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A review by archaicrobin
The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey, Cassandra Khaw
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I am a huge fan of Khaw’s horror fiction, her prose is dynamic and visceral while still remaining beautiful at the same time. Nothing But Blackened Teeth is one of my favorite horror novellas of all time.
I was expecting this dreadful type of horror when I started this audiobook and quickly realized this was not the haunting book I expected, but the genre of action/horror.
The narrator was over the top, with a different voice for each character which did help distinguish between the 50 different people in this book, but that did not make up for how annoying the voices could be. The narrator was over the top because the characters were edgy, hardcore, comic book characters that seemed more like caricatures than actual people by the end of the novel because the pacing is so off and there are so many of them.
I’ll admit I’m a character reader, if I’m reading over the top horror I need to care about the characters in some way to find it interesting and I just could not relate or care about any of these characters because there were just too many of them.
Essentially, this book had too many characters, too many pov switches, too many ideas, too many cliches, and too many plot points all thrown into one novel. It feels like you need to go into the story already knowing so much about this world and its characters which I don’t feel like we really get. Instead we get an other scene introducing ANOTHER new character in some edgy, gore filled way. It’s just too much for me.
I will not be continuing this series because the books are not something that interests me. I continue to look forward to future work by Khaw but won’t be recommending this one.
I was expecting this dreadful type of horror when I started this audiobook and quickly realized this was not the haunting book I expected, but the genre of action/horror.
The narrator was over the top, with a different voice for each character which did help distinguish between the 50 different people in this book, but that did not make up for how annoying the voices could be. The narrator was over the top because the characters were edgy, hardcore, comic book characters that seemed more like caricatures than actual people by the end of the novel because the pacing is so off and there are so many of them.
I’ll admit I’m a character reader, if I’m reading over the top horror I need to care about the characters in some way to find it interesting and I just could not relate or care about any of these characters because there were just too many of them.
Essentially, this book had too many characters, too many pov switches, too many ideas, too many cliches, and too many plot points all thrown into one novel. It feels like you need to go into the story already knowing so much about this world and its characters which I don’t feel like we really get. Instead we get an other scene introducing ANOTHER new character in some edgy, gore filled way. It’s just too much for me.
I will not be continuing this series because the books are not something that interests me. I continue to look forward to future work by Khaw but won’t be recommending this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Death, Violence, Alcoholism, Body horror, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail