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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
oh. my. i was so taken by the premise of this book, but the execution of the story just did not work for me at all. i found the book bloated and, sorry, annoying. and dry. it feels to me like simmons had trouble filtering out his research. i have read [b:Charles Dickens|11202585|Charles Dickens|Claire Tomalin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347862957s/11202585.jpg|16127699], so i do wonder if i had not read this fairly comprehensive biography whether i would have felt the same way about simmons' research? anyway, the flow of the novel didn't go very well during this read. and, for a book shelved as horror and thriller, and the endorsement on the cover from stephen king saying this book is "... a masterwork of narrative suspense." it really isn't spooky, scary, or suspenseful. i think i did this book wrong. :)
Too long to complete before a buddy read I'm planning.
The summary would make you think it's a book about Dickens and an entity named Drood. Well. Not really? Anyway, all the tongue in cheek orientalism aside... i still think about that thing in the attic. the scenes that were connected to it were really creepy.
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
After slogging through the almost 1000 pages of this book, I am kind of ambivalent towards it. It was an interesting concept to take the "characters" of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins and place them in a horror story of their own making. However, in the end, the "answer" to the "mystery" was just sort of a let down and Simmons was almost channeling Collins too well in being long winded and repeating himself constantly. It was a book I think had great potential but in the end fell flat. That said, Simmons knows how to describe events and actions that can make your skin crawl. That or the idea of a scarab burrowing in Collins' brain described in graphic detail just touched a cord with me...
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
You know what annoys me? It's when the narrator of a story takes time out to address the reader and in this book that's especially annoying because the narrator, a pompous English novelist, Wilkie Collins, friend of Charles Dickens, Opium addict, and overall scumbag spends his time addressing the reader with speculations as to what the reader's world will be like 125 years to the narrator's future.
The rest of the story is well-researched, competent, and even eerily creepy in the appropriate places. But I just can't put this book among the better volumes that Dan Simmons has written. He hit a home-run in his ultimate Victorian Ice-bound horror story, The Terror, which was gripping and heart-wrenching. But in The Terror I cared about the characters. What happened to them mattered and not just in the "he got what he deserved" way, but in a humans caring about other humans way.
In Drood I just didn't care. If Dickens died, so what. If Collins died, good riddance. If Drood croaked, then so be it.
I can't mark it down to one or two stars because it is really well written and has a gripping plot. But for me to really like a book, it's got to have characters I care about.
The rest of the story is well-researched, competent, and even eerily creepy in the appropriate places. But I just can't put this book among the better volumes that Dan Simmons has written. He hit a home-run in his ultimate Victorian Ice-bound horror story, The Terror, which was gripping and heart-wrenching. But in The Terror I cared about the characters. What happened to them mattered and not just in the "he got what he deserved" way, but in a humans caring about other humans way.
In Drood I just didn't care. If Dickens died, so what. If Collins died, good riddance. If Drood croaked, then so be it.
I can't mark it down to one or two stars because it is really well written and has a gripping plot. But for me to really like a book, it's got to have characters I care about.
I absolutely loved this book. The premise was based within facts, making it all the more enjoyable. I loved that the author chose to make Wilkie Collins the narrator and believe it made the novel what it was. A master piece worthy of praise. I believe Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens would have been humbled and proud to be portrayed in such fashion.
dark
slow-paced