A review by rlgreen91
Watchmen by Alan Moore

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ok - so I finally got around to finishing this purely because the library book was due back and I needed to return it.  My rating here of 3 stars is less about the merits of the book itself and more about my personal opinion of the book.

When reading Watchmen, it's very clear how groundbreaking it must have been.  If you dabble just a bit in "nerd culture", even just in the form of superhero movies, you can see the widespread influence Watchmen has had on graphic novels, comic books, and superhero stories. I can and do appreciate all of that.

But man, in terms of actually trying to read this?  It was a slog for me.  Sure, once I got started, I would get into it, but overall reading the book felt more like a chore than a pleasurable activity.  It's strange, because this type of work is normally right up my alley, but I found myself picking other books over this one, including other graphic novels and comic books.  I'm not really sure what happened here.

So yes, this was a pioneering book, you should read it to understand its place in literature and how it affected pop culture, yada yada.  But I won't promise that you'll enjoy the ride. 3 stars.
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