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kyatic's reviews
920 reviews
The Atomic Blood-Stained Bus by Michael J. Ritchie
4.0
I am not a book reviewer, so bear that in mind. I never know how to structure a book review. So, this is a list. How organised.
- Plot - bit of a hard one to summarise, this. A bus driven by an immortal cannibal? A demoted god named after my favourite Oscar Wilde character who's a bit squeamish about the whole cannibal thing, but wants to make friends? A journalist with an odd genetic quirk and her dedication to following a story through to its bitter end? It's probably best to say that there are several plot strands in this one, and they all tied up nicely. I didn't finish the book wondering what happened next. I did finish it thinking that there should be a film adaptation in which all of the characters were played by Martin Freeman (ooh, look, I'm referencing the book... you'll have to read it to get the reference!!)
- Structure - unlike this review, one of the things that stood out to me with this book was its structure. It's not told in any particularly revolutionary way; there aren't chapters where the plot is conveyed through interpretive dance, or paragraphs that alternate between the second and third person, or sentences which repeat over and over again and only change one word until it's a new sentence. This book sticks to the tried and tested structure of alternating perspectives, with chapters told from the points of view of Gwen, the witches, the inhabitants of the bus, and occasionally others. What it does do is know exactly when to switch perspectives. Each chapter ended at just the right point to make me say 'aw, dang, I guess I have time for another chapter!' because I wanted to know what happened next, and I wanted to follow all the storylines through to where they met.
- Character - look, I'm a simple woman. Give me a god who can put the essence of humanity into an acorn and I'm happy. All the characters in this book were interesting and sympathetic - even the cannibal, which was no mean feat - and that helped to drive the plot. There were some elements of character which made me a little squirmy; without any spoilers, there's a character who attempts to rape a woman and this wasn't addressed in as comprehensive a way as I would have liked - it might have been interesting to see why he did it, as 'he was drunk' isn't generally an explanation for that - but I think that was the only moment in the book where I felt as though there wasn't enough depth, and is also probably a very personal grind.
- Things that were top notch - the depiction of the afterlife was pretty rad. I'm one of those sad saps who has a Master's degree in this sort of thing, because I never want to be employed, and it was a genuine surprise to see an afterlife that I hadn't seen before. We get depictions of limbo in a lot of media, but never quite like this one.
- The resolution - again, no spoilers, but this book does have the kind of ending that's actually satisfying. There's one character with whose ending I was a little confused - I would have liked to have seen more of her - but this paved the way for the actual ending of the book, which I was super keen on. So, swings and roundabouts.
- Fun facts: I read this book in one sitting on an aeroplane. At one point, I laughed and jostled the arm of the man next to me. We did not become friends. I think he got fed up of me laughing. This book destroyed my chance of making a new friend. It was worth it.
- Best lines:
Algernon had fought in the last great war - it was where he'd lost his right sock.
David drank the rest of his pint and waited for something to happen. It didn't.
Overall - because all reviews should end with a conclusion, right? - this was a good book with a few lines that made me laugh out loud on an aeroplane, which is a compliment as I'm a nervous flier. There were a few times where character development was sacrificed in favour of plot, but it was a good plot, and honestly I don't think it impacted the book at all, so it's not factored into my rating. Algernon was nice. I think this is the end of the review.
- Plot - bit of a hard one to summarise, this. A bus driven by an immortal cannibal? A demoted god named after my favourite Oscar Wilde character who's a bit squeamish about the whole cannibal thing, but wants to make friends? A journalist with an odd genetic quirk and her dedication to following a story through to its bitter end? It's probably best to say that there are several plot strands in this one, and they all tied up nicely. I didn't finish the book wondering what happened next. I did finish it thinking that there should be a film adaptation in which all of the characters were played by Martin Freeman (ooh, look, I'm referencing the book... you'll have to read it to get the reference!!)
- Structure - unlike this review, one of the things that stood out to me with this book was its structure. It's not told in any particularly revolutionary way; there aren't chapters where the plot is conveyed through interpretive dance, or paragraphs that alternate between the second and third person, or sentences which repeat over and over again and only change one word until it's a new sentence. This book sticks to the tried and tested structure of alternating perspectives, with chapters told from the points of view of Gwen, the witches, the inhabitants of the bus, and occasionally others. What it does do is know exactly when to switch perspectives. Each chapter ended at just the right point to make me say 'aw, dang, I guess I have time for another chapter!' because I wanted to know what happened next, and I wanted to follow all the storylines through to where they met.
- Character - look, I'm a simple woman. Give me a god who can put the essence of humanity into an acorn and I'm happy. All the characters in this book were interesting and sympathetic - even the cannibal, which was no mean feat - and that helped to drive the plot. There were some elements of character which made me a little squirmy; without any spoilers, there's a character who attempts to rape a woman and this wasn't addressed in as comprehensive a way as I would have liked - it might have been interesting to see why he did it, as 'he was drunk' isn't generally an explanation for that - but I think that was the only moment in the book where I felt as though there wasn't enough depth, and is also probably a very personal grind.
- Things that were top notch - the depiction of the afterlife was pretty rad. I'm one of those sad saps who has a Master's degree in this sort of thing, because I never want to be employed, and it was a genuine surprise to see an afterlife that I hadn't seen before. We get depictions of limbo in a lot of media, but never quite like this one.
- The resolution - again, no spoilers, but this book does have the kind of ending that's actually satisfying. There's one character with whose ending I was a little confused - I would have liked to have seen more of her - but this paved the way for the actual ending of the book, which I was super keen on. So, swings and roundabouts.
- Fun facts: I read this book in one sitting on an aeroplane. At one point, I laughed and jostled the arm of the man next to me. We did not become friends. I think he got fed up of me laughing. This book destroyed my chance of making a new friend. It was worth it.
- Best lines:
Algernon had fought in the last great war - it was where he'd lost his right sock.
David drank the rest of his pint and waited for something to happen. It didn't.
Overall - because all reviews should end with a conclusion, right? - this was a good book with a few lines that made me laugh out loud on an aeroplane, which is a compliment as I'm a nervous flier. There were a few times where character development was sacrificed in favour of plot, but it was a good plot, and honestly I don't think it impacted the book at all, so it's not factored into my rating. Algernon was nice. I think this is the end of the review.