tobin_elliott's reviews
327 reviews

The Displaced by Ed Brisson

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Gotta say, a story about the very town I was born and raised in disappearing off the face of the Earth? I was excited as all heck for this one.

And initially, that excitement was maintained with the reasonably accurate portrayals of my very own local environs. I knew pretty much all the locations.

However, the excitement began to wane when I realized that this story could literally, with some redrawing, have been placed in any city on the planet. There was nothing that screamed "This could only have happened in Oshawa!"

It's a rather generic, rather directionless story with a punchline that we saw coming by the second issue.

Only okay.

Life in the Fast Lane: The Eagles' Reckless Ride Down the Rock & Roll Highway by Mick Wall, Mick Wall

fast-paced

1.75

First thought: Wow, Mick Wall sure likes the sound of his own voice...or the look of his own words on the page.

The man tends to overwrite so much he gets directly in the way of what he's trying to say. The sad thing is, occasionally he actually has things to say.

This is by no means a definitive Eagles biography. It feels fairly muckrakish and, for a writer who deep dives into the Eagles 70s releases, he completely ignores HELL FREEZES OVER and gives LONG ROAD OUT OF EDEN only the barest whiff of attention. He doesn't even really cover how the five managed to come back together. So, at best, the last forty years of history is done away with in likely about as many pages. He also contradicts himself on occasion, talking about how Randy Meisner got a song on the FM soundtrack (along with the Eagles) but that the soundtrack flopped, only to say, pages later, that the soundtrack moved a million copies.

The good thing is, at least I know to avoid Wall's books going forward.

Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities by James Lovegrove

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I don't know what it was about this one, but it just kind of was...there. It felt better than the first one, perhaps because there was slightly less erasure of the Holmes canon than in the first one. But the entire concept felt far more far-fetched. And Holmes seems to be being written less and less like the classic Holmes.

Change the canon if you feel you must, but changing Holmes is not acceptable.

I'll likely finish off the third in this series, but I doubt I'll carry on with the five past that, unless he pulls a spectacular rabbit out of his hat.

Shang-Chi: Master of Kung-Fu Omnibus Vol. 4 by

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a long read, but mostly a rewarding one.

The Doug Moench/Mike Zeck/Gene Day issues are pretty much uniformly brilliant, with Moench and his artists in tight lockstep, the visuals accentuating what had to be some of the most thoughtful, intelligent writing of any comic at the time.

When Zeck left and Gene Day took over, however the entire book just seemed to lift a few more levels. Day's art improved with every issue, and it's obvious that Moench's writing rose to meet it. The book easily attained the greatness that it had previously seen in the Moench/Gulacy years.

However, with the shocking, sudden passing of Gene Day, that greatness fell away very quickly for the final five issues. No shade to those who gamely tried to soldier on, but when looking back on the rich artwork that had graced the bulk of run, to suddenly look at dull panels that featured poorly drawn figures and minimal or no attempt at backgrounds for the most part is disappointing.

And the ending, though somewhat logical, left so much to be desired. A double sized issue that wasted pages and pages on pointless violence while completely ignoring the rich stable of characters that had run through the series. Nayland Smith. Clive Reston. Black Jack Tarr. Leiko Wu. Just...abandoned.

It's sad that Moench and Day couldn't see the series to the end, as I'm sure it would have been poignant and magnificent.

And, looking at virtually everything Marvel has done with the Shang-Chi character since is just an embarrassment when they have such a rich legacy that they could have drawn on, with the right writer and artist.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Looking through the comments, I find it interesting how divisive this novel can be. I also believe I may have done myself a disservice reading BUTTERFLY IN THE TYPEWRITER, the story of John Kennedy Toole and his—and his mother's—path to getting this novel published, prior to reading this. If I had it to do again, I'd read the novel first, then the story of its creation afterward.

However, I didn't. I remember being intrigued by this novel about thirty years ago, and reading it and absolutely five-star loving it back then.

Thirty years later, the book absolutely hits differently. I will say I absolutely laughed out loud at points, however I also, at times, cringed at the early-1960s view of...well...everything. Immigrants. Black people. Homosexuals. Obesity. Jews.

Still, this is a book unlike any other I've read, and overall, I was glad to experience it again. It's quite a ride.

Blood Loss: The Third Book of the Aphotic by Tobin Elliott

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Once again, yes, I'm going to review my own book. So, for the record, this review is SOLELY focused on Jenn Johnson's incredible narration. 

Jenn has exceeded my expectations once again, and, though I wrote the words and knew what was coming, found a way to have me excited about what came next through the entire novel. I can honestly say that, listening to the last couple of chapters, I actually had goosebumps, because she absolutely nailed the narration, making me enjoy the ending as an audiobook listener, not as the author of the work.

Jenn Johnson is magical. And she deserves all the stars.

Butterfly in the Typewriter: The Short, Tragic Life of John Kennedy Toole and the Remarkable Story of A Confederacy of Dunces by Cory MacLauchlin

dark emotional funny informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

It has been a long time since I read A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES but it was a book I remember enjoying immensely (and that I am going to dive into yet again right after this). I've always been fascinated by the very little I knew of the tragic story of how it ultimately came to be published.

This is a really good glimpse into the person JKT was and also a look at his equally fascinating mother and coterie of friends.

Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a really bleak, desolate novel. It's often truly depressing. 

And, as per usual with Andre Dubus III, it's truly brilliant. Dubus creates the most real characters—often from those that most of us pass by without ever noticing—and gives them such humanity, such pathos and, yes, such kindness.

This story is the journey of one man who, through some truly devastating losses, seems to finally look up to see the light, despite being surrounded by so much darkness.

Dubus never fails to deliver a thought-provoking story, and this one is no different.

Pictures of Apocalypse by Thomas Ligotti

I'm going to state right up front that I'm not a poetry guy, and this is literally the first, and likely the last poetry collection I'll ever purchase.

Having said that, I quite enjoyed this collection because, quite honestly, Ligotti's poetry is really very much like his writing, just far shorter and broken up by more commas.

So, I really did enjoy all these endings to civilization as we know it. And he even managed to creep me out with dolls, a horror trope I normally don't like.

Cell by Stephen King

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This one was...just blah.

It was, for the most part, shockingly unmemorable. Yes, King went for the gore a few times, but I'm really not a gore fan. He also dove into the SF arena a little bit, and for the most part, he really shouldn't. TOMMYKNOCKERS and DREAMCATCHER are proof of that.

He had a few good moments when we lost one of the only two good characters in the novel. And the second good one? Yeah, he just kind of drifted away through most of the second half.

In fact, this novel's so forgettable that, literally 24 hours after having finished it, I'm having problems remembering most of it, because my mind continually drifted through the entire reading. 

Not a hot mess like TOMMYKNOCKERS. Not a wandering mess like DREAMCATCHER. Just...dull.