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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.0⭐ I Came To The Table With Some Preconceived Bias
*Spoilers to Swan Song and The Stand by Stephen King*
This review doesn’t matter, the book is 31 years old, but, here’s my opinion because I have no life. So, I’m sure McCammon fans are super tired of ‘The Stand’ comparison. Sorry ‘bout it. You get a Stand comparison. It was published 9 years earlier, and the similarities are cloying If you’ve read one of these books already.
My preconceived bias was partly because lots of people chime, “If you love The Stand, you’ll love Swan Song”, followed by a sort of…debate going on in the comments section of the Goodreads Swan Song page where people are asking if Swan Song is better than The Stand. Stuff like, “Stephen King wishes he could write like McCammon” — lol at that.
You have to consider where I’m coming from though. I read The Stand for the first time in 2013. I was very under-read at the time, so in all ways it blew my mind and slid into position as my favorite book of all time. I’m only slightly better read in 2018, but I’ve read The Stand three times, once in traditional fashion, twice on audio. I’ve studied it, I’ve spent real time with it’s characters, I’ve visited those scenes with new eyes each time. So it’s a hard thing for me to come to Swan Song, knowing its frequent comparison to The Stand, and to just read it without that comparison hanging over my head.
I’m not mad at most of the similarities to be honest. I think most of the similarities stem from the fact that they’re post-apocalyptic reads. That’s okay. Really, sometimes you have to be ready for that because if McCammon didn’t write with post-apocalyptic survivors struggling for resources and overcoming challenges, he wouldn’t be writing true to humans in a post-apocalypse. You’ll see the same similarities in Kirkman’s Walking Dead series. I would even go as far as to say there was almost no fair comparison to The Stand and Swan Song without the post-apocalyptic elements…
Except for one thing…
The Man With The Scarlet Eye
The Walkin’ Dude
The Man With Many Faces
The Dark Man
They’re the same guy, okay. Given that both dudes are a parallel for the great evil of humanity, the devil, Legion, Antichrist, Satan, we can argue that both authors stole him from the bible.
But one author stole him nine years earlier, and man, the similarities are so close, it’s obnoxious. For me, it was so close it was like someone wrote some Stand fan fiction with a new cast and a new world’s end. Shared traits just off the top of my head: 1.) Multiple Aliases and appearances 2.) Racially ambiguous 3.) Knew the end was coming and felt supercharged just before the hammer dropped 4.) People knew immediately who they were dealing with, despite any disguises 5.) Fucked up smile/eyes 6.) Post-Apocalyptic plot to keep humanity under his thumb 7.) Recognizes and fears the opposing forces of good 8.) Uses organized groups as a tool 9.) Animal minions 10.) Similar ego, attitude, aura, and personality. 11.) Both appear to have lived through all of human history. 12.) Great joy and bemusement in human horrors like war and torture. 13.) Confident that they’ll win 14.) Fails, but does not perish
Despite the similarities, Swan Song’s version fell short of frightening to me. Randal was way scarier.
I mean, his initial objective in Swan Song was to corner Sister for the glass trinket, and like, he already had her right before the Holland tunnel, a building collapsed and he lost her, and he spends the remainder of the book trying to find her, but it seems like if this dude was powerful at all, he’d be harder to hide from. Idk. He was able to search her memories and see a record of the trinket from the moment she found it, to the pick axe she used to bury it, but not that she sent someone to get it? If he could see into people’s memories, why was finding Sister or Swan so hard? Dude is just super unlucky? He almost came across as clumsy. The Walkin’ Dude’s lesser successful brother who couldn’t even organize one lousy Apocalypse.
And since I’ve brought up the trinket, I kinda wanna point out that it was a Chekhov's gun that never exactly went off. More like people walked around pistol whipping, but never actually firing. Put it on Swan’s head, it glows, but when sister is dying, does that crown even matter? No. It’s just shiny and tingles when the people are onto something they probably could have sensed themselves. Could have served a more imposing and emphatic purpose in my opinion.
I’m sorry McCammon fans. But here’s the good stuff.
Other than these missteps, the prose is compelling. Swan Song was written by a very good writer, maybe one of the best. I really love the relationship between Sister and Swan, also between Swan and Josh. I liked Josh better than anyone. The dynamics of these relationships were lovely and this book is long because McCammon wasn’t afraid to go to work for these characters. I would argue that he didn’t need any red-eyed dipshit or grand good vs. evil destiny. Take out the glass trinket and the man with the red eye, and you have more than enough nightmare in Macklin and Croninger. They were worse to me, way scarier than Redeye. Croninger was honestly the most terrifying to me. The plot was a tad predictable, but in a good way. Like I knew those masks were going to crack open as soon as they were initially described, but that was cool, I wanted that to happen.
I think President God was an interesting twist. That, I did not see coming.
I give credence to why this book is loved by so many. Forgive my disenchantment—preconceived bias.
Thanks for reading my review, and sip your tea or coffee before it gets cold. -
*Spoilers to Swan Song and The Stand by Stephen King*
This review doesn’t matter, the book is 31 years old, but, here’s my opinion because I have no life. So, I’m sure McCammon fans are super tired of ‘The Stand’ comparison. Sorry ‘bout it. You get a Stand comparison. It was published 9 years earlier, and the similarities are cloying If you’ve read one of these books already.
My preconceived bias was partly because lots of people chime, “If you love The Stand, you’ll love Swan Song”, followed by a sort of…debate going on in the comments section of the Goodreads Swan Song page where people are asking if Swan Song is better than The Stand. Stuff like, “Stephen King wishes he could write like McCammon” — lol at that.
You have to consider where I’m coming from though. I read The Stand for the first time in 2013. I was very under-read at the time, so in all ways it blew my mind and slid into position as my favorite book of all time. I’m only slightly better read in 2018, but I’ve read The Stand three times, once in traditional fashion, twice on audio. I’ve studied it, I’ve spent real time with it’s characters, I’ve visited those scenes with new eyes each time. So it’s a hard thing for me to come to Swan Song, knowing its frequent comparison to The Stand, and to just read it without that comparison hanging over my head.
I’m not mad at most of the similarities to be honest. I think most of the similarities stem from the fact that they’re post-apocalyptic reads. That’s okay. Really, sometimes you have to be ready for that because if McCammon didn’t write with post-apocalyptic survivors struggling for resources and overcoming challenges, he wouldn’t be writing true to humans in a post-apocalypse. You’ll see the same similarities in Kirkman’s Walking Dead series. I would even go as far as to say there was almost no fair comparison to The Stand and Swan Song without the post-apocalyptic elements…
Except for one thing…
The Man With The Scarlet Eye
The Walkin’ Dude
The Man With Many Faces
The Dark Man
They’re the same guy, okay. Given that both dudes are a parallel for the great evil of humanity, the devil, Legion, Antichrist, Satan, we can argue that both authors stole him from the bible.
But one author stole him nine years earlier, and man, the similarities are so close, it’s obnoxious. For me, it was so close it was like someone wrote some Stand fan fiction with a new cast and a new world’s end. Shared traits just off the top of my head: 1.) Multiple Aliases and appearances 2.) Racially ambiguous 3.) Knew the end was coming and felt supercharged just before the hammer dropped 4.) People knew immediately who they were dealing with, despite any disguises 5.) Fucked up smile/eyes 6.) Post-Apocalyptic plot to keep humanity under his thumb 7.) Recognizes and fears the opposing forces of good 8.) Uses organized groups as a tool 9.) Animal minions 10.) Similar ego, attitude, aura, and personality. 11.) Both appear to have lived through all of human history. 12.) Great joy and bemusement in human horrors like war and torture. 13.) Confident that they’ll win 14.) Fails, but does not perish
Despite the similarities, Swan Song’s version fell short of frightening to me. Randal was way scarier.
I mean, his initial objective in Swan Song was to corner Sister for the glass trinket, and like, he already had her right before the Holland tunnel, a building collapsed and he lost her, and he spends the remainder of the book trying to find her, but it seems like if this dude was powerful at all, he’d be harder to hide from. Idk. He was able to search her memories and see a record of the trinket from the moment she found it, to the pick axe she used to bury it, but not that she sent someone to get it? If he could see into people’s memories, why was finding Sister or Swan so hard? Dude is just super unlucky? He almost came across as clumsy. The Walkin’ Dude’s lesser successful brother who couldn’t even organize one lousy Apocalypse.
And since I’ve brought up the trinket, I kinda wanna point out that it was a Chekhov's gun that never exactly went off. More like people walked around pistol whipping, but never actually firing. Put it on Swan’s head, it glows, but when sister is dying, does that crown even matter? No. It’s just shiny and tingles when the people are onto something they probably could have sensed themselves. Could have served a more imposing and emphatic purpose in my opinion.
I’m sorry McCammon fans. But here’s the good stuff.
Other than these missteps, the prose is compelling. Swan Song was written by a very good writer, maybe one of the best. I really love the relationship between Sister and Swan, also between Swan and Josh. I liked Josh better than anyone. The dynamics of these relationships were lovely and this book is long because McCammon wasn’t afraid to go to work for these characters. I would argue that he didn’t need any red-eyed dipshit or grand good vs. evil destiny. Take out the glass trinket and the man with the red eye, and you have more than enough nightmare in Macklin and Croninger. They were worse to me, way scarier than Redeye. Croninger was honestly the most terrifying to me. The plot was a tad predictable, but in a good way. Like I knew those masks were going to crack open as soon as they were initially described, but that was cool, I wanted that to happen.
I think President God was an interesting twist. That, I did not see coming.
I give credence to why this book is loved by so many. Forgive my disenchantment—preconceived bias.
Thanks for reading my review, and sip your tea or coffee before it gets cold. -
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
A massive journey you’ll end up loving or hating. Robert McCammon does not waste time padding his chapters. He sets a rapid enough pace with a story that needs to unfold rather quickly. Characters that need to be introduced and understood fairly fast. Granted, this was written in the 80’s. So no cell phone, iPODs or Internet. Yet he still maintains a vivid connection between characters, worlds’ away.
The beginning is the end and people are bracing nuclear war. Fallout shelters are built, the President of the United the of States is being briefed for an imminent nuclear war. Before the main characters are able to adapt to the effects of a post-apocalyptic world. Their introduction hold a glimpse into who they become. Age, unique talent and skill, male or female. If you have a car, canned food, able to wield weapon or a strong will to live. Certain parts of the country acclimate to varying degrees, creating an almost alien landscape.
Swan/Sue Wanda is a little girl who can hear the hurting sound plants make when they die. She also has life thriving in her fingertips beyond just being able to tend a garden. Black Frankenstein/Josh the Wrestler. His family is miles away and his loneliness is filled with food binges. His massive size attributes to his stage name. Sister Creep had a breakdown that lands her on bad times. A crazy homeless woman who later becomes a hero.
However, even after a nuclear war. The survivors struggle to return to society. There is no governing body, every man for him self. An underlying fantasy element and the human condition is what kept me loving every minute and want to re-read it years later.
The beginning is the end and people are bracing nuclear war. Fallout shelters are built, the President of the United the of States is being briefed for an imminent nuclear war. Before the main characters are able to adapt to the effects of a post-apocalyptic world. Their introduction hold a glimpse into who they become. Age, unique talent and skill, male or female. If you have a car, canned food, able to wield weapon or a strong will to live. Certain parts of the country acclimate to varying degrees, creating an almost alien landscape.
Swan/Sue Wanda is a little girl who can hear the hurting sound plants make when they die. She also has life thriving in her fingertips beyond just being able to tend a garden. Black Frankenstein/Josh the Wrestler. His family is miles away and his loneliness is filled with food binges. His massive size attributes to his stage name. Sister Creep had a breakdown that lands her on bad times. A crazy homeless woman who later becomes a hero.
However, even after a nuclear war. The survivors struggle to return to society. There is no governing body, every man for him self. An underlying fantasy element and the human condition is what kept me loving every minute and want to re-read it years later.
Finally claiming it as DNF. Just not in to it and no desire to continue.
This book was a gruesome and captivating and possibly my favorite book to date. Although almost painful to read at times, I found myself truly enthralled by the hellscape created by McCammon and his capacity to weave beautiful stories into a wildly gruesome tale.
Just wasn’t interested in reading at this time and it was a little too long for my liking. I might return to it a different day, but just not now.
