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A review by typotenuse
Saint Odd by Dean Koontz
3.75
I got distracted, but here we are, and Dean, I’m just a tad disappointed.
TL; DR: The conclusion to the saga of Odd Thomas is done, in all its odd glory and every bit of trimming. Koontz finished strong and though it isn’t the perfect conclusion, it is a powerful one.
Saint Odd is a good conclusion to the series, I concede that point, but it is rather imperfect. While I know what he was intending to do here, I had hoped for some epic conclusion that I didn’t expect or something greater. There were essentially three possible endings in my brain for this series and this was the least consequential of the three. It’s good stuff, but nothing groundbreaking, so it’s just a bit disappointing.
Characters: Strangely enough, with all of the characters to set up in previous books, there’s really not a ton of growth or appearances here. It’s a majority Odd and his enemies, and that’s about it. Strangely slim pickings with few major contributors outside of the titular Odd. It also felt a bit like Koontz lost the voice for some of the older characters. It’s just a little short of character for its characters.
Setting: Back in Pico Mundo is good, but it didn’t feel like any of the spirit of the place was present save for its name and the chief. It was really weird to have this big hoo-rah about returning to town and have essentially nothing to show for it. It did grant some closure and of course the return of some characters, but ultimately felt underused.
Story: Weaker than previous tales, Saint Odd spends a lot of time on what I’d call the almost-action: parts where the events are almost critical, but there is almost no risk to them because somebody was “taken by surprise” or inexplicably misses everything. It’s just not carrying the same gravity as other writings. Also, the penultimate chapter annoyed me slightly. This was what I meant about losing some older voices; it just didn’t feel natural.
Writing: It was ok, not the greatest. It’s the usual Koontz flair and it did keep me turning pages, but I think the reason I took so long wasn’t just the holidays, but that I knew it was going to disappoint. For some reason or other, this whole book felt a little stretched thin, which is even stranger, as it’s one of the shortest books in the series. It was unsatisfying on a couple plot points as well, as they were resolved, but just kind of in a way that made you go, “what the heck?”
This missed the mark for me, which made me incredibly sad, but it’s still a good book, just not the excellence I’ve come to expect from the rest of the series. I’ll be happy the story is over and look forward to my next read. T’will be fun I’m sure.
3.8 🌟
TL; DR: The conclusion to the saga of Odd Thomas is done, in all its odd glory and every bit of trimming. Koontz finished strong and though it isn’t the perfect conclusion, it is a powerful one.
Saint Odd is a good conclusion to the series, I concede that point, but it is rather imperfect. While I know what he was intending to do here, I had hoped for some epic conclusion that I didn’t expect or something greater. There were essentially three possible endings in my brain for this series and this was the least consequential of the three. It’s good stuff, but nothing groundbreaking, so it’s just a bit disappointing.
Characters: Strangely enough, with all of the characters to set up in previous books, there’s really not a ton of growth or appearances here. It’s a majority Odd and his enemies, and that’s about it. Strangely slim pickings with few major contributors outside of the titular Odd. It also felt a bit like Koontz lost the voice for some of the older characters. It’s just a little short of character for its characters.
Setting: Back in Pico Mundo is good, but it didn’t feel like any of the spirit of the place was present save for its name and the chief. It was really weird to have this big hoo-rah about returning to town and have essentially nothing to show for it. It did grant some closure and of course the return of some characters, but ultimately felt underused.
Story: Weaker than previous tales, Saint Odd spends a lot of time on what I’d call the almost-action: parts where the events are almost critical, but there is almost no risk to them because somebody was “taken by surprise” or inexplicably misses everything. It’s just not carrying the same gravity as other writings. Also, the penultimate chapter annoyed me slightly. This was what I meant about losing some older voices; it just didn’t feel natural.
Writing: It was ok, not the greatest. It’s the usual Koontz flair and it did keep me turning pages, but I think the reason I took so long wasn’t just the holidays, but that I knew it was going to disappoint. For some reason or other, this whole book felt a little stretched thin, which is even stranger, as it’s one of the shortest books in the series. It was unsatisfying on a couple plot points as well, as they were resolved, but just kind of in a way that made you go, “what the heck?”
This missed the mark for me, which made me incredibly sad, but it’s still a good book, just not the excellence I’ve come to expect from the rest of the series. I’ll be happy the story is over and look forward to my next read. T’will be fun I’m sure.
3.8 🌟