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A review by ggallinot
Full Throttle: Stories by Joe Hill
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
So I’m going to review each story and average it for the average of the book. Overall, I found the stories pretty slow, underwhelming, and relatively unoriginal, with most of them being retreads of greater tales of each stories genre (which Hill sort of admits to and isn’t innately bad but… I don’t think these stories stand on the shoulders of their predecessors as much as they sort of play in the sand at their feet).
Introduction: 1/5. This is getting a review because it’s treated, by Hill, with the same import, having its own notes in the back. Hill spends tons of words explaining he’s not a product of nepotism while also stating he had some of the best learning experiences from many writers due to the fact he lived in the home of the King. King has both collaborated and edited some of these works, many of which date back well before its publication so there’s something dishonest about claiming this is his first time “owning his lineage.” I don’t have a problem with nepotism it’s just part of nature but to claim being the son of King didn’t help him at all is wholly naive and wreaks of self-doubt. I like Hill a lot (LOVED Strange Weather) I just don’t think this is his best look in this moment.
Throttle: 4/5. I actually really liked this one I thought it was one of the stronger ones in the series. I think it’s cleanly packaged and very interested, with a pretty captivating journey through the eyes of the father of an unsalvageable son.
Dark Carousel: 3/5. Right down the middle. Spooky, creepy, kinda right down the middle. Evil animals attack the kids who messed with part of their pack. It was entertaining!
Wolverton Station: 2.5/5. Eh. Interesting premise. Dragged at times. Guy is afraid he’ll get eaten by wolf people gets eaten by wolf people. Though the atmosphere and lore of “how did this happen” is certainly thought provoking.
By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain: 1.5/5. Slow. Plodding. Don’t even remember most of it at this point. Didn’t really stick.
Faun: 2/5. Interesting premise. I really like Hill’s thoughts on this - a “Narnia” discovered by mercantiles. But I think he gets in his own way. The relationships confused me and the plot was kinda slow. I actually think this would fair better as a novella or full length.
Late Returns: 4/5: Very unique! A touching story. Doesn’t get higher because it clearly glosses over the “rules” of time travel. Found that a bit sloppy.
All I Care About is You: 4.5/5. One of my faves in the series! Unique! Great world building. Love the ending.
Thumbprint: 1/5. VERY unlikeable characters (which may be the point but I think it was too much and the way Hill talks about the main character I think he wanted there to be some sense of sympathy for her. There was not). I didn’t find the story suspenseful or interesting. Occasionally, Hill writes “shock” dialogue rife with homophobia, Islamophobia, discrimination, etc. in ways that I feel are less illustrative to the story and more just gratuitous for the sake of being taboo. It inundated this story.
The Devil on the Staircase: 1/5. This one was just slow and pretty unoriginal. Spooky staircase with spooky child of the Devil doing spooky things. Felt like a run of the mill creepypasta.
Twittering from the Circus of the Dead: 3/5. It was fun! Hill did pretty well with the “twitter” format and I enjoyed the preplanned typos. Story itself was just really, REALLY straightforward. It felt less like a story and more of a practice try in writing in a unique form. Felt very unfinished.
Mums: 2/5. Nah. Zombie plant ladies stop national extremists just didn’t hit. It wanted to be taken as a serious, moving, deep piece which just exacerbated the issue. Couldn’t buy in. “Mums become moms” is just… too silly to not BE silly.
In the Talk Grass: 2.5/5. Also… nah. Felt weird coming right after another evil plant story. The premise was cool, some of the moments well written. But again, I think it dipped its toes into gratuitously violent language needlessly. The violent miscarriage is just cringe. I don’t think being that graphic helps. In fact I think it hurts. Sometimes more can be gained by maintaining mystery and subtlety.
You are Released: 2/5. Eh. Good premise. Didn’t think it was very gripping. I also think this is yet another example of hate-language getting a bit egregious. Every line out of the mouth of one character is a canned “stereotype” line followed by a “what do you mean THESE people or THOSE people” by characters, one of which is referred to as “the Jew” who is described by the narrator as something like “couldn’t look more like a Jew if he had the curls and hat.” I mean… this is NOT a graceful way to describe a character, particularly by an ambivalent narrator. Unsavory dialogue sneaking in as basic character description is a huge overstep and tells you everything you need to know about whether or not these type of lines are sometimes put in for unnecessary, unwarranted reasons.
This is a 2.42. It gets a round DOWN because Hill claims that story collections should have an understated throughline and arc. Given that most of these were discretely published separately beforehand, that obviously didn’t happen and it also didn’t feel like that way at ALL. So, I bump it down because it doesn’t achieve something Hill himself says he is trying to do with it.
Introduction: 1/5. This is getting a review because it’s treated, by Hill, with the same import, having its own notes in the back. Hill spends tons of words explaining he’s not a product of nepotism while also stating he had some of the best learning experiences from many writers due to the fact he lived in the home of the King. King has both collaborated and edited some of these works, many of which date back well before its publication so there’s something dishonest about claiming this is his first time “owning his lineage.” I don’t have a problem with nepotism it’s just part of nature but to claim being the son of King didn’t help him at all is wholly naive and wreaks of self-doubt. I like Hill a lot (LOVED Strange Weather) I just don’t think this is his best look in this moment.
Throttle: 4/5. I actually really liked this one I thought it was one of the stronger ones in the series. I think it’s cleanly packaged and very interested, with a pretty captivating journey through the eyes of the father of an unsalvageable son.
Dark Carousel: 3/5. Right down the middle. Spooky, creepy, kinda right down the middle. Evil animals attack the kids who messed with part of their pack. It was entertaining!
Wolverton Station: 2.5/5. Eh. Interesting premise. Dragged at times. Guy is afraid he’ll get eaten by wolf people gets eaten by wolf people. Though the atmosphere and lore of “how did this happen” is certainly thought provoking.
By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain: 1.5/5. Slow. Plodding. Don’t even remember most of it at this point. Didn’t really stick.
Faun: 2/5. Interesting premise. I really like Hill’s thoughts on this - a “Narnia” discovered by mercantiles. But I think he gets in his own way. The relationships confused me and the plot was kinda slow. I actually think this would fair better as a novella or full length.
Late Returns: 4/5: Very unique! A touching story. Doesn’t get higher because it clearly glosses over the “rules” of time travel. Found that a bit sloppy.
All I Care About is You: 4.5/5. One of my faves in the series! Unique! Great world building. Love the ending.
Thumbprint: 1/5. VERY unlikeable characters (which may be the point but I think it was too much and the way Hill talks about the main character I think he wanted there to be some sense of sympathy for her. There was not). I didn’t find the story suspenseful or interesting. Occasionally, Hill writes “shock” dialogue rife with homophobia, Islamophobia, discrimination, etc. in ways that I feel are less illustrative to the story and more just gratuitous for the sake of being taboo. It inundated this story.
The Devil on the Staircase: 1/5. This one was just slow and pretty unoriginal. Spooky staircase with spooky child of the Devil doing spooky things. Felt like a run of the mill creepypasta.
Twittering from the Circus of the Dead: 3/5. It was fun! Hill did pretty well with the “twitter” format and I enjoyed the preplanned typos. Story itself was just really, REALLY straightforward. It felt less like a story and more of a practice try in writing in a unique form. Felt very unfinished.
Mums: 2/5. Nah. Zombie plant ladies stop national extremists just didn’t hit. It wanted to be taken as a serious, moving, deep piece which just exacerbated the issue. Couldn’t buy in. “Mums become moms” is just… too silly to not BE silly.
In the Talk Grass: 2.5/5. Also… nah. Felt weird coming right after another evil plant story. The premise was cool, some of the moments well written. But again, I think it dipped its toes into gratuitously violent language needlessly. The violent miscarriage is just cringe. I don’t think being that graphic helps. In fact I think it hurts. Sometimes more can be gained by maintaining mystery and subtlety.
You are Released: 2/5. Eh. Good premise. Didn’t think it was very gripping. I also think this is yet another example of hate-language getting a bit egregious. Every line out of the mouth of one character is a canned “stereotype” line followed by a “what do you mean THESE people or THOSE people” by characters, one of which is referred to as “the Jew” who is described by the narrator as something like “couldn’t look more like a Jew if he had the curls and hat.” I mean… this is NOT a graceful way to describe a character, particularly by an ambivalent narrator. Unsavory dialogue sneaking in as basic character description is a huge overstep and tells you everything you need to know about whether or not these type of lines are sometimes put in for unnecessary, unwarranted reasons.
This is a 2.42. It gets a round DOWN because Hill claims that story collections should have an understated throughline and arc. Given that most of these were discretely published separately beforehand, that obviously didn’t happen and it also didn’t feel like that way at ALL. So, I bump it down because it doesn’t achieve something Hill himself says he is trying to do with it.