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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
it started out really good, then it just kind of got a bit crazy. It was people happy to drink the kool-aid kind of crazy. I don't know. I still enjoyed the book, but it felt like it could have been so much better!
Начало было много-обещающее, но когда началась псевдо-религиозная муть, интерес угас.
Great story line. Full of literary references. Enjoyable, but wasn't a book I had a hard time putting down.
I'm going to begin with the truth: I chose this book because Joe Hill is my oldest daughter's all-time favorite author. For years, ever since she found Horns and every volume of his award-winning comic series Locke and Key, I've heard about this man's writing. So even though anything post-apocalyptic or horror-related is my least favorite genre, I chose to read and review this book because I knew the writing would be impeccable.
Hill, and my daughter's very different literary taste, did not disappoint.
In The Fireman, Hill has created a world that's been set on fire. Homes, schools, hospitals all burn not at once, but when someone inside bursts into flames after being infected by Dragonscale. Somehow, despite the abject strangeness of this way the world is ending (one unpredictable explosion after the next) Hill manages to use pop culture references and characters so relatable, the reader can't help but almost find this new reality to be normal. I found myself loving some characters and wanting to shake others. You meet Harper, a caring nurse who loves Mary Poppins; Allie, a gritty teenager-turned-adult who's trying to help as much as she can in this environment; as well as Nick, Allie's younger brother, who's also been stretched beyond his years. Nick is deaf and uses sign language to communicate, something that is exquisitely translated. As a side note, I applaud Hill's consistent and sensitive (from what I've been told of Locke and Key) inclusion of characters with disabilities in his writings.
Finally, the reader will also meet the Fireman. Since I don't want to post any spoilers, this is all I will say regarding him: trust the man.
This book is both gruesome and exceedingly frustrating at times due to secondary characters who just won't cooperate. Even so, it brings beauty and love in the most unlikely places. If there ever is a spore that infects us all and ends the world as we know it, I hope there is a Harper out there somewhere, reminding us all that we can still find kindness even when all hope is certainly lost. Because in Hill's world of fire, even if you already have gone up in flames, there is still hope.
Disclosure:
I received a copy of The Fireman from the publisher via TLC Book Tours in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Hill, and my daughter's very different literary taste, did not disappoint.
In The Fireman, Hill has created a world that's been set on fire. Homes, schools, hospitals all burn not at once, but when someone inside bursts into flames after being infected by Dragonscale. Somehow, despite the abject strangeness of this way the world is ending (one unpredictable explosion after the next) Hill manages to use pop culture references and characters so relatable, the reader can't help but almost find this new reality to be normal. I found myself loving some characters and wanting to shake others. You meet Harper, a caring nurse who loves Mary Poppins; Allie, a gritty teenager-turned-adult who's trying to help as much as she can in this environment; as well as Nick, Allie's younger brother, who's also been stretched beyond his years. Nick is deaf and uses sign language to communicate, something that is exquisitely translated. As a side note, I applaud Hill's consistent and sensitive (from what I've been told of Locke and Key) inclusion of characters with disabilities in his writings.
Finally, the reader will also meet the Fireman. Since I don't want to post any spoilers, this is all I will say regarding him: trust the man.
This book is both gruesome and exceedingly frustrating at times due to secondary characters who just won't cooperate. Even so, it brings beauty and love in the most unlikely places. If there ever is a spore that infects us all and ends the world as we know it, I hope there is a Harper out there somewhere, reminding us all that we can still find kindness even when all hope is certainly lost. Because in Hill's world of fire, even if you already have gone up in flames, there is still hope.
Disclosure:
I received a copy of The Fireman from the publisher via TLC Book Tours in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Creative story that's both suspenseful and thoughtful. I did feel that it was about 100 pages too long.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was hoping to have more scary moments, which I did not get as often as I had expected. The premise of Dragonscale was very interesting, but overall I felt it was too long. It could have been cut short to about 500 pages or so. Joe Hill’s English is not very difficult to read, but there are many references to his father’s book or other pop cultures, which sometimes I had no idea what he was talking about.
Personally I liked NOS4R2 better.
Personally I liked NOS4R2 better.
I was overall disappointed with this book. Joe Hill is one of my favourite authors, but this was a huge miss for me. The characters were uninteresting and I had no connection to any of them. A lot of the story dragged on and I feel like this could have been over in about half the time. I was particularly disappointed in the lack of plot development. From 100 pages in I could already see where the story was headed.
Strangely though, I still had trouble putting this one down, and was invested enough to finish it. I wouldn't recommend it though. It was more of a biography novel than a horror story. Towards the end I was skimming through just to finish it, and this didn't seem to detract from the story at all. I was still able to follow it completely.
Something to be said that I read all 700+ pages despite not enjoying it. Read if you are curious. Not my spoonful if sugar.
Strangely though, I still had trouble putting this one down, and was invested enough to finish it. I wouldn't recommend it though. It was more of a biography novel than a horror story. Towards the end I was skimming through just to finish it, and this didn't seem to detract from the story at all. I was still able to follow it completely.
Something to be said that I read all 700+ pages despite not enjoying it. Read if you are curious. Not my spoonful if sugar.
So it seems that everyone and their pet chicken adored this book, but to be honest I was a bit 'meh'. It's a decent, solid piece of work, don't get me wrong - well written, can easily see how others might love it. But I found the slow pace, the focus on human dramas, just a bit... well, reminiscent of later-day King, to be honest. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, perhaps?
That said, I'm glad I got the chance to try Hill's work (thank you, NetGalley - free copy in exchange for honest review and all that), and am more than tempted to back track to some of his earlier, perhaps less 'epic', work.
https://littlefrogscribbles.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/the-fireman-joe-hill/
That said, I'm glad I got the chance to try Hill's work (thank you, NetGalley - free copy in exchange for honest review and all that), and am more than tempted to back track to some of his earlier, perhaps less 'epic', work.
https://littlefrogscribbles.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/the-fireman-joe-hill/
