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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Dear Mr. Del Toro,
Please stop writing and just stick to movies. They are very good movies. Pretty please with a cherry on top, just make good movies. I know people what have said about this book; there's like six pages of quotes before the story starts. But please stop.
Or at least don't:
1. Write in fragments. Yes, okay, maybe you want to say they are intentional fragments, but there is way too many of them.
2. Don't use every single over used horror movie cliche in the first 100 pages. Granted they are riveting in terms of the whole plane plot, but honestly the whole family set-up,been there, done that. The whole relationship messy thing, that too.
3. Don't write like a movie. There are differences between books and movies. This seems like it might make a good tv series, but a good book? Nah.
Thank you.
(Enclosed is a copy of a letter from New York Times Book Review, Time, and Newsweek and sundry others.
Dear Magzine editor pooh-bah,
When asking someone to review a horror or fantasy book (or even movie), please make sure they are familiar with the genre in more than a passing way. You wouldn't look like idiots.
Thank you.
P.S. - BTW, the only time I have ever seen Morris Men in fantasy books is in [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg];s work. Can you please stop mentioning them every time you mention the word fantasy?
Please stop writing and just stick to movies. They are very good movies. Pretty please with a cherry on top, just make good movies. I know people what have said about this book; there's like six pages of quotes before the story starts. But please stop.
Or at least don't:
1. Write in fragments. Yes, okay, maybe you want to say they are intentional fragments, but there is way too many of them.
2. Don't use every single over used horror movie cliche in the first 100 pages. Granted they are riveting in terms of the whole plane plot, but honestly the whole family set-up,been there, done that. The whole relationship messy thing, that too.
3. Don't write like a movie. There are differences between books and movies. This seems like it might make a good tv series, but a good book? Nah.
Thank you.
(Enclosed is a copy of a letter from New York Times Book Review, Time, and Newsweek and sundry others.
Dear Magzine editor pooh-bah,
When asking someone to review a horror or fantasy book (or even movie), please make sure they are familiar with the genre in more than a passing way. You wouldn't look like idiots.
Thank you.
P.S. - BTW, the only time I have ever seen Morris Men in fantasy books is in [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg];s work. Can you please stop mentioning them every time you mention the word fantasy?
Overall, I found this book to be rather disappointing. Behold, a listing of my grievances:
Recommended? Only for extremely hardcore fans of vampire/zombie/end of the world fiction.
- It suffered from an excess of characters, many of them completely unnecessary to the telling of the story.
- The characters that were central to the story were very poorly developed.
- The story seemed to take forever to get moving and, once it did, it moved entirely too quickly.
- Despite this being the first book in a trilogy, I have little to no desire to read the other two books.
Recommended? Only for extremely hardcore fans of vampire/zombie/end of the world fiction.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Almost 3/4 into it and I just don't care how it ends or what happens along the way. I haven't particularly cared for a good 100 pages or more, probably, ever since the the fictional reality of the vampire pathogen was laid out. Which is a pity as the beginning was so gripping. Continuing to read is not terribly hard, the book is somewhat entertaining though I'm getting no pleasure from reading it. Based on other reviews, I think I'm wasting my time on this one and will likely be leaving it finished
Utter dreck.
This book was a mess. Weak writing throughout. Extremely tropey. It's like every character came straight out of a list.
The over-dedicated scientist who sees the first signs
His bureaucratic superiors who refuse to listen
The old man who knows all about it and is assumed crazy
The blue collar worker who sees the signs no one else does
And the women: love interest 1 and love interest 2, a.k.a. 'bait' and 'I'll just stay over here'
Their attempt to modernize the vampires with more scientific explanations was somewhat interesting, but it also ended up highlighting a lot of items that didn't really make sense. Like they had an explanation for the mirror thing, and drinking blood, but it's just taken as given that vampires can't cross running water.
But this books biggest problem was really just the writing. Even beyond the tropes and weak coincidences, it was just not written like a book. It really felt more like a movie pitch. Instead of the writing drawing me into the characters and the world, I felt like it was just describing what was happening on the screen. It seemed like a lot of the choices were made without being aware of the strengths of the medium... A lot of things can work in movies that don't work very well in books, and there is a lot you can do in books that doesn't translate to movies.
This book was a mess. Weak writing throughout. Extremely tropey. It's like every character came straight out of a list.
The over-dedicated scientist who sees the first signs
His bureaucratic superiors who refuse to listen
The old man who knows all about it and is assumed crazy
The blue collar worker who sees the signs no one else does
And the women: love interest 1 and love interest 2, a.k.a. 'bait' and 'I'll just stay over here'
Their attempt to modernize the vampires with more scientific explanations was somewhat interesting, but it also ended up highlighting a lot of items that didn't really make sense. Like they had an explanation for the mirror thing, and drinking blood, but it's just taken as given that vampires can't cross running water.
But this books biggest problem was really just the writing. Even beyond the tropes and weak coincidences, it was just not written like a book. It really felt more like a movie pitch. Instead of the writing drawing me into the characters and the world, I felt like it was just describing what was happening on the screen. It seemed like a lot of the choices were made without being aware of the strengths of the medium... A lot of things can work in movies that don't work very well in books, and there is a lot you can do in books that doesn't translate to movies.
I went in with high expectations, and was disappointed. For the first third of the book, I kept waiting for something to happen. Then, when something did, it was to gross me out to the point where I had to put it down and stop reading. I should've taken that as a signal, but I was determined. The last half of the book was very formulaic.
It sounded like such a promising premise. In the end, though, it just couldn't break out of the horror/thriller/vampire/zombie mold. I won't be picking up the other 2 parts of the trilogy, unless they're a vast improvement.
It sounded like such a promising premise. In the end, though, it just couldn't break out of the horror/thriller/vampire/zombie mold. I won't be picking up the other 2 parts of the trilogy, unless they're a vast improvement.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a re-read, since I hadn’t read the book since I was in high school in 2010. It’s still fantastic and super pertinent, post 2020.
Fun read. No relation to the YA romantic, vampire fiction that's been popular of late. I suppose it's got a lot more in common with the fighting for our lives, how do we stop this thing?, zombie fare. It's gothic. It's brutal. It's us vs. them. Unfortunately they are hungry and efficient. We are trusting and prey.
More like 2.5 stars, but hey. Pretty much your bog standard airport paperback thriller - interesting premise meets meh writing and makes for an entertaining if not particularly memorable read. The characters are one-dimensional tropes and not particularly likable ones at that. I'm all for flawed characters, but I find it annoying when authors go the route of making everyone misanthropic and jaded and bitter, and every marriage miserable, whether openly or secretly. Projection much? Might eventually get around to reading the sequels out of curiosity, but they aren't particularly high on the priority list.