Scan barcode
A review by slawler
The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams
4.0
I liked the premise of The Dirty Streets of Heaven, but I did need to push myself to finish it.
I liked the "flawed narrator" first-person POV we get with Bobby Dollar, but sometimes the monologue was so repetitive that I got bored. The complex plot with betrayals, liars, multiple players, and so many unknowns provided tons of opportunity for conjection and the theories that could have been so fun with this narration. Instead it was a lot of emotional rehashing of the action sequence that was just described.
The female characters were all one-dimensional sex objects, which I can tolerate when it's a product of the flawed narration POV. Bobby D is a womanizer, ok. But I need that to go somewhere or do something. Maybe the womanizing gumshoe has a character development arc about his relationships with women, maybe other characters offer a contrast, maybe the women are so badass that it's obvious, but there was none of that to save it, so maybe this book is just sexist.
Those are my two main complaints, and there is a lot to enjoy about this book, so while it didn't hit the mark for me, I'll probably read the next one in the series just to see. And I'll definitely read more Tad Williams.
I liked the "flawed narrator" first-person POV we get with Bobby Dollar, but sometimes the monologue was so repetitive that I got bored. The complex plot with betrayals, liars, multiple players, and so many unknowns provided tons of opportunity for conjection and the theories that could have been so fun with this narration. Instead it was a lot of emotional rehashing of the action sequence that was just described.
The female characters were all one-dimensional sex objects, which I can tolerate when it's a product of the flawed narration POV. Bobby D is a womanizer, ok. But I need that to go somewhere or do something. Maybe the womanizing gumshoe has a character development arc about his relationships with women, maybe other characters offer a contrast, maybe the women are so badass that it's obvious, but there was none of that to save it, so maybe this book is just sexist.
Those are my two main complaints, and there is a lot to enjoy about this book, so while it didn't hit the mark for me, I'll probably read the next one in the series just to see. And I'll definitely read more Tad Williams.