bookshelves: currently-reading
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Sometimes Koontz is a genius. Other times, he comes close. On this book...not so much. He was really reaching here, going all over the place, as if he took a dozen separate ideas he'd once jotted down and mashed them together for a full novel. Now that means there are some great ideas in here, and some not so great. But none of it really fits together well. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that as he was writing this, his interests or focus switched tracks four or five times. It's too bad, and it makes for an unsatisfactory ending. It is a good thing for a story to change gears now and then, and catch you by surprise with a shift in a different direction. But not this much, and not this randomly. This falls to the bottom of Kootnz's list, and I wouldn't be surprised if he felt the same after looking back at it over time.
As always, though, I'll keep reading his books. His prose is great, and his characters fun. ]]>
bookshelves: to-read
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bookshelves: to-read
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"I can usually see where Koontz is going, but this one keeps switching directions and I have no idea what is going on."
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More outer space fun from Andre Norton. Once again, she's managed to pull off a fun, fast-paced adventure that did not require mind-numbing science or metaphysical mumbo-jumbo like so many of today's sci-fi writers. Just a great little yarn about an unsettled planet with bad guys and good guys and a few alien races and machines thrown in. ]]>
bookshelves: abandoned
Yet another literary novel that simply ruins a good story with so much mutterings of the mind. I can't take this type of thing anymore. ]]>
Cussler's books have simply become like the old movie serials of the 1930's. Or the comic strip serials like Terry and the Pirates or Steve Canyon. This doesn't mean they aren't entertaining, but they have completely lost any semblance of reality. I realize many will think they never were any where near reality, but Cussler did take some of the danger and intrigue seriously once upon a time. Now, they are just comic strip adventures, more closely related to young adult fiction, save for the copious amounts of alcoholic consumption.
Fun to read, up to a point. ]]>
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Jason wrote: "Awesome! After you finish it, we can watch the old Vincent Price movie. " |
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by Richard Stark
Have you read Richard Stark before? I've never tried him. Stark is a pen-name for Donald Westlake. I've read many of Westlake's books, and I love them for their humor. Stark is his darker alter-ego, I'm told. Not sure if I'd like that. I look forward to your impressions of this. ]]>