Reviews - Swan Song | The StoryGraph

1.14k reviews for:

Swan Song

Robert R. McCammon

4.14 AVERAGE

fancypotato1995's review against another edition

4.5

dark hopeful reflective sad tense 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: Complicated

yorkshiresoul's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

besacboi1986's review against another edition

4.0

dark hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

mademypeace's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: Yes

mwohlbrandt's review against another edition

4.0

I'm surprised this only took me like 2 and a half months because it feels like I've been reading it forever. To be fair, that's probably more the fault of pandemic time than the actual book but this is definitely a doorstopper.

This is the full story that mostly follows three people, Swan, Sister, and Roland from before the apocalypse to many many years after. It's mostly realistic with some slightly magical elements but I liked how they were worked in and all the storylines were fairly interesting. The book is looooong but while reading it didn't feel like the story was dragging, there's just a lot that was covered. While I very rarely got the feeling of can't-put-it-down, I also could read pretty long stretches at a time without getting bored. It's mostly that when I put it down I wasn't itching to get back into it. The plot makes me think of The Road where it's more about the journey than any end point, but luckily Swan Song is less depressing (and I guess that's the point). The novel didn't draw enough emotion for me to say it's a favorite, but I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend it to others looking for a post-apocalyptic tale that feels realistic but has a hopeful tint to it.

raamkay's review against another edition

5.0

Absolutely phenomenal post apocalyptic novel that in my opinion surpasses the Stand by King. An epic journey with a strong focus on survival and good Vs evil played out wonderfully. An absolute romp.

dknippling's review against another edition

3.0

I feel deeply meh about this book. I feel that the book never bothered to make me care about any of the characters and in fact went to some trouble to make me dislike every one of them but Josh. Sorry, little girls don't get bonuses if they don't have any kind of personality but "suffering saint." The pacing was slow, the world felt flat, and the bad guys were predictably bad. The plot did not surprise or inspire suspense.

Clearly not a book for me; I skimmed.