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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
Holy motherfucking shit. This was good. Really, really good!
I picked this book up because I liked the title and I liked the cover art. I held onto it because I liked the premise--it reminded me of the first episode of Supernatural (with its Woman in White) meets Mustang Sally, from the Sandman Slim series. I ended up keeping it because it had a soundtrack (aka "playlist") in the appendix, such as it is. Never have I ever read a bad book with a playlist. In fact, I'm pretty certain they don't exist.
Anyhow, this book has echos of Tim Powers' Last Call, Neil Gaiman's American Gods, and Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show, with some of the more effervescent qualities of Charles de Lint's work. But it's totally original.
It's definitely the best book I've read this year.
You should read it too.
I picked this book up because I liked the title and I liked the cover art. I held onto it because I liked the premise--it reminded me of the first episode of Supernatural (with its Woman in White) meets Mustang Sally, from the Sandman Slim series. I ended up keeping it because it had a soundtrack (aka "playlist") in the appendix, such as it is. Never have I ever read a bad book with a playlist. In fact, I'm pretty certain they don't exist.
Anyhow, this book has echos of Tim Powers' Last Call, Neil Gaiman's American Gods, and Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show, with some of the more effervescent qualities of Charles de Lint's work. But it's totally original.
It's definitely the best book I've read this year.
You should read it too.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not quite sure how to classify this set of stories, it's a ghost story but not horror. Actually, it's kind of a meta-ghost story... a story about ghosts told from the point of view of a ghost. It has sort of an urban fantasy vibe but it's not urban at all. and the fantasy/magic elements are pretty low key (so rural fantasy-lite?), anyway it was pretty enjoyable read though I might wish that it ended a bit more conclusively. It doesn't feel like the first book in a series, feels more like a collection of shorter novellas strung together well but there are definitely loose threads at the end of the story.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Rose ia a dead girl who haunts the highways and truck-stops of America. Her reality is the people she encounters in her drifting and intangible existence. The beauty in this tale is found in the humanity of the characters, their kindnesses and flaws and the joy taken in small, everyday things.
The story is made up of a number of smaller tales, at times humorous, tragic, thrilling and strange, of Rose's encounters (or hauntings) of various odd characters both alive and dead whose only real connection is the road and their mortality. Along the way Rose is drawn toward a final confrontation with her own haunt, who is not nearly so nice as she is.
I loved this book so much, the nature of Rose's existence, the style used to tell her tale, the character of Rose herself and her insights into the world and people around her, it all comes together to form a unique and beautiful story.
The story is made up of a number of smaller tales, at times humorous, tragic, thrilling and strange, of Rose's encounters (or hauntings) of various odd characters both alive and dead whose only real connection is the road and their mortality. Along the way Rose is drawn toward a final confrontation with her own haunt, who is not nearly so nice as she is.
I loved this book so much, the nature of Rose's existence, the style used to tell her tale, the character of Rose herself and her insights into the world and people around her, it all comes together to form a unique and beautiful story.
it's like americana meets melancholia, with the glory of the road and the american expanse always and continuously tempered by death and things what go bump (not always at night), with this extra layer of urban legend as providing the basis of the american mythos, which all boils down to some a+ stuff (I've been writing English essays all night, forgive me)
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I liked this a lot, although it’s uneven. Rose is splendid as a character - she’s fierce and funny and kind but has limits. And McGuire’s American afterlife is brilliant. It feels American in a way few fantasy stories do, deeply rooted in the Midwest in particular. The earlier stories and the ones less tied to the Bobby Cross arc were by far the better half - I suspect those are the original stories, and the ones with more of a linear, Bobby-related narrative were the new ones added in to make this a “novel” - it’s actually stronger when things occur and recurring, when references happen out of order and there’s more of an episodic road trip than an attempt at a cohesive single thrust. That episodic feel suits the ghostroads. But this was excellent despite the flaws and I am definitely down for more set in the Twilight.
3.5-3.75; it’s a 5 sometimes though.
3.5-3.75; it’s a 5 sometimes though.
More like a 3.5, really, JUST because I always get twitchy with things that are anything like short-story collections. Because this was serialized first and reads that way, I just wanted SO MUCH MORE of the connections between episodes and for it to be a full-fledged novel. But wanting more is good! And I really enjoyed this backstory on the couple of ghosts that pop up in the InCryptid series. Legitimately creepy from time to time - McGuire is great at conjuring an atmosphere of danger/dread but usually saves it for very specific moments, whereas this was swimming in it. So, you know, fair warning if you are delicate/reading at night!