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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Carey is one of the best ever, just not every book works for every person. Liked it, didn't love it.
I tried, man. I really tried. The beginning was so good, so compelling, but the pace turns to absolute sludge as soon as we get to the prison. I don't care about the prison hierarchy, I don't care about the corrupt guards, and I REALLY don't care about the corrupt doctor. This book should have been half the length and we probably wouldn't be here.
Full review coming, but the last Mike Carey novel was so great I was disappointed.
Brilliant towards the end. I would never have guessed the two main twists. However it was a bit difficult to get through Part 2 of the book - persevere!!!
I very much enjoyed Carey's The Girl With All the Gifts, so I was looking forward to this newest one from him. I wasn't disappointed! A genre-bending novel that kept me engrossed throughout its hefty just under 500 pages. Jess Moulson is a heroin addict who is accused of murdering a little neighbor boy Alex when she set fire to her apartment while she was high. This sprawling book has a large cast of characters and is told from multiple POV's which serve to keep the pace brisk. Well-written and with fleshed out characters, this novel is part crime drama/mystery, horror story, and ghost tale with large dollops of magic realism and jailhouse pathos. And somehow that all works. The ending was superb - just like the ending of The Girl With... So often I find endings of novels a let-down in some way; I think a fulfilling conclusion is one of the most difficult things to write. Carey has that skill down, and I closed this book with a very satisfied snap.
This book was pretty darn good. There were parts where I became confused, not sure where the story was going. The ending was great. I had a hunch the book would get better so I held on and it did not disappoint. I have never been to jail, let alone prison, but this book depicted what I think may be some real life scenarios. At times it was intense, making my stomach crawl, but I think that's what kept me reading.
I still love you, Mike Carey, but I just can't with this. I felt like I'd been reading forever, only to discover there were still 337 pages to go!
I kept waiting for the setup to end and the real plot to get going, only to realize that this was mostly going to be a drama about corruption and brutality in a prison, not a ghost story. The actual ghost story has an intriguing hook at the start, and then goes pretty much nowhere. Flipping to the end of the book shows me that the big reveal for that storyline is exactly what I figured out in the first two chapters.
If you're interested in a grim realistic story of prison life, layered with a kind of spiritual journey, this may delight you. I came for a ghost story, and I'm leaving early and unhappily.
I kept waiting for the setup to end and the real plot to get going, only to realize that this was mostly going to be a drama about corruption and brutality in a prison, not a ghost story. The actual ghost story has an intriguing hook at the start, and then goes pretty much nowhere. Flipping to the end of the book shows me that the big reveal for that storyline is exactly what I figured out in the first two chapters.
If you're interested in a grim realistic story of prison life, layered with a kind of spiritual journey, this may delight you. I came for a ghost story, and I'm leaving early and unhappily.
this book is disjointed flimsy and miserable “but thona it’s a horror novel it’s supposed to be miserable” no not at all actually, it’s supposed to be full to the brim with intrigue and mystery and make your heart race...this was far from it. far from whatever the reviews on the front cover promise you i can tell you that much. the only time this book picks up is in the 3rd half during the court scene, and that’s about it really.
This book basically has three main story lines:
- the mystery behind what really happened the night that Jess was accused of murdering Alex
- Jess' ability to talk to Alex after he already died
- the drug smuggling ring in the Fellside prison
The first two things I really liked and was interested in. The third - ugh, complete snoozefest. Unfortunately that part takes up a LOT of the plot. It even pulls in multiple characters, each of which get their own chapters devoted to them, taking up tons of page space. If all of that was cut out, then I would have rated this book much higher. But as it stands, I liked it overall, I just didn't *really* like it as much as I did this author's other book, [b:The Girl with All the Gifts|17235026|The Girl With All the Gifts (The Girl With All the Gifts, #1)|M.R. Carey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403033579s/17235026.jpg|23753235].
I am just not sure what kind of reader this book is supposed to be marketed towards. Murder mystery readers will find this not thrilling enough. Contemporary fiction readers will find the magical realism of the dream world portions to be a bit off putting. Readers of fantasy type books who would find the magical realism more palatable, will find the drug smuggling ring subplot a drag. People who read all those kinds of books will probably wish the book went "more" in one direction or another. In the end, I think it attempts to do too much at once.
- the mystery behind what really happened the night that Jess was accused of murdering Alex
- Jess' ability to talk to Alex after he already died
- the drug smuggling ring in the Fellside prison
The first two things I really liked and was interested in. The third - ugh, complete snoozefest. Unfortunately that part takes up a LOT of the plot. It even pulls in multiple characters, each of which get their own chapters devoted to them, taking up tons of page space. If all of that was cut out, then I would have rated this book much higher. But as it stands, I liked it overall, I just didn't *really* like it as much as I did this author's other book, [b:The Girl with All the Gifts|17235026|The Girl With All the Gifts (The Girl With All the Gifts, #1)|M.R. Carey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403033579s/17235026.jpg|23753235].
I am just not sure what kind of reader this book is supposed to be marketed towards. Murder mystery readers will find this not thrilling enough. Contemporary fiction readers will find the magical realism of the dream world portions to be a bit off putting. Readers of fantasy type books who would find the magical realism more palatable, will find the drug smuggling ring subplot a drag. People who read all those kinds of books will probably wish the book went "more" in one direction or another. In the end, I think it attempts to do too much at once.