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feralnebulous's reviews
108 reviews
The Outsider by Stephen King
2.5
Charles Dickens you better step aside, Stephen King is here to take that paid-by-the-word thing you have going!!
After attempting to read Stephen King again a few months ago by cracking open Sleeping Beauties (which I couldn't even get 50 pages into, 49 of those pages being the ridiculously long list of characters that they give you at the very beginning), The Outsider started out promising. That being said, it fell into the same issues that Holly (yes, I read Holly before reading any of the Mr. Mercedes books, I realize my flaws) and Sleeping Beauties did: they all just kept repeating themselves after a while. I'm not someone who has gotten around to reading King's classics (they never have them at the library near me), so I'm not sure what I'm missing out on, but holy shit his editor needs to be more harsh with him. I think this story would have been much better if we didn't need to rehash the same information in witness interviews for the first portion of the book, or if the witness interviews were at least a little more differentiable from each other. Stephen, my brother in Christ, if you want to introduce a shit ton of characters (whose perspective we will unfortunately have to read a chapter in, regardless of how relevant to they are to the whole story (yes I'm still bitter about having a chapter from the perspective of a FOX in Sleeping Beauties)), at least make it so I can tell they're different people. With some of them, you can only tell that they are speaking because they throw in some words from a different language (like with Yune) or maybe they keep repeating the same anecdote/phrase (I'm looking at your maggots in a cantaloupe/yellow bra strap fascination, Ralph). I know King thinks he's the end-all be-all of small-town mystery/horror, but he obviously struggles with rambling now. This is far too bloated for what it's meant to be, and while I do appreciate an author taking their time to build up a good mystery, most of what is said in the story just doesn't matter. It makes the characters and setting just feel hollow, they have nothing to say and they're going to make sure they continue to say absolutely nothing for at least 50 pages. As much as I can appreciate an author who writes in a blunt manner, I don't appreciate needless details. Here's an example that I came across which made me irrationally angry: "As it turned out, Holly did not fly business class, although she could have if she had opted for the 10:15 Delta flight, which would have put her in Cap City at 12:30." Is this innocent enough? Sure. I also understand that this is from the perspective of Holly, whose main character trait is being obsessively compulsive and giving unnecessary details in her dialogue and thoughts. Good horror and atmosphere is built with minutiae, but it also knows when to prioritize brevity. Other authors have managed to do it in much shorter stories, so it's definitely not impossible Stephen. I'm not going to be scared if you sit there and have a character introduce themselves to other characters for most of the time in your book.
While I got 356 pages in before I had to stop, I still might finish the book to see if I could possibly get even more angry. Oh, and Stephen I didn't miss your dig at Stanley Kubrick's take on The Shining on page 286. Let it go sis!! You're just embarassing yourself.
After attempting to read Stephen King again a few months ago by cracking open Sleeping Beauties (which I couldn't even get 50 pages into, 49 of those pages being the ridiculously long list of characters that they give you at the very beginning), The Outsider started out promising. That being said, it fell into the same issues that Holly (yes, I read Holly before reading any of the Mr. Mercedes books, I realize my flaws) and Sleeping Beauties did: they all just kept repeating themselves after a while. I'm not someone who has gotten around to reading King's classics (they never have them at the library near me), so I'm not sure what I'm missing out on, but holy shit his editor needs to be more harsh with him. I think this story would have been much better if we didn't need to rehash the same information in witness interviews for the first portion of the book, or if the witness interviews were at least a little more differentiable from each other. Stephen, my brother in Christ, if you want to introduce a shit ton of characters (whose perspective we will unfortunately have to read a chapter in, regardless of how relevant to they are to the whole story (yes I'm still bitter about having a chapter from the perspective of a FOX in Sleeping Beauties)), at least make it so I can tell they're different people. With some of them, you can only tell that they are speaking because they throw in some words from a different language (like with Yune) or maybe they keep repeating the same anecdote/phrase (I'm looking at your maggots in a cantaloupe/yellow bra strap fascination, Ralph). I know King thinks he's the end-all be-all of small-town mystery/horror, but he obviously struggles with rambling now. This is far too bloated for what it's meant to be, and while I do appreciate an author taking their time to build up a good mystery, most of what is said in the story just doesn't matter. It makes the characters and setting just feel hollow, they have nothing to say and they're going to make sure they continue to say absolutely nothing for at least 50 pages. As much as I can appreciate an author who writes in a blunt manner, I don't appreciate needless details. Here's an example that I came across which made me irrationally angry: "As it turned out, Holly did not fly business class, although she could have if she had opted for the 10:15 Delta flight, which would have put her in Cap City at 12:30." Is this innocent enough? Sure. I also understand that this is from the perspective of Holly, whose main character trait is being obsessively compulsive and giving unnecessary details in her dialogue and thoughts. Good horror and atmosphere is built with minutiae, but it also knows when to prioritize brevity. Other authors have managed to do it in much shorter stories, so it's definitely not impossible Stephen. I'm not going to be scared if you sit there and have a character introduce themselves to other characters for most of the time in your book.
While I got 356 pages in before I had to stop, I still might finish the book to see if I could possibly get even more angry. Oh, and Stephen I didn't miss your dig at Stanley Kubrick's take on The Shining on page 286. Let it go sis!! You're just embarassing yourself.
Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
5.0
See THIS is what Pretty Little Liars wishes it was in terms of its handling of the Charlotte reveal. Sorry I. Marlene King you will never be that bitch!!! The curse of never knowing what to say when I like a piece of media has struck once again, I love a good mystery with lots of subtlety and I sure did feel like an idiot for not guessing some twists sooner (which is a good thing, I love when things can surprise me!!!!)
Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz
mysterious
medium-paced
3.5
I love a good mystery novel, even better if it's by Anthony Horowitz. However, looking back on this installment vs the previous books, it rang a little hollow. Did I appreciate the story shake up? Yes, and I found the way we were learning about the previous case similar to the storytelling that Horowitz uses in Magpie Murders (which I unapologetically LOVE) which was smart. That being said, the reveal felt a little.....rushed? I hesitate to describe it that way because I do think that the reveal makes sense and was planned out well enough, it didn't feel very satisfying. All this to prevent your neighbor from digging up your dead wife's body? And what was Teri's role in all of this? It's not enough to just be evil, that feels like a cop out in this case. Also, why was Wendy killed? Do NOT sit here and say to me it's all just Adam "Two-Steps Ahead (Nikocado Avocado reference)" Strauss planned it all out in his head because he's playing chess in 4D in 5 different dimensions at once, that's dumb as hell (Trisha Paytas "Tati dumb as hell" reference....the divas who get it, get it) . At the end of the day, I will gobble up anything written by Anthony Horowitz (unless it's Alex Rider).
Also Anthony is planning on writing 12 books in this series??? Don't get me wrong I WILL be purchasing all of them but....how much more story is there to uncover let's not play games here
Also Anthony is planning on writing 12 books in this series??? Don't get me wrong I WILL be purchasing all of them but....how much more story is there to uncover let's not play games here