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A review by the_rch
Snow by Ronald Malfi
4.0
The simple of it: I really enjoyed this book. It played out in my head like a movie I would absolutely watch. I was thoroughly entertained.
4 stars for a compelling story and premise, a unique and (what I imagine would be) a horrifying antagonist, a fast, easy read not bogged down with unrelenting, needless exposition, a quick start and overall good pace with lots of action and relatively well-developed (considering book length) and likable enough characters, and what I felt was a solid ending; -1 star only because I think the book could have used better editing and it lacked that ‘something’ Malfi has evolved in his style (maybe that’s not fair, but what I really enjoyed about CWM and BM is the way he writes; if Malfi were to write this book today, I’d imagine it’d be a 5-star read for me).
Basically, it is one of Malfi’s earlier works and I think it shows. Having just read his two most recent books, it’s clear that he had yet to come into his style. This was much more plot playing out than story (which was fine for me; I liked the premise). It didn’t have that emotional bent I feel exists in his recent works.
As another reviewer mentioned—this story has been told before in other forms. All I have to say about that is: if you rate every book (or movie at that) poorly that plays off “overused” tropes and plot devices and follow the same or similar overarching themes, you’re going to be disappointed. People have been reusing themes since Gilgamesh. Sure, it’s [almost] always refreshing to come across something new that hasn’t been done before; it’s rare. But sometimes the new and undone and different are just pretentious and done for the sake of being different. Just because a band composes songs in a unique, technically complicated arrangement, it doesn’t automatically make it good. And just because someone developed a different car after Ford didn’t mean it was bad. Essentially, my attitude is to approach, evaluate and criticize artistic work, in whichever form, for the subjective, personal value. I guess if that means you can’t enjoy a book for what it is because you can’t see beyond the underlying form, then to each their own. I, for one, choose to not hold creation in higher regard than innovation.
If you want a simple, fun read—highly recommended.
4 stars for a compelling story and premise, a unique and (what I imagine would be) a horrifying antagonist, a fast, easy read not bogged down with unrelenting, needless exposition, a quick start and overall good pace with lots of action and relatively well-developed (considering book length) and likable enough characters, and what I felt was a solid ending; -1 star only because I think the book could have used better editing and it lacked that ‘something’ Malfi has evolved in his style (maybe that’s not fair, but what I really enjoyed about CWM and BM is the way he writes; if Malfi were to write this book today, I’d imagine it’d be a 5-star read for me).
Basically, it is one of Malfi’s earlier works and I think it shows. Having just read his two most recent books, it’s clear that he had yet to come into his style. This was much more plot playing out than story (which was fine for me; I liked the premise). It didn’t have that emotional bent I feel exists in his recent works.
As another reviewer mentioned—this story has been told before in other forms. All I have to say about that is: if you rate every book (or movie at that) poorly that plays off “overused” tropes and plot devices and follow the same or similar overarching themes, you’re going to be disappointed. People have been reusing themes since Gilgamesh. Sure, it’s [almost] always refreshing to come across something new that hasn’t been done before; it’s rare. But sometimes the new and undone and different are just pretentious and done for the sake of being different. Just because a band composes songs in a unique, technically complicated arrangement, it doesn’t automatically make it good. And just because someone developed a different car after Ford didn’t mean it was bad. Essentially, my attitude is to approach, evaluate and criticize artistic work, in whichever form, for the subjective, personal value. I guess if that means you can’t enjoy a book for what it is because you can’t see beyond the underlying form, then to each their own. I, for one, choose to not hold creation in higher regard than innovation.
If you want a simple, fun read—highly recommended.