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A review by mackle13
Snake Agent by Liz Williams
2.0
In one of my status updates I'd said I wasn't sure if I was suffering from the "fussy book crankies" or if there were other reasons that this book just wasn't quite connecting with me.
I've decided that it's the book.
Mostly, the biggest issue seems to be a lot of telling versus showing. "He did this. He was started. He did that. He reacted thusly." So on and so forth. It just wasn't very engaging writing, imo.
As an extention of that, I never really connected with the characters, either. My favorite was Zhu Irzh, the demon, but even he never really quite jumped out for me. The weakest was Inarra, sadly. Too much of a damsel in distress thing going on, even as she's wishing she didn't always have to be rescued. (I won't say it was total misogyny or anything, though, as the goddesses were stronger characters, and it's not like the male characters were really developed or anything, either.)
There were also some issues that I'm sort of surprised weren't pick up by an editor. Like, in one chapter it ended with Chen telling a taxi driver where to go. Then the next chapter we were in a different perspective, and then the following chapter we're back to Chen and he's having a short conversation and then he... tells the driver where to go.
And, no, the place hadn't changed.
Another point was when Zhu Irzh suddenly fought off another demon with a rosary.
But, wait - Chen had the rosary, not Zhu. Zhu shouldn't even be able to touch a rosary.
Not to mention I kept getting thrown by prayer beads being called a rosary. Yes, I know some people refer to Buddhist prayer beads as a Buddhist rosary - but you could also, I dunno, use a cultural name for them, like mala or juzu or something... or just call them prayer beads... I know I'm picking nits, and it's cause I was raised Catholic and all, but it kept throwing me.
That said, I never felt really immersed in the culture anyway.
Also, I felt like there were some cool ideas, like a bureacratic Hell and all, but a lot of the world-building didn't seem to quite follow through. I mean, we're given a system in which Hell isn't really supposed to be pure evil, but then it's treated as if it were.
Meh, I dunno...
Lemme just end this discombulated mini-rant by saying it wasn't all bad, and it did have some interesting ideas, but I wish it was all just fleshed out better and more consistent.
I've decided that it's the book.
Mostly, the biggest issue seems to be a lot of telling versus showing. "He did this. He was started. He did that. He reacted thusly." So on and so forth. It just wasn't very engaging writing, imo.
As an extention of that, I never really connected with the characters, either. My favorite was Zhu Irzh, the demon, but even he never really quite jumped out for me. The weakest was Inarra, sadly. Too much of a damsel in distress thing going on, even as she's wishing she didn't always have to be rescued. (I won't say it was total misogyny or anything, though, as the goddesses were stronger characters, and it's not like the male characters were really developed or anything, either.)
There were also some issues that I'm sort of surprised weren't pick up by an editor. Like, in one chapter it ended with Chen telling a taxi driver where to go. Then the next chapter we were in a different perspective, and then the following chapter we're back to Chen and he's having a short conversation and then he... tells the driver where to go.
And, no, the place hadn't changed.
Another point was when Zhu Irzh suddenly fought off another demon with a rosary.
But, wait - Chen had the rosary, not Zhu. Zhu shouldn't even be able to touch a rosary.
Not to mention I kept getting thrown by prayer beads being called a rosary. Yes, I know some people refer to Buddhist prayer beads as a Buddhist rosary - but you could also, I dunno, use a cultural name for them, like mala or juzu or something... or just call them prayer beads... I know I'm picking nits, and it's cause I was raised Catholic and all, but it kept throwing me.
That said, I never felt really immersed in the culture anyway.
Also, I felt like there were some cool ideas, like a bureacratic Hell and all, but a lot of the world-building didn't seem to quite follow through. I mean, we're given a system in which Hell isn't really supposed to be pure evil, but then it's treated as if it were.
Meh, I dunno...
Lemme just end this discombulated mini-rant by saying it wasn't all bad, and it did have some interesting ideas, but I wish it was all just fleshed out better and more consistent.