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A review by trish204
Dark Star by Oliver Langmead
5.0
So this is an author I had never heard of before. The novel was suggested because of its unusual form (the entire story is told as a poem which you don't see too often, especially nowadays).
The story is rather simple: a girl from an upper class family is found dead, her entire blood exchanged for a luminous drug. A detective is trying to solve the case, hindered by his own addiction and some outside circumstances.
Except for the luminous drug, this could be your run-of-the-mill crime noir story. And to some extend it is. However, there IS the scifi element to consider what with this most definitely not happening on Earth () and the science behind the drug / society.
Add to that the fact that this entire novel is a poem, as mentioned before, and you get one hell of a combination. True, the poetic form didn't shine through too much in the audio version I went for (it's not your typical rhyming poetry so it sounded as if the detective of a movie was telling you his story of this particular case), but the book was so good that that only made me consider getting the printed edition. And yes, the gorgeous cover is adding to that desire.
Don't let the shortness of my review mislead you: this was a very fun and entertaining read and the writing style flowed nicely and was beautiful. But I also don't want to give away too much, instead you need to experience the story and its form of delivery for yourself.
The story is rather simple: a girl from an upper class family is found dead, her entire blood exchanged for a luminous drug. A detective is trying to solve the case, hindered by his own addiction and some outside circumstances.
Except for the luminous drug, this could be your run-of-the-mill crime noir story. And to some extend it is. However, there IS the scifi element to consider what with this most definitely not happening on Earth (
Spoiler
unless this is all a metaphor for hell - everything is up for interpretation in this book, I chose the alien planetAdd to that the fact that this entire novel is a poem, as mentioned before, and you get one hell of a combination. True, the poetic form didn't shine through too much in the audio version I went for (it's not your typical rhyming poetry so it sounded as if the detective of a movie was telling you his story of this particular case), but the book was so good that that only made me consider getting the printed edition. And yes, the gorgeous cover is adding to that desire.
Don't let the shortness of my review mislead you: this was a very fun and entertaining read and the writing style flowed nicely and was beautiful. But I also don't want to give away too much, instead you need to experience the story and its form of delivery for yourself.