Scan barcode
eol's review
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
1.0
thwacko's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
James Joyce's Mythos Tales
shanth's review
3.0
I heard this one on audiobook and I really shouldn't have after having read [b:Agents of Dreamland|31189177|Agents of Dreamland (Tinfoil Dossier, #1)|Caitlín R. Kiernan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1474734054l/31189177._SY75_.jpg|51832868] which was hard enough to follow as a paperback. Not sure though if having the nonlinear, jumpy narrative wash over me as an audiobook was a better way to experience Kiernan's weird fiction in a dreamlike daze.
cybergoths's review
4.0
The second part of the Tinfoil Dossier; pay careful attention to the dates in the chapter headings if you want to follow this properly. Very similar in style, but it goes several hundred years into the future and you can see beginnings of the End Times much more strongly. Parts of this reminded me of Annihilation. I'm not certain I fully understood what was going on, as once again it's from the perspective of the protagonists. Intriguing and enjoyable.
quiraang's review against another edition
3.0
Parts of the book put me in mind of The Naked Lunch, if only due to the incomprehensiblity of some of the the prose. I gave it a 3 because I enjoyed parts of it. I'm still not really sure what was going on; I'll have to read it it again sometime.
gothwin's review against another edition
1.0
I really enjoyed Agents of Dreamland, but this really wasn't for me. The writing style in the second of the trilogy really jarred and I have to admit I had no idea what was going on for a majority of the time. The final book in the trilogy seems to have a better rating so I will probably give it a go. Hopefully it will be closer to Agents of Dreamland.
jasonmehmel's review against another edition
2.0
Fascinating writer, fascinating (with flaws) book.
I came upon Caitlín R. Kiernan when asking for some non-male voices in weird lit; and came upon this book at my local indie bookstore.
I essentially bought it on the name of the author alone, which may have been a mistake... this book is the second in a series, and although none of that is made explicit in the narrative, it does feel like I'm in the middle of a party that's already halfway started.
The narrative jumps across wide swaths of time, from the 60's to some 150 years in the future, and usually a different character each time as well. There may or may not be a struggle between two forces, over either twin sisters or something that those sisters represent. The sisters and a doctor who has some control over them are referred to in most of the vignettes, but usually obliquely.
This means that the actual conflict and dramatic intent of the scenes is always elsewhere than in the scene itself. This can be done to really compelling effect, but it misses the mark here, because it feels as though either I should already know the stakes involved, or that obscuring those details is somehow enhancing the mystery.
The climactic end of the book, and it's denouement, both suffer from this lack of information. I think I know what happened, but I couldn't tell you why it was important, or why all of these shadowy forces seemed to care.
There are also a lot of pop culture and literary references, which don't feel like they add to the story so much as wink at the audience... and an overarching chess motif which again doesn't feel like it adds to the story so much as adopts a genre convention of opposing forces referring to chess. It's even weakened by the characters themselves using it; moments like that drop me out since it feels like no one would refer to 'taking someone's knight' with a straight face, unless we're in a melodramatic genre mode, and we're not. We're in a gritty semi-realistic weird lit mode.
My first impression was that this might be a symptom of an author being just a bit too clever. Leaning on not giving information as a way of making the puzzle difficult, and references to tickle the dopamine part of our brain that enjoys making correlations. Not giving information to the reader doesn't inherently make it more interesting, especially when the characters have the information and we don't. It's a fine line between compelling us to want to figure it out and just frustrating us with too few pieces to be able to intuit the whole... and this book feels like it teeters towards that second result.
After reading it, I read other reviews to see if anyone else was experiencing something similar, and it does seem like I'm not alone here. However, the fans of Caitlín and her work make a good case for a continual re-reading of the text, suggesting that there are more answers to be found in the hints and references. This might be true... and I'm willing to keep reading more of her work and coming back to this.
I will also say that Caitlín can definitely write. The character voices are all distinct and the prose wonderfully reflects the voice and tone of the characters. There are descriptions and scenes that stick with me even now. In that respect, as an introduction to her work and answering the question about reading more, it's done it's job. I'll be reading more of Caitlín in the future, despite my somewhat lacking opinion of this book!
I came upon Caitlín R. Kiernan when asking for some non-male voices in weird lit; and came upon this book at my local indie bookstore.
I essentially bought it on the name of the author alone, which may have been a mistake... this book is the second in a series, and although none of that is made explicit in the narrative, it does feel like I'm in the middle of a party that's already halfway started.
The narrative jumps across wide swaths of time, from the 60's to some 150 years in the future, and usually a different character each time as well. There may or may not be a struggle between two forces, over either twin sisters or something that those sisters represent. The sisters and a doctor who has some control over them are referred to in most of the vignettes, but usually obliquely.
This means that the actual conflict and dramatic intent of the scenes is always elsewhere than in the scene itself. This can be done to really compelling effect, but it misses the mark here, because it feels as though either I should already know the stakes involved, or that obscuring those details is somehow enhancing the mystery.
The climactic end of the book, and it's denouement, both suffer from this lack of information. I think I know what happened, but I couldn't tell you why it was important, or why all of these shadowy forces seemed to care.
There are also a lot of pop culture and literary references, which don't feel like they add to the story so much as wink at the audience... and an overarching chess motif which again doesn't feel like it adds to the story so much as adopts a genre convention of opposing forces referring to chess. It's even weakened by the characters themselves using it; moments like that drop me out since it feels like no one would refer to 'taking someone's knight' with a straight face, unless we're in a melodramatic genre mode, and we're not. We're in a gritty semi-realistic weird lit mode.
My first impression was that this might be a symptom of an author being just a bit too clever. Leaning on not giving information as a way of making the puzzle difficult, and references to tickle the dopamine part of our brain that enjoys making correlations. Not giving information to the reader doesn't inherently make it more interesting, especially when the characters have the information and we don't. It's a fine line between compelling us to want to figure it out and just frustrating us with too few pieces to be able to intuit the whole... and this book feels like it teeters towards that second result.
After reading it, I read other reviews to see if anyone else was experiencing something similar, and it does seem like I'm not alone here. However, the fans of Caitlín and her work make a good case for a continual re-reading of the text, suggesting that there are more answers to be found in the hints and references. This might be true... and I'm willing to keep reading more of her work and coming back to this.
I will also say that Caitlín can definitely write. The character voices are all distinct and the prose wonderfully reflects the voice and tone of the characters. There are descriptions and scenes that stick with me even now. In that respect, as an introduction to her work and answering the question about reading more, it's done it's job. I'll be reading more of Caitlín in the future, despite my somewhat lacking opinion of this book!
jeremyjfloyd's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-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? It's complicated
4.0