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elegantmechanic 's review for:
Martyr
by B.K. Evenson
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I think the best way I can sum this up is "workmanlike". It is a generic, uninspired cash-in. The prose is competent, but the plot, structure and pacing are all lacking.
What's missing most is any sense of suspense which, in a horror story based on extremely suspenseful video games, is a big problem. For most of the story we have multiple POVs which play out as "Person A has weird/scary/inexplicable experience, possibly kills themselves, Person B speculates about happened to Person A, usually guessing exactly right". We get to see everything that happens so there is nothing left in doubt or to the imagination. It reads therefore as a pedestrian recounting of events without any sort of drama. Toward the end, we're left with a single POV which, given there's almost a quarter of the book left, means that person is in no real jeopardy until the very end.
The call-outs to the video games are, I suppose, necessary, but also feel a bit like getting hit over the head. Necromorphs are described to us as if being seen for the first time (as they are, by the characters) but anyone having got that far through the book is surely already familiar with the games so there's nothing surprising or horrifying about it. The main character ending up with a plasma cutter (the iconic weapon of the games) is a bit of coincidental fan service that wasn't needed and the discovery of how best to fight the monsters was laboured and unnecessary.
If you are familiar with the games (and why would you be reading this if you weren't?) the inevitability of what is to come hangs heavy over this like a Star Wars prequel movie. You know they have to hit certain beats because you know what happens next so none of it can surprise you, it can only disappoint.
I didn't have high expectations because the chances of the only Dead Space novel being good seemed slim but I wasn't prepared for just how much of a dull slog this was. The icing on the cake is probably in the acknowledgements when the author describes Dead Space as "the best bit of first-person SF/horror dismemberment out there". Dead Space, of course, is famously a third-person game but apparently the author doesn't know that. Or maybe he just played the Wii spin-off.
What's missing most is any sense of suspense which, in a horror story based on extremely suspenseful video games, is a big problem. For most of the story we have multiple POVs which play out as "Person A has weird/scary/inexplicable experience, possibly kills themselves, Person B speculates about happened to Person A, usually guessing exactly right". We get to see everything that happens so there is nothing left in doubt or to the imagination. It reads therefore as a pedestrian recounting of events without any sort of drama. Toward the end, we're left with a single POV which, given there's almost a quarter of the book left, means that person is in no real jeopardy until the very end.
The call-outs to the video games are, I suppose, necessary, but also feel a bit like getting hit over the head. Necromorphs are described to us as if being seen for the first time (as they are, by the characters) but anyone having got that far through the book is surely already familiar with the games so there's nothing surprising or horrifying about it. The main character ending up with a plasma cutter (the iconic weapon of the games) is a bit of coincidental fan service that wasn't needed and the discovery of how best to fight the monsters was laboured and unnecessary.
If you are familiar with the games (and why would you be reading this if you weren't?) the inevitability of what is to come hangs heavy over this like a Star Wars prequel movie. You know they have to hit certain beats because you know what happens next so none of it can surprise you, it can only disappoint.
I didn't have high expectations because the chances of the only Dead Space novel being good seemed slim but I wasn't prepared for just how much of a dull slog this was. The icing on the cake is probably in the acknowledgements when the author describes Dead Space as "the best bit of first-person SF/horror dismemberment out there". Dead Space, of course, is famously a third-person game but apparently the author doesn't know that. Or maybe he just played the Wii spin-off.