13th out of 15 books
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Briarpatch
by
Tim Pratt
Darrin's life has been going downhill ever since his girlfriend Bridget walked out on him without a word of explanation six months ago. Soon after losing her, he lost his job, and his car, and eventually his enthusiasm for life. He can't imagine things getting worse - until he sees Bridget again, for the first time since she walked out, just moments before she leaps to her...more
Published
September 15th 2011
by ChiZine Publications
(first published September 13th 2011)
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“Oh, hell,” Arturo said softly. “This is all new to you? I thought you were, you know, a seasoned traveller, that you just stumbled onto the wrong path. But, what, today, this is your first time in the briarpatch?”
“The briarpatch,” Darrin repeated. “You said that before.”
Arturo nodded. “It’s what some people call, ah, the place, or the whole combination of places, the paths and roads and bridges some people can reach from this world. I dunno what it really is. I’ve heard some people say it’s God...more
“The briarpatch,” Darrin repeated. “You said that before.”
Arturo nodded. “It’s what some people call, ah, the place, or the whole combination of places, the paths and roads and bridges some people can reach from this world. I dunno what it really is. I’ve heard some people say it’s God...more
I recieved this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The Briarpatch is a network of worlds parallel to our own. It is a glimpse of an alleyway out of the corner of your eye that is gone when you turn to look at it. It is the sight of a moonlight colored bridge floating in the sky. It is a pack of wild bears running around that once were people. It is beautiful. It is harrowing. It is the Briarpatch. And for the handful of characters in this story, it's something that will change...more
longer review on mentatjack.com, but this is the meat:
The titular briar patch offers us views of very unlikely worlds. Time and presumably other aspects of physics behave differently. Mermaids and Giants and vampires and more that would become central to a more run of the mill novel become part of the scenery. This meta world next door to ours is introduced as a convenient, if dangerous and somewhat eccentric, method for avoiding rush hour traffic. It’s more than that and the scenery makes a poi...more
The titular briar patch offers us views of very unlikely worlds. Time and presumably other aspects of physics behave differently. Mermaids and Giants and vampires and more that would become central to a more run of the mill novel become part of the scenery. This meta world next door to ours is introduced as a convenient, if dangerous and somewhat eccentric, method for avoiding rush hour traffic. It’s more than that and the scenery makes a poi...more
I wanted to love this book. The premise sounded super exciting, the characters seemed interesting and this book seemed really different and unique for the genre.
Onto the bad news -- character development sucked. I wanted to be done with most of the main characters, and even the protagonists were only of mild interest -- could take em or leave em. In what was such a promising premise, the one dimensionality was such a letdown that the entire story really suffered. Pratt has definitely set this us...more
Onto the bad news -- character development sucked. I wanted to be done with most of the main characters, and even the protagonists were only of mild interest -- could take em or leave em. In what was such a promising premise, the one dimensionality was such a letdown that the entire story really suffered. Pratt has definitely set this us...more
The concept of the briarpatch is an interesting one. A parallel world, or series of parallel worlds, that contain the improbable and implausible, tenuously holding to an existence that few can see unaided. Pratt takes the 'alternate world' concept and runs with it in a direction that I don't see done that often. It's noteworthy that he not only did this in a way that is believable, following its own rules and reasons, but also in such a way that still even the experts on the briarpatch don't rea...more
Briarpatch is about Darrin, who witnesses his girlfriend jumping off a bridge months after she left him with no explanation. He knows she left him for a mysterious man named Ismael Plenty. Unconvinced that his girlfriend would kill herself, he uncovers a bizarre consipiracy, engineered by Ismael Plenty, and centering around himself.
Darrin and Ismael are Briarpatch babies, though Darrin is unaware of this. Of uncertain origin, the Briarpatch babies have the ability to step into a series of interc...more
Darrin and Ismael are Briarpatch babies, though Darrin is unaware of this. Of uncertain origin, the Briarpatch babies have the ability to step into a series of interc...more
Review originally posted on www.christinavasilevski.com
Darrin's life has taken an awful turn: Within the space of one month, he lost his job, his car, and his girlfriend, Bridget, who walked out of his life with no explanation. Six months later while wandering aimlessly around San Francisco, he encounters Bridget for the first time since she left him - only to see her jump to her death off the Golden Gate bridge.
In his search to find out why Bridget killed herself, he gets caught up in the web o...more
Darrin's life has taken an awful turn: Within the space of one month, he lost his job, his car, and his girlfriend, Bridget, who walked out of his life with no explanation. Six months later while wandering aimlessly around San Francisco, he encounters Bridget for the first time since she left him - only to see her jump to her death off the Golden Gate bridge.
In his search to find out why Bridget killed herself, he gets caught up in the web o...more
Tim Pratt is like Neil Gaiman's less British little brother. Some key words for this book: shotgun, manipulation, bears, world between worlds, Wendigo, young adults, hummus. One of my favorite parts, when whatshisname regains (in a way) his sense of taste and smell and starts enjoying food again. Just a nice detail to pay attention to. I leave off the fifth star because I think it could have had more heft to it, more richness. But otherwise, I quite enjoyed it.
If you like Charles Delint, you'll like Briarpatch. Pratt takes his readers into other worlds along with his characters. Darrin sees his ex-girlfriend jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, and sets out to discover why. In the process, he learns more about himself and not only the world most people inhabit, but also the various other "plausible" worlds that exist in, next to, and near our own.
Fascinating read. There was one character in particular that I just hated, thinking she was one-dimensional and unrealistic, but she stayed with me long after reading the book, so I guess in a way that makes her more interesting than I initially gave her credit for being. Anyway, the concept of the book is fascinating, and Pratt is a wonderful writer.
I really wish this book was written as well as the last 1/4 of it, because it might have been a 5. It's nice, fun, not too dense or anything, but I just didn't really care about the story until the end, so it was kind of hard to stick with. But over all, i did enjoy it. It has some really fantastic elements to it, and I like the characters.
Briarpatch is weird and grotesque and cerebral, but not in any of the ways you're thinking right now. I'm not certain what else to say about it, honestly, except that everyone gets what they deserve in highly satisfying manners, and the Alice in Wonderland girl inside me wants to see more of the Briarpatch.
Also, there are bears.
Also, there are bears.
I keep taking a chance on all these low-profile, high concept genre books and I keep coming away disappointed. Shelve this one next to 14 and The World House in the trilogy of books about weird parallel dimensions intersecting with our world, populated by character's whose blandness is matched only by their unlikeability. Populating the books I mean. Not the parallel dimensions. Which are populated nothing as interesting as the jacket copy might lead you to believe.
An interesting read. I had literally no idea what the book was about when I picked it up (for some reason I had this preconception that it was post-apocalyptic? I have no idea), but it turned out to be a sort of neat modern fantasy about parallel worlds/universes/thematrix.
Some good characterisation and some neat concepts, not bad for a quick read.
Some good characterisation and some neat concepts, not bad for a quick read.
May 23, 2013
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