, but particularly Hamza's wudu at the end of the book.I don't know. Perhaps there's something here that my eyes can't see. But at over 500 pages, I'm unlikely to reread later.
baby_jewels's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
giantarms's review against another edition
This . . . was a long book. I don't remember if I enjoyed it, but I certainly read a lot of it when I had jury duty. Not all of it. Because . . . you know. Long.
(It has the drugs and the sex. I remember that.)
(It has the drugs and the sex. I remember that.)
dkscully's review against another edition
5.0
Given that most of what I read ends up being 4-star rated, I'd actually really like to give this book 6 stars, not just 5.
It's a superbly written, hurtling journey through eight extraordinary (in all senses) days in the lives (and deaths) of an unusual bunch of folk from mid-90s Edmonton.
Minister Faust has a glorious way with words. I'm really looking forward to reading more about The Coyote Kings.
It's a superbly written, hurtling journey through eight extraordinary (in all senses) days in the lives (and deaths) of an unusual bunch of folk from mid-90s Edmonton.
Minister Faust has a glorious way with words. I'm really looking forward to reading more about The Coyote Kings.
bent's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent science fiction novel. I read it a few years ago so it's hard for me to remember all the plot twists, but it basically involved two huge science fiction fans who find themselves thrust into a real-life science fiction experience. A great, fast-paced read.
rickklaw's review
4.0
Afro-Canadian political activist, poet, and playwright Minister Faust's first novel, The Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad, begins at the end. Protagonist Hamza Achmed Qebhsennuf Senesert, a disenfranchised twentysomething living in 1995 Edmonton (E-Town as he calls it), freely admits, "In advance, shut up. I know epilogues go at the end." The opening is the most conventional piece of this nonlinear novel.
Hamza and his best friend/roommate Yeh (Yehat Bartholomew Gerbles) are the Coyote Kings. Steeped in the world of pop culture, the Coyotes see everything within those terms. Comic books, Star Trek, science fiction movies, Philip K. Dick, and much more obscure references litter the prose.
Faust's humorous novel is not merely a collection of cultural trivia. He has produced a well-conceived story about redemption, friendship, and the possible end of the world with heaping samples of politics and religion thrown in. For the most part, the characters are divided into amusing protagonists and singular antagonists. The Fanboys, a collection of five geeks, are the extreme revenge for anyone who was ever picked on as a child for being different. Their employer, an ex-jock and successful entrepreneur, devises a plan for metaphysical Armageddon. Hamza's girlfriend – an enigma who worships Alan Moore, can accurately and appropriately quote Star Wars, and is given to erratic and sometimes dangerous behavior – is the one person who can stop the diabolical scheme.
With an attention to detail and an eye for the absurd, it is as if Faust channeled Mark Twain to write a Neal Stephenson novel. Although flawed – the plot unveils too slowly, and there are too many viewpoints – The Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad explodes off the page as an intelligent, fun-filled pop-culture adventure.
(This review originally appeared in The Austin Chronicle, August 20, 2004.)
Link: [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A225323]
Hamza and his best friend/roommate Yeh (Yehat Bartholomew Gerbles) are the Coyote Kings. Steeped in the world of pop culture, the Coyotes see everything within those terms. Comic books, Star Trek, science fiction movies, Philip K. Dick, and much more obscure references litter the prose.
Faust's humorous novel is not merely a collection of cultural trivia. He has produced a well-conceived story about redemption, friendship, and the possible end of the world with heaping samples of politics and religion thrown in. For the most part, the characters are divided into amusing protagonists and singular antagonists. The Fanboys, a collection of five geeks, are the extreme revenge for anyone who was ever picked on as a child for being different. Their employer, an ex-jock and successful entrepreneur, devises a plan for metaphysical Armageddon. Hamza's girlfriend – an enigma who worships Alan Moore, can accurately and appropriately quote Star Wars, and is given to erratic and sometimes dangerous behavior – is the one person who can stop the diabolical scheme.
With an attention to detail and an eye for the absurd, it is as if Faust channeled Mark Twain to write a Neal Stephenson novel. Although flawed – the plot unveils too slowly, and there are too many viewpoints – The Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad explodes off the page as an intelligent, fun-filled pop-culture adventure.
(This review originally appeared in The Austin Chronicle, August 20, 2004.)
Link: [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A225323]
christytidwell's review
4.0
Although I found that I wasn't terribly invested in the actual plot (dealing with Egyptian, Sudanese, and North American mythical figures and histories), Minister Faust is a genius at developing characters' voices. There are many characters here, and each of them gets at least a brief turn at first-person narration; in another writer's hands, this would likely be quite confusing, but their voices are so distinctive and interesting that it is not only easy to follow but extremely entertaining. And I loved the two main characters, Ye and Hamza, particularly their pop culture references (those to nerd culture, movies, conspiracy theories, and world music were particularly notable) and the strong and nicely developed friendship between the two of them.
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