Quartet

by Jason Brannon

A string quartet is held captive inside a seaside conservatory by a group of ocean-dwelling creatures whose only mission is to make the music stop. The quartet's only defense lies in their ability to create music. In order to survive, they must either play indefinitely or die.

56 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2012

About the author

Jason Brannon is the author of numerous short story collections, novellas, and novels. He has seen more than 100 short stories published in various venues. His short fiction has been compiled in collections like Puzzles of Flesh, The Machinery of Infinity, and Five Days on the Banks of the Acheron. His most recent books include The Cage, Winds of Change, The Misunderstood and Other Misfit Horrors, and The Order of the Bull. Numerous titles have also been translated into German by Basilisk Verlag. He maintains a website at http://www.jasonbrannon.us

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, I would like to personally thank the author for allowing me the chance to read and review a signed copy of his book, even going so far as to sign and mail the thing from his home. I like and respect things like that, and because of this, I was more inclined to give a more honest and thorough review. Thank you for this opportunity, I appreciate it.

That being said, I want to say this book was not quite what I was expecting when I read the synopsis. Don't get me wrong, the book is as advertised, and I quote from the back cover: "A string quartet is held captive inside a seaside conservatory by a group of ocean-dwelling creatures whose only mission is to make the music stop. The quartet's defense lies in their ability to create music. In order to survive, they must either play indefinitely or die."

Yes, definitely as advertised. This book details how five musicians die after a catastrophic event happens at the conservatory they study music at. Besieged by the creatures of the deep, the protagonists have to choose death by sea creature, or death by exhaustion.

The book is rather short, a mere 57 pages in which the characters undergo their trial. While I understand the author is a writer of short stories, I feel that the story could have been fleshed out a bit more than it was. The pacing felt rather too fast at the beginning, as it attempted to explain away the way that these sea creatures only wanted to single out and destroy just THIS conservatory on the water, or the way that each of the characters dying between time skips lasting a few hours at a time. It all seems crazy to wrap my head around. Why wasn't there any outside intervention from anyone? How was it even possible for just five people out of thousands to be the only ones left? My brain is reeling from this assault on my imagination. It reads a lot like a DND campaign in which the party is doomed to death by GM-shenanigans.

Even the romantic triangle of a subplot between Gordon, Charlie, and Michelle seem as if it were just there to make trouble, instead of be believable.

So yes, two stars. "It was ok" was definitely what I felt was a fair assessment of the short story I read. It didn't feel like a waste of time reading, I just felt that if the book lasted longer than a single sitting, that there was some sort of exposition to the writing other than what amounted to "The Ocean is pissed off at this collection of amateur musicians, so we'll kill them all off right now.", then I'd be more inclined to give this three stars instead, as I feel that I rate books rather kindly.

*This book has been provided courtesy of the Goodreads First Reads Program. Thanks Goodreads!

[Yrik Valentonis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quartet is a creepy Lovecraftian tale of the attempts to survive despite the inevitable doom surrounding these musicians.