Scan barcode
A review by sam_vimes_75
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks
3.0
Despite not being a fan of zombies, World War Z is one of my favorite books. Years later, it still haunts me and begs an occasional reread. I eagerly picked up Devolution to see if Brooks could do for Sasquatch what he did for zombies. By comparison, it’s a bit disappointing. It’s a more personal book than WWZ, focusing primarily on just one character. My major gripe is that we get to know her and some of the other characters far longer than necessary before the conflict begins.
It’s a looooong flat line and almost halfway through the novel before the tension ratchets up. It took me several days to push myself to keep reading the first half. I finished the second half in an afternoon. Then the book becomes arguably too graphically violent, apparently to make up for lost time. The ending offers several options for the audience to choose from. Choose the tidy ending that satisfies us. It’s almost too tidy, right down to the campfire storyteller’s last line.
Brooks’ prose and structure are as riveting as ever. I appreciate the obvious research and world building he puts into his books. I’d be happy to read a sequel, or whatever else he writes. This one, however, is probably a single read whose tension and characters won’t linger with me past next week.
It’s a looooong flat line and almost halfway through the novel before the tension ratchets up. It took me several days to push myself to keep reading the first half. I finished the second half in an afternoon. Then the book becomes arguably too graphically violent, apparently to make up for lost time. The ending offers several options for the audience to choose from. Choose the tidy ending that satisfies us. It’s almost too tidy, right down to the campfire storyteller’s last line.
Brooks’ prose and structure are as riveting as ever. I appreciate the obvious research and world building he puts into his books. I’d be happy to read a sequel, or whatever else he writes. This one, however, is probably a single read whose tension and characters won’t linger with me past next week.