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A review by jdemster
Those That Wake by Jesse Karp
4.0
This is a YA novel in tone and story, but the ideas that are wrestled with here are definitely adult. I love a book that challenges young folks (as well as us older ones) to grapple with big ideas...ideas not normally attributed to young kids in the first place.
The book certainly has its flaws. I would have liked for it to have been a bit longer as it's too focused on its characters to be truly story driven, but they aren't developed deeply enough to be truly character driven. But the story is just a good one. I'm reminded very much in some ways of two authors I like love very much, Stephen King and Margaret Atwood. The ensemble cast and sinister supernatural plot, with a touch of what we're all capable of in the ending, is very much King. I think specifically of The Mist (the story, not the butchered movie) or Cell. And the descriptions of descent into corporate America, and the inevitable consequences, as well as the talk about how ideas spread, reminds me of Oryx And Crake, one of my favorite books of all time. And while I personally would like to have one of either the characters or the story more flushed out, I will admit that the quick-read nature of the book means that the ideas just kinda linger.
It's a really fun and smart story for people who just love stories.
The book certainly has its flaws. I would have liked for it to have been a bit longer as it's too focused on its characters to be truly story driven, but they aren't developed deeply enough to be truly character driven. But the story is just a good one. I'm reminded very much in some ways of two authors I like love very much, Stephen King and Margaret Atwood. The ensemble cast and sinister supernatural plot, with a touch of what we're all capable of in the ending, is very much King. I think specifically of The Mist (the story, not the butchered movie) or Cell. And the descriptions of descent into corporate America, and the inevitable consequences, as well as the talk about how ideas spread, reminds me of Oryx And Crake, one of my favorite books of all time. And while I personally would like to have one of either the characters or the story more flushed out, I will admit that the quick-read nature of the book means that the ideas just kinda linger.
It's a really fun and smart story for people who just love stories.