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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I think I had the wrong expectations going into this ... or I'm not the right audience.
Not Koontz's worst, but not his best. A bit too cute, too self-referential. Droll, amusing, but not moving.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Eh. I fear this book contains the ramblings of a man who thinks mean people are bad and doesn't like women very much. This story honestly had potential, the author just wouldn't stfu.
adventurous
dark
funny
Benny Catspaw is a very nice young man who gets fired, his life is deconstructed, and an uncle he's never heard of ships him an enormous crate which contains the "Bad Weather Friend". Shenanigans ensue.
This book would have an easy five stars and I'd be looking up more Koontz books with alacrity if it weren't for two places in the book where out of nowhere the author preaches MAGA talking points for absolutely no reason whatsoever. It was so shocking and out of place that it pulled me right out of the story and made me go, "EW".
Other than that gross fly in the ointment The Bad Weather Friend is an absolutely delightful book. It talks about really horrific and disturbing things in such a matter of fact manner that you know everything is going to turn out just fine and everyone's going to be ok. And I really really really like that.
I believe I've mentioned in the past that I'm a really weird reader in that I dislike tension. This book provides some tension but in such a way that you feel comfortable and not wigged out. I felt the same safety reading this book that I did when reading The Goblin Emperor - and that is very very high praise. It is an absolutely delightful story. Entertaining, thrilling, absolutely hilarious, very very sweet. It's lovely to read a book where the good guys have the upper hand and the bad guys get their comeuppance quite easily.
If you read it thinking it's going to be realistic in any way, shape, or form, you're going to have a bad time. It's not realistic in the slightest. It's just a magical little fairytale.
Highly recommended.
This book would have an easy five stars and I'd be looking up more Koontz books with alacrity if it weren't for two places in the book where out of nowhere the author preaches MAGA talking points for absolutely no reason whatsoever. It was so shocking and out of place that it pulled me right out of the story and made me go, "EW".
Other than that gross fly in the ointment The Bad Weather Friend is an absolutely delightful book. It talks about really horrific and disturbing things in such a matter of fact manner that you know everything is going to turn out just fine and everyone's going to be ok. And I really really really like that.
I believe I've mentioned in the past that I'm a really weird reader in that I dislike tension. This book provides some tension but in such a way that you feel comfortable and not wigged out. I felt the same safety reading this book that I did when reading The Goblin Emperor - and that is very very high praise. It is an absolutely delightful story. Entertaining, thrilling, absolutely hilarious, very very sweet. It's lovely to read a book where the good guys have the upper hand and the bad guys get their comeuppance quite easily.
If you read it thinking it's going to be realistic in any way, shape, or form, you're going to have a bad time. It's not realistic in the slightest. It's just a magical little fairytale.
Highly recommended.
A multi-layered supernatural tale
This story is mix of romance, tragedy, mystery, sci-fi, suspense, and the quintessential Koontz science twist. It is ultimately a story of good versus evil with a social message about income and power inequality but Koontz does such a fantastic job of creating multi-layered characters and storylines that that’s an extreme oversimplification of what this story is. Benny is kind and decent, a nice man who sells high end real estate and has a girlfriend that he plans to ask to marry him. This is true despite a series of horrific childhood events that are revealed using flashbacks as the story progresses. On the day he gets a video message about an inheritance from a heretofore unknown uncle, Benny’s life implodes, he’s fired, his reputation is ruined. and his girlfriend dumps him. He is at a loss for the reason why this has occurred. Then his inheritance arrives in the form of a 7 foot tall protector whose vocation is to protect people too good for this world like Benny. Thus the destiny buddies, Spike and Benny, with the help of a third destiny buddy, waitress/PI in training Harper, set out to put Benny’s life back to rights. The journey is at times surprising, fantastical, funny, creepy, and philosophical but with Benny’s narration it is a journey that you want to go on, cheering for him the entire time. The story includes what you’d expect from this genre - dangerous situations, secret societies, supernatural creatures, evil masterminds, heroes rising to the challenge, tragic back stories, mystical coincidences, synchronicity, and even some chuckles. Another fantastic story from Koontz.
This story is mix of romance, tragedy, mystery, sci-fi, suspense, and the quintessential Koontz science twist. It is ultimately a story of good versus evil with a social message about income and power inequality but Koontz does such a fantastic job of creating multi-layered characters and storylines that that’s an extreme oversimplification of what this story is. Benny is kind and decent, a nice man who sells high end real estate and has a girlfriend that he plans to ask to marry him. This is true despite a series of horrific childhood events that are revealed using flashbacks as the story progresses. On the day he gets a video message about an inheritance from a heretofore unknown uncle, Benny’s life implodes, he’s fired, his reputation is ruined. and his girlfriend dumps him. He is at a loss for the reason why this has occurred. Then his inheritance arrives in the form of a 7 foot tall protector whose vocation is to protect people too good for this world like Benny. Thus the destiny buddies, Spike and Benny, with the help of a third destiny buddy, waitress/PI in training Harper, set out to put Benny’s life back to rights. The journey is at times surprising, fantastical, funny, creepy, and philosophical but with Benny’s narration it is a journey that you want to go on, cheering for him the entire time. The story includes what you’d expect from this genre - dangerous situations, secret societies, supernatural creatures, evil masterminds, heroes rising to the challenge, tragic back stories, mystical coincidences, synchronicity, and even some chuckles. Another fantastic story from Koontz.
It was fine as a book, but not exactly a thriller. I didn’t mind any of the characters, but none of them really engaged me. Plus, for whatever reason, the constant bouncing back and forth between present and past really distracted and annoyed me.