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jenna_birdy 's review for:
Unbury Carol
by Josh Malerman
What can I say about Unbury Carol? This book was certainly a slog for me and if I hadn't been given a digital ARC through Netgalley I probably wouldn't have finished it. Overall this one just didn't grab me. I felt no motivation to pick it up even during times I would usually be reading. But it wasn't all bad. It did have some promising aspects that I wish had been explored in greater depth. I'll break it down like this (possible spoilers ahead!):
What I Liked:
--The world was unique. The Trail sounds like a fascinating place and was certainly spooky. I liked the idea of outlaws wandering a creepy supernatural forest and getting into trouble.
--Some characters were interesting. Mostly side and background people unfortunately--the other outlaws, the trail watchers, etc. I wanted to know more about those people and explore their lives in more detail.
What I Didn't Like
--So many plot holes and generally weak plotting. I'll buy the Carol falls into these deathlike comas, but why is it a secret? Why doesn't her husband just smother her? Seems easier than his guilt trip into madness worrying if she's going to wake up. Basically the whole book could have been avoided with a few simple decisions on our villain's part and the reasons for them not happening were pretty lame.
--Our bad guy was really lame in the end. For most of the book we follow both James Moxie and the outlaw Smoke who was hired to kill Moxie before he could rescue Carol. We spend SO MUCH TIME with him. Probable more than with Moxie honestly. And granted he was interesting! I wanted to know more about him (he was certainly more interesting than Moxie). But when it comes down to it, he did basically nothing. So why all the chapters about him?
--Our heroes are sketchy at best. After reading this book I could not tell you ONE thing about Carol that is not on the back of the book. She is a woman. She falls into deathlike comas. That's it. Supposedly everyone likes her, but they never explain why or what she does in town other than be rich. Same with Moxie--he's an outlaw who feels guilty about leaving Carol when they were young. He's possibly magical, but it's never clear. If I'm supposed to be rooting for these people I need to know why.
--Random demon thing? What was the point of that? And why does it even care about Carol? Again the explanation for Rot's motivation was sketchy at best.
--The deus ex machina of an ending that basically rendered every page of this book pointless and unnecessary. Seriously, it's existence wasn't even a surprise to Carol so I have no idea what the point of this book even was. It just sucked any tension that may have existed in the narrative right out.
In my opinion it's worth reading only if you're a huge fan of the author or feel compelled to read every weird western that's published. The world building is interesting and the only thing that saves this from being a 1 star.
What I Liked:
--The world was unique. The Trail sounds like a fascinating place and was certainly spooky. I liked the idea of outlaws wandering a creepy supernatural forest and getting into trouble.
--Some characters were interesting. Mostly side and background people unfortunately--the other outlaws, the trail watchers, etc. I wanted to know more about those people and explore their lives in more detail.
What I Didn't Like
--So many plot holes and generally weak plotting. I'll buy the Carol falls into these deathlike comas, but why is it a secret? Why doesn't her husband just smother her? Seems easier than his guilt trip into madness worrying if she's going to wake up. Basically the whole book could have been avoided with a few simple decisions on our villain's part and the reasons for them not happening were pretty lame.
--Our bad guy was really lame in the end. For most of the book we follow both James Moxie and the outlaw Smoke who was hired to kill Moxie before he could rescue Carol. We spend SO MUCH TIME with him. Probable more than with Moxie honestly. And granted he was interesting! I wanted to know more about him (he was certainly more interesting than Moxie). But when it comes down to it, he did basically nothing. So why all the chapters about him?
--Our heroes are sketchy at best. After reading this book I could not tell you ONE thing about Carol that is not on the back of the book. She is a woman. She falls into deathlike comas. That's it. Supposedly everyone likes her, but they never explain why or what she does in town other than be rich. Same with Moxie--he's an outlaw who feels guilty about leaving Carol when they were young. He's possibly magical, but it's never clear. If I'm supposed to be rooting for these people I need to know why.
--Random demon thing? What was the point of that? And why does it even care about Carol? Again the explanation for Rot's motivation was sketchy at best.
--The deus ex machina of an ending that basically rendered every page of this book pointless and unnecessary. Seriously, it's existence wasn't even a surprise to Carol so I have no idea what the point of this book even was. It just sucked any tension that may have existed in the narrative right out.
In my opinion it's worth reading only if you're a huge fan of the author or feel compelled to read every weird western that's published. The world building is interesting and the only thing that saves this from being a 1 star.