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lckrgr's review against another edition
4.0
So I received this book as a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway. Now that that is out of the way. I really enjoyed this book. I have somehow ended up reading a lot of post-apocalyptic killer flu remaking of society books this past year and this was no exception.
Percy does a great job with characterization making characters that are unique, passionate, and flawed. I appreciated that Lewis and Clark were not saintly protagonists. I like that the evil characters were really perverse yet always believe that they were doing what was "best."
But the biggest achievement of this novel was creating such an amazing and vivid universe for these characters to exist within. I wish I could explain this more coherently, but it was both astounding and frightening. His imagery was smart and as much as one can believe it to be true, a reasonable rendition of what a post-apocalyptic America would resemble.
On top of everything, I also just really liked that it was built around the Lewis and Clark explorations, that became very satisfyingly full circle by the end of the book.
Percy does a great job with characterization making characters that are unique, passionate, and flawed. I appreciated that Lewis and Clark were not saintly protagonists. I like that the evil characters were really perverse yet always believe that they were doing what was "best."
But the biggest achievement of this novel was creating such an amazing and vivid universe for these characters to exist within. I wish I could explain this more coherently, but it was both astounding and frightening. His imagery was smart and as much as one can believe it to be true, a reasonable rendition of what a post-apocalyptic America would resemble.
On top of everything, I also just really liked that it was built around the Lewis and Clark explorations, that became very satisfyingly full circle by the end of the book.
ajreader's review against another edition
3.0
Read my full thoughts on this and hundreds of other books over at Read.Write.Repeat.
Beautiful writing elevated this dystopia-meets-X-men novel to something I really enjoyed. The book is far from perfect, but the writing is beautiful and raw simultaneously and the premise is enough to keep fans of the genre engaged and entertained.
Beautiful writing elevated this dystopia-meets-X-men novel to something I really enjoyed. The book is far from perfect, but the writing is beautiful and raw simultaneously and the premise is enough to keep fans of the genre engaged and entertained.
katebullen's review against another edition
2.0
I was really into this for the first hundred pages or so, but as it went on it got slower and slower and lost my attention. It was trying to be way too many sub-genres at once and I think it lost its way. Disappointed... Especially because I loved it so much in the beginning.
vlmitchell's review against another edition
4.0
Meets criteria for Dystopian Novel for the 2016 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge
sk24's review against another edition
DNF at 131 pages
The main reason I put this book down was because, honestly, I was just bored.
While nothing was overly wrong with the book as a whole, I just couldn’t get into it. The plot was moving way too slow for my liking. I mean, 131 pages in and hardly anything had actually happened. It was just soooo slow.
I really didn’t feel any kind of connection with the characters. I’ve put it down and I can honestly say that I don’t have any interest in what happens.
Aside from my obvious disinterest in this book, the writing and world building is good. While this book will most likely appeal to some, it just doesn’t do it for me.
The main reason I put this book down was because, honestly, I was just bored.
While nothing was overly wrong with the book as a whole, I just couldn’t get into it. The plot was moving way too slow for my liking. I mean, 131 pages in and hardly anything had actually happened. It was just soooo slow.
I really didn’t feel any kind of connection with the characters. I’ve put it down and I can honestly say that I don’t have any interest in what happens.
Aside from my obvious disinterest in this book, the writing and world building is good. While this book will most likely appeal to some, it just doesn’t do it for me.
lavoiture's review against another edition
3.0
More like a 3.5. Interesting idea for a post-apocaplypic America. The idea of a new Lewis and Clark was both cute and kind of silly.
Anyway, there will clearly be a next week, and I'll read it.
Anyway, there will clearly be a next week, and I'll read it.
davygibbs's review against another edition
2.0
There's an excellent book in here somewhere, and fortunately for us, it's already been written. It's called Swan Song, and was written by Robert McCammon -- a pulp horror writer with few literary pretensions -- way back in 1987. It's the same story -- a motley group of survivors with a reluctant, semi-mystical leader trudge across post-apocalyptic America in order to overtake someone evil and lay the foundations for a new society. The parallels don't stop there -- actually, they go on and on, but I won't get into that here. And I won't call McCammon a better writer than Benjamin Percy, but Swan Song is a better-written book than The Dead Lands. And it's far more enjoyable.
Percy's writing is streaky: when he's on, he's on, and his writing has momentum and fluidity. When he's writing at peak inspiration, the book just dashes away in your hands, and it's a joy to read. But those moments are too few and far between in The Dead Lands. Too many looong passages feel slogged-through, and the writing becomes a bit more desperate. During these lulls, Percy sounds something like a Neil Gaiman or a Chuck Palahniuk -- but before you get all excited, I should say I'm not fond of either of those writers. There's a hefty dose of edgy machismo in the prose that gets under my skin and comes off the page awkwardly. You get overzealous analogies and frantic, grasping sentences that sound like they were intended to be zingers. You cringe a little.
Structurally, the book accelerates all the way to the end, but the going is too slow in the beginning, and way, way too fast at the end. For a book about an epic journey, with an arc so predictable you could set your watch by it -- not necessarily a criticism -- we readers want something fulfilling at the end. Something glorious and explosive and gratuitous. This book is 400 pages long, split between two narratives -- and neither one approaches the climax until page 350. That leaves, oh, about 25 pages for each major thread of the story to resolve, all at once, and the whole thing feels incredibly rushed. Entire epic battles take place off-screen (which is intensely frustrating), and the grand face-off between our two principle characters isn't face-to-face at all! It feels as if there's very little at stake when we know that's not true.
I'm a sucker for the post-apocalyptic roadtrip novel, so this book wasn't without its pleasures. But in the end they were overshadowed by tedium, testosterone, angst, and monotony, and even when something really cool was happening (hello, giant albino vampire bats in the cellar), the writing felt clamped down and self-aware. Respected writers of literary fiction have excelled in this genre before -- see: Cronin's The Passage, Mandel's Station Eleven, Gaylord/Bell's The Reapers Are the Angels -- but if Percy wants to join that club, he might need to relax his pen a bit and have some fun.
Percy's writing is streaky: when he's on, he's on, and his writing has momentum and fluidity. When he's writing at peak inspiration, the book just dashes away in your hands, and it's a joy to read. But those moments are too few and far between in The Dead Lands. Too many looong passages feel slogged-through, and the writing becomes a bit more desperate. During these lulls, Percy sounds something like a Neil Gaiman or a Chuck Palahniuk -- but before you get all excited, I should say I'm not fond of either of those writers. There's a hefty dose of edgy machismo in the prose that gets under my skin and comes off the page awkwardly. You get overzealous analogies and frantic, grasping sentences that sound like they were intended to be zingers. You cringe a little.
Structurally, the book accelerates all the way to the end, but the going is too slow in the beginning, and way, way too fast at the end. For a book about an epic journey, with an arc so predictable you could set your watch by it -- not necessarily a criticism -- we readers want something fulfilling at the end. Something glorious and explosive and gratuitous. This book is 400 pages long, split between two narratives -- and neither one approaches the climax until page 350. That leaves, oh, about 25 pages for each major thread of the story to resolve, all at once, and the whole thing feels incredibly rushed. Entire epic battles take place off-screen (which is intensely frustrating), and the grand face-off between our two principle characters isn't face-to-face at all! It feels as if there's very little at stake when we know that's not true.
I'm a sucker for the post-apocalyptic roadtrip novel, so this book wasn't without its pleasures. But in the end they were overshadowed by tedium, testosterone, angst, and monotony, and even when something really cool was happening (hello, giant albino vampire bats in the cellar), the writing felt clamped down and self-aware. Respected writers of literary fiction have excelled in this genre before -- see: Cronin's The Passage, Mandel's Station Eleven, Gaylord/Bell's The Reapers Are the Angels -- but if Percy wants to join that club, he might need to relax his pen a bit and have some fun.
wilcoc's review against another edition
3.0
I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway so here's and honest review.
*SPOILERS* I was excited to read this and it turn out I both like it and hated it.
I liked the setting for the book but didn't really care for the fantasy side of things like large animals or even humans with super hero like abilities (I don't hate stories about people with powers, but it seemed out of place in this particular story). At times, it seemed like the author was trying too hard with the way he worded certain lines. Overall though, his writing was OK, but nothing spectacular.
I thought the characters were somewhat interesting but not so much that I missed them when he killed some of them off. It was more of a "oh. that sucks." kind of moment when it did happen.
Towards the end it did begin to remind me of the show Revolution. It does also seem like there could be a sequel, but with a 3 star review I'm torn on whether or not I'd read it. It might be interesting to see where the story goes, though.
*SPOILERS* I was excited to read this and it turn out I both like it and hated it.
I liked the setting for the book but didn't really care for the fantasy side of things like large animals or even humans with super hero like abilities (I don't hate stories about people with powers, but it seemed out of place in this particular story). At times, it seemed like the author was trying too hard with the way he worded certain lines. Overall though, his writing was OK, but nothing spectacular.
I thought the characters were somewhat interesting but not so much that I missed them when he killed some of them off. It was more of a "oh. that sucks." kind of moment when it did happen.
Towards the end it did begin to remind me of the show Revolution. It does also seem like there could be a sequel, but with a 3 star review I'm torn on whether or not I'd read it. It might be interesting to see where the story goes, though.
pieceofmind's review against another edition
3.0
I think if I hadn't read Station Eleven so recently, I would have enjoyed this more. I was immediately pulled in by the fact that it takes place in a post-apocalyptic St. Louis, and I did enjoy the concept, but it felt like it wasn't always entirely sure what it wanted to be.
alice_digest's review against another edition
2.0
I have no idea why I bothered to finish this as the ending was not worth it. I skim read the last half of the book just in case anything good happened.
It's *fine* ... It's nothing groundbreaking or particularly original feeling, it could have done with the whole Slade and Ella subplot editing out. All the villains are A LOT and could have toned it down significantly. None of them feel human or even clever, they're all just psychotic cartoon characters.
I only liked the characters Ella and Simon but their chapters all had Slade in so they were the worst and I hated it!
Lewis and Clarke and co took forever on their journey which was boring despite mutant spiders, and felt incredibly repetitive. I also wasn't invested in any of them so it was care to care how they were getting on.
I did like the premise and the world but there wasn't enough there in the characters for me to enjoy it.
It's *fine* ... It's nothing groundbreaking or particularly original feeling, it could have done with the whole Slade and Ella subplot editing out. All the villains are A LOT and could have toned it down significantly. None of them feel human or even clever, they're all just psychotic cartoon characters.
I only liked the characters Ella and Simon but their chapters all had Slade in so they were the worst and I hated it!
Lewis and Clarke and co took forever on their journey which was boring despite mutant spiders, and felt incredibly repetitive. I also wasn't invested in any of them so it was care to care how they were getting on.
I did like the premise and the world but there wasn't enough there in the characters for me to enjoy it.