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susiesbookreviews 's review for:
The Year of the Locust
by Terry Hayes
I Am Pilgrim is one of my all-time favourite books. I don’t read a lot of spy fiction but it’s a book I couldn’t put down and it’s one I’ve re-read, despite it being over 900 pages long. I’d been eagerly anticipating the release of The Year Of The Locust, waiting nine long years to get my hands on it. So, did it live up to my expectations?
Locust starts off exactly as I expected: American CIA spy out to save the world from a deadly terrorist threat. I raced through the first 200 pages (this book is noticeably shorter than Pilgrim at 660 pages) and was really enjoying it, even though it didn’t feel quite as strong a story as it’s predecessor. It was at this point that the plot started to feel a bit disjointed and sadly things only got worse from this point on.
I won’t give any spoilers but this is not your standard spy novel. It’s a genre-bending story which I’m not sure I would have finished if it had been written by another author. It has elements of sci-fi and speculative fiction which I wasn’t expecting and didn’t particularly enjoy within this novel. The story is written in the first person, narrated by our main character, and this just took all the tension out of the plot for me as we know he survives everything that’s thrown at him! The ending is very neatly tied up in a bow and it all just felt way too far-fetched.
I actually think there will be a lot of people out there who enjoy this book, especially if you’re more of a sci-fi lover. It’s a very readable book with Hayes signature short chapters so the length doesn’t feel too daunting. Whilst the story does shoot off on multiple tangents they are all addressed in the end and there’s some very clever bits of writing.
I’m not sure it’s a book I can fully recommend based on my own thoughts but I’ve tried to give a balanced review. I’ve heard Hayes is currently writing Pilgrim 2 and I’ll definitely read that one when it comes out - hopefully not in another nine years though!
Locust starts off exactly as I expected: American CIA spy out to save the world from a deadly terrorist threat. I raced through the first 200 pages (this book is noticeably shorter than Pilgrim at 660 pages) and was really enjoying it, even though it didn’t feel quite as strong a story as it’s predecessor. It was at this point that the plot started to feel a bit disjointed and sadly things only got worse from this point on.
I won’t give any spoilers but this is not your standard spy novel. It’s a genre-bending story which I’m not sure I would have finished if it had been written by another author. It has elements of sci-fi and speculative fiction which I wasn’t expecting and didn’t particularly enjoy within this novel. The story is written in the first person, narrated by our main character, and this just took all the tension out of the plot for me as we know he survives everything that’s thrown at him! The ending is very neatly tied up in a bow and it all just felt way too far-fetched.
I actually think there will be a lot of people out there who enjoy this book, especially if you’re more of a sci-fi lover. It’s a very readable book with Hayes signature short chapters so the length doesn’t feel too daunting. Whilst the story does shoot off on multiple tangents they are all addressed in the end and there’s some very clever bits of writing.
I’m not sure it’s a book I can fully recommend based on my own thoughts but I’ve tried to give a balanced review. I’ve heard Hayes is currently writing Pilgrim 2 and I’ll definitely read that one when it comes out - hopefully not in another nine years though!