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A review by gabeisnotanangel
The Cormorant by Chuck Wendig
3.0
I'd give this a 3.5 if I could. I'll also add the caveat that I didn't know it was a series so this is the first book I read. Wendig however does a pretty amazing job of giving you an information to keep you going without bogging down the current story. In fact, Wendig is a brilliant craftmaster, which doesn't surprise me as a long time fan of his blog. At times the story shone, moved you, and really pushed you into some dark important places.
But...
Well I hated Miriam Black. At the end, she came to slightly redeem herself but mostly I just thought she acted like a whiney little brat. Yes her back story was tragic. Yes her "gift" was more like a curse. Yes her mother sucked. But there was just something so incredibly grating about her. I wanted to smack her in the mouth. But I think some of it is a plot device a lot of gritty writers use. Look my character is in major danger and getting the crap beat out of them so what do they do? They get smart mouth.
And the FBI agents. Just not buying it. It felt weird and kind of eh. I hated the back and forth. Hated that these agents just picked her up "off the books." Just felt so out of place and frankly unneeded.
Lastly, the pacing of the book didn't hook me. In fact, I almost quit reading about 20 pages in. Once I hit about 150 pages, I was hooked and couldn't put the book down. I never liked Black but I needed to know what happened to her.
I'll for sure read the other books, and read more by Wendig.
But...
Well I hated Miriam Black. At the end, she came to slightly redeem herself but mostly I just thought she acted like a whiney little brat. Yes her back story was tragic. Yes her "gift" was more like a curse. Yes her mother sucked. But there was just something so incredibly grating about her. I wanted to smack her in the mouth. But I think some of it is a plot device a lot of gritty writers use. Look my character is in major danger and getting the crap beat out of them so what do they do? They get smart mouth.
And the FBI agents. Just not buying it. It felt weird and kind of eh. I hated the back and forth. Hated that these agents just picked her up "off the books." Just felt so out of place and frankly unneeded.
Lastly, the pacing of the book didn't hook me. In fact, I almost quit reading about 20 pages in. Once I hit about 150 pages, I was hooked and couldn't put the book down. I never liked Black but I needed to know what happened to her.
I'll for sure read the other books, and read more by Wendig.