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emsee33's review against another edition
4.0
If Tim Powers wrote THE NIGHT CIRCUS, the result would probably look a lot like Adam Christopher’s HANG WIRE. A number of seemingly random ideas – including an exploding fortune cookie, a serial killer, and a semi-retired Hawaiian god – form together to create a mystery, tangled in history, surrounded by evil. Some emotional depth is sacrificed for the density of the plot, but each of the characters is fully-formed and multi-layered, and make for an engrossing read.
Read the rest of this review at All Things Urban Fantasy.
Read the rest of this review at All Things Urban Fantasy.
miraboo's review against another edition
3.0
I was lucky enough to have won this book in a giveaway. Not having read Adam Christopher before, this was quite a journey
The first three chapters got be a bit bored. There were several times I turned to my friends and told them that I hope the plot becomes more interesting later-and thankfully it did. By the time I had read the 1/3 of the book, I was hooked. Had I more time, I'd finish it much earlier
The plot wasn't great and as I said, in the early chapters,I wanted to not read it at all. That's the reason The Hang Wire gets 3/5 stars from me
old_tim's review against another edition
3.0
Promising setup, but fails in execution.
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2014/01/surprisingly-clowns-are-not-to-blame.html
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2014/01/surprisingly-clowns-are-not-to-blame.html
hyacinth51's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.25
seak's review against another edition
3.0
A killer is on the loose and Ted Hall's nighttime sleepwalking escapades are lining up directly with the Hang Wire Killer's murders. That's not information you volunteer until you know a little more.
The circus is also in town and not without their oddities.
Christopher sinks his hooks into you from the start as he slowly reveals what is going on. I had the distinct feeling of Stephen King novel throughout the majority of the book and I'm guessing that was intentional because I know how heavily the author is influenced by the King.
After a great beginning, however, I was pretty let down by the major reveals in the novel. I won't go into too much detail, but I'm not a huge fan of this particular type of supernatural and it seemed like it wasn't quite set up well enough to pull it off. That could be my inherent bias, though...I'm not sure anyone could pull it off to my satisfaction.
I also wasn't too impressed with the characters. I didn't really like any of them and I definitely wasn't rooting for anyone so I had a hard time even caring what happened.
I still liked the book, especially the first half or so, but I can't say I'd outright recommend it.
3 out of 5 Stars (recommended with reservations)
The circus is also in town and not without their oddities.
Christopher sinks his hooks into you from the start as he slowly reveals what is going on. I had the distinct feeling of Stephen King novel throughout the majority of the book and I'm guessing that was intentional because I know how heavily the author is influenced by the King.
After a great beginning, however, I was pretty let down by the major reveals in the novel. I won't go into too much detail, but I'm not a huge fan of this particular type of supernatural and it seemed like it wasn't quite set up well enough to pull it off. That could be my inherent bias, though...I'm not sure anyone could pull it off to my satisfaction.
I also wasn't too impressed with the characters. I didn't really like any of them and I definitely wasn't rooting for anyone so I had a hard time even caring what happened.
I still liked the book, especially the first half or so, but I can't say I'd outright recommend it.
3 out of 5 Stars (recommended with reservations)
crowyhead's review against another edition
2.0
This is a pretty entertaining, but not earth-shattering, book. Call it two and a half stars out of five. There are a lot of intriguing bits. Unfortunately, the whole thing didn't quite hang together for me -- it was hard to feel much of a connection to most of the characters, and I am still not entirely clear on what happened at the end. There's a lot of interesting action and some great imagery, but it all feels very superficial and strangely slick, almost more like a movie treatment than a novel.
Also, the author makes the unfortunate mistake of confusing Point Pleasant, WV (of Mothman fame) with Point Pleasant, NJ (no Mothmen there). I suppose he can be forgiven, given that he's from New Zealand, but it's really disappointing that no one caught this during the process of bringing the book to press, given that the wrong state is in the chapter heading.
Also, the author makes the unfortunate mistake of confusing Point Pleasant, WV (of Mothman fame) with Point Pleasant, NJ (no Mothmen there). I suppose he can be forgiven, given that he's from New Zealand, but it's really disappointing that no one caught this during the process of bringing the book to press, given that the wrong state is in the chapter heading.
the_bard's review against another edition
4.0
A fast-paced, wide-eyed, razor-sharp urban fantasy with so many things I love: sharp dialogue, great characters, circuses, gods, monsters, ancient forces, and references to Pixies songs. Cracking good stuff!
adaralynne's review against another edition
2.0
Do you remember track and field in elementary school; particularly the high jump? They'd set the bar low at first and as you got better, the bar was raised until you were able to fly a good 3-4 feet backwards into the air and over the bar without knocking it down. And sometimes there were the poor kids that just weren't cut out for the sport; who couldn't quite get the height required to clear the mat, much less the bar, and would end up diving under it rather than over it in a noble attempt to reach their classmates' level. Hang Wire is one of those kids. It set its bar high and missed it on every mark but it gave it its all.
This book tried so hard to be good that it almost tried too hard in many cases. There was something about the construction of sentences and placement of words that made what would normally be very climactic and exciting scenes seem incredibly dull and unfulfilling. I was often left with a feeling of empty emotion; holes that were expecting to be filled with a good climax but weren't. Quite often the things that should have had the largest impact on me as a reader just slid on by with a gentle tap that leaves the story, as a whole, lacking. Consequentially, the ending was an absolute trudge and the story lost me completely at the arrival of... Belenus. (Not to mention the many spelling and grammar errors throughout the book; there were many times I actually had to reword a sentence in my head for the paragraph to make sense.)
It's very rare that I read a book and not care about any of the characters in the story. Generally speaking, there is usually at least one character that I attach myself to. This book didn't have that. It wasn't that the characters were particularly unlikable, the story just didn't make me care about them at all. The closest I got to caring about a character was my interest in Joel's story, but that interest was shattered with what you might call the 'climax' of the book, (really, I hated that entire final ordeal). Much of this, I think, is thanks to the way the characters were written. Kanaloa, for example. It felt like the author was attempting to hold the reader's hand the entire way through the book on who certain characters are, what they feel about the current situation, and what certain things would mean for the future of that character. Information was repeated constantly - yes, yes, we KNOW Kanaloa is super powerful and cannot, ever, lose control or else bad things will happen. We don't need to be told this every other page the character is present on.
This isn't to say I didn't enjoy the book. The story was intriguing, (as said earlier, the construction of the circus was one of my favourite parts), I simply feel like the book tried too hard to be bigger than it was. It was an exhausting read for this reason alone.
This book tried so hard to be good that it almost tried too hard in many cases. There was something about the construction of sentences and placement of words that made what would normally be very climactic and exciting scenes seem incredibly dull and unfulfilling. I was often left with a feeling of empty emotion; holes that were expecting to be filled with a good climax but weren't. Quite often the things that should have had the largest impact on me as a reader just slid on by with a gentle tap that leaves the story, as a whole, lacking. Consequentially, the ending was an absolute trudge and the story lost me completely at the arrival of... Belenus. (Not to mention the many spelling and grammar errors throughout the book; there were many times I actually had to reword a sentence in my head for the paragraph to make sense.)
It's very rare that I read a book and not care about any of the characters in the story. Generally speaking, there is usually at least one character that I attach myself to. This book didn't have that. It wasn't that the characters were particularly unlikable, the story just didn't make me care about them at all. The closest I got to caring about a character was my interest in Joel's story, but that interest was shattered with what you might call the 'climax' of the book, (really, I hated that entire final ordeal). Much of this, I think, is thanks to the way the characters were written. Kanaloa, for example. It felt like the author was attempting to hold the reader's hand the entire way through the book on who certain characters are, what they feel about the current situation, and what certain things would mean for the future of that character. Information was repeated constantly - yes, yes, we KNOW Kanaloa is super powerful and cannot, ever, lose control or else bad things will happen. We don't need to be told this every other page the character is present on.
This isn't to say I didn't enjoy the book. The story was intriguing, (as said earlier, the construction of the circus was one of my favourite parts), I simply feel like the book tried too hard to be bigger than it was. It was an exhausting read for this reason alone.
koshkemeow's review against another edition
4.0
Took a bit to get settled into but soon developed an interesting pace. I would say could be described as an adult Percy Jackson of sorts.
drewsof's review against another edition
2.0
I never shook the feeling that I was reading a still-nacent draft of this novel. For better or worse - does it mean that there's more to be mined from this story? Or does it just mean that this one didn't quite ever get there, wherever where is meant to be? Christopher is a smart writer and excited by what he's coming up with (you can feel the excitement in the writing) but that excitement never left the page, never transferred to me as a reader. Also, I should note: no one in America calls them prawns.
Anyway. I'm not turned off of wanting to read Christopher's other work and I'm not particularly against this book in any way - I just never really got into it either.
Review at RB: http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2013/12/15/hangwire/
and at TNBBC: http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/drew-reviews-hangwire.html
Anyway. I'm not turned off of wanting to read Christopher's other work and I'm not particularly against this book in any way - I just never really got into it either.
Review at RB: http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2013/12/15/hangwire/
and at TNBBC: http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/drew-reviews-hangwire.html