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plagued_by_visions's reviews
209 reviews
The Siberian Incident by Greig Beck
2.0
Originally gave this 3 1/2, but I’m reassessing it as 2 1/2. There were some high points towards the end that made the overall thing enjoyable and compelled me to rate it higher, yet I can’t ignore the flimsy characters and trudging chapters about nothing. Something about it also made me think this was trying to be a screenplay more than a novel. There were entire chapters about expositional dialogue of things that had already been established through the narrative voice previously. The overall “Rambo III meets The Thing” concept does pay off at some highly entertaining and thrilling moments of fighting back against the Russian mafia and confronting “the creature,” but those moments were scarce, and the overall project got lost in exposition when it should have been ramping up the high-octane action it promised through initial glimpses. A shame. The beginning really was entertaining as hell! I really wanted to like this. :(
The Roo by Alan Baxter
1.0
Horror doesn’t have to be highbrow or challenging for it to be fun. This is certainly not the kind of horror I’m used to reading, but with such a premise, cover design, and lean page length, I was only expecting some good old killer roo fun and not much else—and, sadly, it hardly delivered even on that front.
The premise, just by its nature, is doomed to run thin on a longer project such as this, and even if the book is only 122 pages, with considerably large font and blank pages within, up to the middle of the book, things became repetitive fast, and I found myself stalling and looking for any reason to keep going. Baxter hardly makes an effort to keep the premise interesting, so obviously well-rounded characters and tone are out of the question. The end, however, picks up with hellish delight, and does justice to the ridiculousness of it all, the way I would’ve liked the entire book to be. And even then, the final pages feel incoherent and somewhat rushed. The writing is devoid of any particular style or flourish, and the journey to arrive at the climax was as bumpy as an old road along the outback. Also, Baxter tacks on some attempts at social commentary that are flimsy and even feel somewhat offensive in their offhandedness.
I get it—this book is meant to be a joke, but it’s not a very fun joke, and I paid money for it. I’d say most people purchase this book and rate it highly simply because of the ridiculousness of its premise and the admittedly cool cover art. However, in that sense, I would describe this book as the literary version of a pez dispenser—the treats inside are generic and bland, but that hardly matters, because you probably just bought it for the cool-looking container. I’d say this book works best as a display, some rad horror deco, and not much else. The highest props really go to Kealan Patrick Burke.
EDIT: On second thought, the redeeming qualities don’t really justify a 2-star rating. 1 1/2 is more like it, rounded down to 1.
The premise, just by its nature, is doomed to run thin on a longer project such as this, and even if the book is only 122 pages, with considerably large font and blank pages within, up to the middle of the book, things became repetitive fast, and I found myself stalling and looking for any reason to keep going. Baxter hardly makes an effort to keep the premise interesting, so obviously well-rounded characters and tone are out of the question. The end, however, picks up with hellish delight, and does justice to the ridiculousness of it all, the way I would’ve liked the entire book to be. And even then, the final pages feel incoherent and somewhat rushed. The writing is devoid of any particular style or flourish, and the journey to arrive at the climax was as bumpy as an old road along the outback. Also, Baxter tacks on some attempts at social commentary that are flimsy and even feel somewhat offensive in their offhandedness.
I get it—this book is meant to be a joke, but it’s not a very fun joke, and I paid money for it. I’d say most people purchase this book and rate it highly simply because of the ridiculousness of its premise and the admittedly cool cover art. However, in that sense, I would describe this book as the literary version of a pez dispenser—the treats inside are generic and bland, but that hardly matters, because you probably just bought it for the cool-looking container. I’d say this book works best as a display, some rad horror deco, and not much else. The highest props really go to Kealan Patrick Burke.
EDIT: On second thought, the redeeming qualities don’t really justify a 2-star rating. 1 1/2 is more like it, rounded down to 1.