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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was very disappointed. At the very start, I felt that there was too much of a model replication of the book I am pilgrim, however it became different and I kept reading. Always the same abundance and precision of details. But the introduction of a science fiction bit to enable the resolution of the plot, is just not working. It totally undoes the fascinating believability of the rest of the book, and while eventually it can be a plot, it is just not fitting and not what I was looking for. Either he was under too much pressure to wrap up and not the right inspiration, or the editor didnt do the proper job here!
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Lots me for a second in the 4th part but DAMN did you bring me back in
adventurous
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I bought this book initially on release, but the slow pacing for the first couple of hundred pages meant I never really found myself able to get into it.
After pushing through, however, I did quite enjoy it. It's difficult to see it as a sequel to 'I am Pilgrim', but it's great in its own right. On the other hand, the Sci-Fi themes seemed quite out of left field and didn't really feel like they meshed at least with what I was expecting.
After pushing through, however, I did quite enjoy it. It's difficult to see it as a sequel to 'I am Pilgrim', but it's great in its own right. On the other hand, the Sci-Fi themes seemed quite out of left field and didn't really feel like they meshed at least with what I was expecting.
The Year of the Locust
The Year of the Locust: "The Gray Man meets Back to the Future?" or "Mitch Rapp meets The Terminator." I can't decide... "Jason Bourne in the Mideast meets Planet of the Apes?"
A long wait for the anticipated second novel from Terry Hayes is over. Following 2013’s I Am Pilgrim, we now have The Year of the Locust, a confused, lost, and rambling long story of a restricted access CIA agent. This story crosses genre in an almost unforgivable manner. Across the genre is not a bad thing. For example, the excellent Paul Vidich story, The Letter Writer, is a combination of a dark gritty crime noir New York 1940s story mixed with the spy story. And it's brilliantly done. This story is a disorganized mess. Even though spy stories have some unrealistic scenes, they are for the most part based in reality. The fantasy or science fiction that dominates the second half of the novel leave any reader looking for some semblance of reality in the dust—or spoor, as it were.
In addition, there are multiple subplots going on as there were with his first story Pilgrim. Locust begins with the story of an agent who sold out his network for money who they call The Mage, the singular form of magi as in magician. After this Mage’s treacherous act of treason, he disappeared to the world—like a magician. The reader believes at this point that this is the focus of the novel, but it's not. It's a side story that starts the novel, pops up again in the middle, and pops up again at the end in an attempt to tie things together but adds little to the overall story. It’s too bad, because the story of the Mage could have been an interesting storyline on its own.
The first half of the novel could also have been an interesting storyline on its own, too, and then everything fell apart.
****SPOILER BELOW****
There are of course multiple coincidences in this novel that stretch the willing suspension of disbelief beyond the limits of elasticity. The first is a rather minor one, when Riley returns from his first assignment in the story, the ambulance shuttling him from the plane to the hospital is rerouted to a different hospital where his romantic partner is doing her residency. Naturally, she stumbles upon him in the emergency room. OK. I can give it a pass. A second coincidence is massively unbelievable in the sense that two earth-changing, time bending, science fictional events happen simultaneously and are completely independent of one another. That is, when this story moves into another realm, literally. Prior to that, there were hints of other worldly events; however, they could easily be chalked up to intuition or some gut feeling that is much more acceptable.
The third biggest coincidence, and this is truly a spoiler, is when Ridley finds some himself two and a half decades in the future, the first person he runs into is his son (which was no surprise at all), who was not born yet at the time of his departure a few days or two and a half decades before. Within an hour he realizes that this is his son and his son's twin is also present and he meets his romantic partner (the one doing her residence earlier) again and watches her die only to be reborn again when he returns to the present.
And then there's the cheery little epilogue where, except for one person, everybody lives happily ever after and rides off into the sunset.
My personal review ratings are based upon the following:
1 Star, “I did not like it or couldn’t finish it”;
2 Stars, “I think it is just Ok, but I’ll never think about it again”;
3 Stars, “I think it is an entertaining, enjoyable book, but it probably won’t warrant a reread”;
4 Stars, “I really love this book, and I may read it again”;
5 Stars, “I think this book is excellent, I will read it again, and it will likely stand the test of time.”
The Year of the Locust: "The Gray Man meets Back to the Future?" or "Mitch Rapp meets The Terminator." I can't decide... "Jason Bourne in the Mideast meets Planet of the Apes?"
A long wait for the anticipated second novel from Terry Hayes is over. Following 2013’s I Am Pilgrim, we now have The Year of the Locust, a confused, lost, and rambling long story of a restricted access CIA agent. This story crosses genre in an almost unforgivable manner. Across the genre is not a bad thing. For example, the excellent Paul Vidich story, The Letter Writer, is a combination of a dark gritty crime noir New York 1940s story mixed with the spy story. And it's brilliantly done. This story is a disorganized mess. Even though spy stories have some unrealistic scenes, they are for the most part based in reality. The fantasy or science fiction that dominates the second half of the novel leave any reader looking for some semblance of reality in the dust—or spoor, as it were.
In addition, there are multiple subplots going on as there were with his first story Pilgrim. Locust begins with the story of an agent who sold out his network for money who they call The Mage, the singular form of magi as in magician. After this Mage’s treacherous act of treason, he disappeared to the world—like a magician. The reader believes at this point that this is the focus of the novel, but it's not. It's a side story that starts the novel, pops up again in the middle, and pops up again at the end in an attempt to tie things together but adds little to the overall story. It’s too bad, because the story of the Mage could have been an interesting storyline on its own.
The first half of the novel could also have been an interesting storyline on its own, too, and then everything fell apart.
****SPOILER BELOW****
There are of course multiple coincidences in this novel that stretch the willing suspension of disbelief beyond the limits of elasticity. The first is a rather minor one, when Riley returns from his first assignment in the story, the ambulance shuttling him from the plane to the hospital is rerouted to a different hospital where his romantic partner is doing her residency. Naturally, she stumbles upon him in the emergency room. OK. I can give it a pass. A second coincidence is massively unbelievable in the sense that two earth-changing, time bending, science fictional events happen simultaneously and are completely independent of one another. That is, when this story moves into another realm, literally. Prior to that, there were hints of other worldly events; however, they could easily be chalked up to intuition or some gut feeling that is much more acceptable.
The third biggest coincidence, and this is truly a spoiler, is when Ridley finds some himself two and a half decades in the future, the first person he runs into is his son (which was no surprise at all), who was not born yet at the time of his departure a few days or two and a half decades before. Within an hour he realizes that this is his son and his son's twin is also present and he meets his romantic partner (the one doing her residence earlier) again and watches her die only to be reborn again when he returns to the present.
And then there's the cheery little epilogue where, except for one person, everybody lives happily ever after and rides off into the sunset.
My personal review ratings are based upon the following:
1 Star, “I did not like it or couldn’t finish it”;
2 Stars, “I think it is just Ok, but I’ll never think about it again”;
3 Stars, “I think it is an entertaining, enjoyable book, but it probably won’t warrant a reread”;
4 Stars, “I really love this book, and I may read it again”;
5 Stars, “I think this book is excellent, I will read it again, and it will likely stand the test of time.”
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Very entertaining page turner, would've given 5 stars.
But.... There are too many plot twists that are completely over the top.
It's like the author prompted this is in chat-gpt before starting his book. 'Please give a synopsis of: Tom clancy spy thriller vs Stephen Coonts submarine thriller vs hitman agent 47 (acceptable up to here) vs alien vs back to the future time travel vs Justin Cronin's the passage post apocalypse vs super human villain'
Two different books would've made tons more sense.
But.... There are too many plot twists that are completely over the top.
It's like the author prompted this is in chat-gpt before starting his book. 'Please give a synopsis of: Tom clancy spy thriller vs Stephen Coonts submarine thriller vs hitman agent 47 (acceptable up to here) vs alien vs back to the future time travel vs Justin Cronin's the passage post apocalypse vs super human villain'
Two different books would've made tons more sense.