3.29 AVERAGE


This wasn't how I would have wanted this to be, it was kind of a letdown to Hannibal.

Better the 2nd time around.

Well written and very intriguing. Does a good job of explaining Hannibal's younger years.

I’m trying to judge this away from the audio. The audio was terrrrrible. I found some of the writing weird and I think that’s the fault of the narrator (who is the author in this case. Weird that).

But I liked knowing what this story introduced. It wasn’t suspenseful or super plot driven so to say, but I think that would have taken away from what it was telling. It’s just a development of character piece.

I'm a little bit on the fence with this one. I have given it a three primarily because Thomas Harris could write about the phonebook and make it engaging. Other than the writing I did like the origin story. I know that Lecter is supposed to be undefinable, a monster of nightmares, but that isn't the way the world works. Even the most terrible of serial killers/psychopaths, often have something in their childhoods that contributed to their later behaviour. The one thing I don't really understand is that starving men ate his sister, evil war criminals and sexual sadists no doubt, but having suffered through that and vowed to get revenge on them, why is he now a cannibal, the very thing he was punishing? Not only that but at least the terrible men were starving to death, he does it for fun. I guess maybe it's the same reason that some victims of sexual abuse (mainly males) go on to perpetrate sexual abuse against children. Logic would dictate if you have experienced that you wouldn't do that to somebody else but I suspect maybe there's a no one helped me mindset at work, or a general punishing of the world.

Anyway, I did like it but it was nowhere near as good as the other three books. If you happen to be reading this book first, please don't be put off, the other books in the series are so good they are definitely worth a read.
dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Well that was... Disappointing. A disappointing end (slash, prelude) to the Hannibal stories.
dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced