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mtherobot's Reviews (870)
I was genuinely worried there for a while that I just don't really like horror (or at least—horror writing; horror movies of course take the cake). But worry not! It's just bad horror (writing) that I dislike.
These stories are fun, though probably not particularly scary, and well paced; though I think some points where (I think?) I was supposed to realize the subtle horror that had been there the whole time...um..where is this sentence going? What I mean is sometimes I think the "subtlety" of it didnt work, maybe because it was just too subtle or maybe because I'm just dumb. But there were several points where the main character apparently is stricken with growing realization about, um, something.
Speaking of: the main character, the subtitular Kyle Murchison Booth, is compelling, too, a fun twist on the smarmy academics of Lovecraft and co., and the stories do good work at developing his humanity without it being the main focus of most of them. In fact I think that background work, developing Booth as well as the world at large, is the high point of Monette's writing, and justifies the packaging of these as a collection, a pseudo novel, rather than real stand-alones. That being said, I think they could be read as stand-alones, or anyway could be read in basically any order, though I wouldn't recommend it.
These stories are fun, though probably not particularly scary, and well paced; though I think some points where (I think?) I was supposed to realize the subtle horror that had been there the whole time...um..where is this sentence going? What I mean is sometimes I think the "subtlety" of it didnt work, maybe because it was just too subtle or maybe because I'm just dumb. But there were several points where the main character apparently is stricken with growing realization about, um, something.
Speaking of: the main character, the subtitular Kyle Murchison Booth, is compelling, too, a fun twist on the smarmy academics of Lovecraft and co., and the stories do good work at developing his humanity without it being the main focus of most of them. In fact I think that background work, developing Booth as well as the world at large, is the high point of Monette's writing, and justifies the packaging of these as a collection, a pseudo novel, rather than real stand-alones. That being said, I think they could be read as stand-alones, or anyway could be read in basically any order, though I wouldn't recommend it.
Like a crossover fanfiction between Solaris and We, though it lacks the sort of, I don't know, intellectual seriousness of those works. Tidbeck introduces a lot of interesting ideas but doesn't delve into the philosophical/political/psychological implications of those ideas, at least not with any real depth, which I wouldn't hold against her except that the world reminded me so much of Solaris—which obviously is more philosophically inclined than most science fiction.
Nonetheless, the mystery and horror aspects are, I think, both effective and novel, though Tidbeck takes her sweet time getting to them considering how short the whole thing is. In fact if the first half or so was cut, I'd like it a whole lot more—at first I was thinking I'd give up on tracking down Jagganath, her short story collection, but the second half drew me back in. We'll see—but I think the length did this one a disservice.
Nonetheless, the mystery and horror aspects are, I think, both effective and novel, though Tidbeck takes her sweet time getting to them considering how short the whole thing is. In fact if the first half or so was cut, I'd like it a whole lot more—at first I was thinking I'd give up on tracking down Jagganath, her short story collection, but the second half drew me back in. We'll see—but I think the length did this one a disservice.
