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brandonadaniels's review against another edition
5.0
A nightmarish, more Lovecraftian X-Files. Short, but very dense. For fans of the Image Comics series The Department of Truth and those who hoped True Detective season 1 was going to be weirder. I tried listening to it on Hoopla first, but, while the narration was great, I struggled to get my footing because of how idea packed each paragraph was. Looking forward to the sequel!
ccreadz's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
It wasnt bad, but unfortunately it got the most interesting when it was ending.
polyphonic_reads's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
liketheday's review
3.0
This is a weird little book. I was drawn in by the premise, but the style and the writing (and the two glaring typos) were not a good fit for me. It reminded me a little of the experience of reading River of Teeth, except that I actually liked this one. :-D I think it helped that I enjoy the ambiance of a good weird speculative fiction story more than that of a possibly good weird western story.
stephenmeansme's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars rounded up. I like the idea, but I'm not completely sure about Kiernan's style here. She seems to be going for a postmodern thing, using a blizzard of cliches, and I worry it might be a bit too much. It makes most of the characters' voices seem a bit too samey. It feels like padding in other places.
I will keep reading, probably her short story collection DEAR SWEET FILTHY WORLD, before I come to a firmer judgment. Still, I think this is proof that writing "the weird" is damned hard.
I will keep reading, probably her short story collection DEAR SWEET FILTHY WORLD, before I come to a firmer judgment. Still, I think this is proof that writing "the weird" is damned hard.
mamimitanaka's review
4.0
My biggest complaint with this is that it's almost too short - but that being said it's clearly meant to be the first piece of a larger puzzle, but as far as "set up" goes it's probably one of the most gripping first entries to a spec-fic series I can think of reading in quite awhile. This employs Kiernan's expected interest in the Cthulhu Mythos as usual, but as far as direct references go it's a bit more in the background this time, and what's at focus here is a phantasmagoric sense of setting, form and tone - Kiernan moves effortlessly back and forth between a few revolving perspective characters, sometimes switching tense entirely and through first person and omniscient perspectives, and jumps through time with the ease and elegance of an acrobatic. And as usual Kiernan has an absolute mastery of precise prose threaded together by an immensely weighty sensation of tension and release, which when combined with the imagery just makes for writing that hypnotizes in its languid choreography, as easily used to evoke dark beauty as unfiltered dread. I can't do it justice with my own lousy description but there's this part where the narrative moves backwards in time by decades with a half-sentence remark of turning a watch back the exact however many thousand number of times [I don't recall the exact number] until it lands on the date they then proceed to detail, I mean that's just clever and seamless on a level the vast majority of modern fantasy authors would not consider at all. The way they word stuff is just unmatched, the visions I get in my mind's eye when reading Kiernan's prose is as crystal clear as watching a film, and one that's in HD if anything.
I also like how Kiernan's playing at a larger scale narrative here while also clever enough to avoid the pitfalls of spec-fic series openers who just sort of introduce the world and then wait for the rest of the entries to make it make sense; what's already on display here works perfectly well by itself. It's a science fiction narrative playing at cosmic horror first and foremost, but it's woven together with conspiratorial overtones, themes of government control and coercion and grooming of the vulnerable by doomsday cults [whose power is compared and contrasted against the vast hands of state power the protagonist doubtingly holds duty to], Tarot lore and hints at magic, Biblical and mythological undertones, and plenty more. It's all got the makings of something enormous but Kiernan's incredible control over the narrative swell makes it all feel scaled back while never diminishing its impact, and what many science fiction authors would spend entire novels on Kiernan effortlessly introduces, expands, and summates in five pages, while always keeping the door open for more, both in potential extrapolation of already extant themes or things unknown branching off from them. A 4/5 but definitely on the higher end, probably my second favorite of their full lengths I've read so far after "The Red Tree". Will check out the sequel ASAP.
I also like how Kiernan's playing at a larger scale narrative here while also clever enough to avoid the pitfalls of spec-fic series openers who just sort of introduce the world and then wait for the rest of the entries to make it make sense; what's already on display here works perfectly well by itself. It's a science fiction narrative playing at cosmic horror first and foremost, but it's woven together with conspiratorial overtones, themes of government control and coercion and grooming of the vulnerable by doomsday cults [whose power is compared and contrasted against the vast hands of state power the protagonist doubtingly holds duty to], Tarot lore and hints at magic, Biblical and mythological undertones, and plenty more. It's all got the makings of something enormous but Kiernan's incredible control over the narrative swell makes it all feel scaled back while never diminishing its impact, and what many science fiction authors would spend entire novels on Kiernan effortlessly introduces, expands, and summates in five pages, while always keeping the door open for more, both in potential extrapolation of already extant themes or things unknown branching off from them. A 4/5 but definitely on the higher end, probably my second favorite of their full lengths I've read so far after "The Red Tree". Will check out the sequel ASAP.
jorgefernandez's review against another edition
3.0
Mantiene la tensión hasta el punto final, pero queda claro que es el prólogo de "algo más". Veremos.
dantastic's review
4.0
A government agent called The Signalman has a meeting with a mysterious woman in Winslow, Arizona about a bizarre cult murder near the Salton Sea days earlier. But what do those events have to do with the New Horizons space probe and a black and white movie penned by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Despite my resolve to take on as few ARCs as possible this year, I couldn't resist this one when it popped up on Netgalley. It sounded wonderfully bizarre and it was.
Much like half of the books I've read so far in 2017, Agents of Dreamland is a modern Lovecraft tale of sorts, a tale of madness, alien fungus, shady government dealings, and an apocalypse on the horizon. There are a ton of ideas and hints in this novella, enough to fuel my imagination long after I finished it.
The Signalman is just a few years from retirement and fighting for every inch in that direction. Immacolata is a mysterious woman who knows many things she shouldn't. When she gives the Signalman her briefcase, his life gets several shades worse. The Fungi from Yuggoth are one of my favorite Lovecraftian baddies and they probably don't get enough press. Agents of Dreamland pushes them to their full potential, making for a chilling read.
Since it's a novella, I don't want to say much more. Suffice to say, Agents of Dreamland is a gripping read that blends Lovecraftian lore with conspiracy theories into a slick package brimming with ideas. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Despite my resolve to take on as few ARCs as possible this year, I couldn't resist this one when it popped up on Netgalley. It sounded wonderfully bizarre and it was.
Much like half of the books I've read so far in 2017, Agents of Dreamland is a modern Lovecraft tale of sorts, a tale of madness, alien fungus, shady government dealings, and an apocalypse on the horizon. There are a ton of ideas and hints in this novella, enough to fuel my imagination long after I finished it.
The Signalman is just a few years from retirement and fighting for every inch in that direction. Immacolata is a mysterious woman who knows many things she shouldn't. When she gives the Signalman her briefcase, his life gets several shades worse. The Fungi from Yuggoth are one of my favorite Lovecraftian baddies and they probably don't get enough press. Agents of Dreamland pushes them to their full potential, making for a chilling read.
Since it's a novella, I don't want to say much more. Suffice to say, Agents of Dreamland is a gripping read that blends Lovecraftian lore with conspiracy theories into a slick package brimming with ideas. 4.5 out of 5 stars.