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A review by thekingcrusoe
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
3.0
Really mixed on this. There’s some aspect to this that is super goofy and weird and strangely fun because of it, but the book is also such a HUGE bummer too - it is honestly pretty depressing, and only gets moreso the further you go and realize what’s really going on here. It’s kind of a morale killer for someone like me who tends to “become” the main characters of the books I read.
This is one of those few moments when I actively hate GR not having half-star ratings, because, like…this thing isn’t a 4-star book, but it also made me feel things emotionally that warrant it being higher than 3-stars, but there are enough issues with it, and did just enough to not be what I honestly kinda wanted it to be the whole time that I feel like I have to give it a measly 3 when I WANT to give it more. Execution was decent, but wasn’t ultimately what I thought it was gonna be. Also, the kills were not nearly as gruesome as I had been led to believe they be. Most of their effect came from the interpersonal side of things rather than the creative or even the violent sides.
I’m glad it was only a 1 day read tho. Not really any feasible way to make this longer without making it worse.
And the last couple pages definitely left a bit to be desired in spite of that.
Writing and prose was fairly meh too, even considering the 1st person narration being a teenage crazy person. So 3 stars it is.
This is one of those few moments when I actively hate GR not having half-star ratings, because, like…this thing isn’t a 4-star book, but it also made me feel things emotionally that warrant it being higher than 3-stars, but there are enough issues with it, and did just enough to not be what I honestly kinda wanted it to be the whole time that I feel like I have to give it a measly 3 when I WANT to give it more. Execution was decent, but wasn’t ultimately what I thought it was gonna be. Also, the kills were not nearly as gruesome as I had been led to believe they be. Most of their effect came from the interpersonal side of things rather than the creative or even the violent sides.
I’m glad it was only a 1 day read tho. Not really any feasible way to make this longer without making it worse.
And the last couple pages definitely left a bit to be desired in spite of that.
Writing and prose was fairly meh too, even considering the 1st person narration being a teenage crazy person. So 3 stars it is.