The Fireman in Vampires, Weres and Fae!

Jun 04, 2016 Yodamom rated it liked it

Shelves: just-was-not-into-it, library, dystopian, male-authors, less-than-i-expected, pathetic-characters

2.7 stars
I finally finished this ! I liked it (or did I) I am wavering. Dang it was too long, like a visit from my In-laws. My first thought when I finished it was "Finally" There was enough action, enough death and destruction, but it was too closed in. There were too few characters, too few places, the book stayed in one place too long for my taste. The story got stale, before 50%. Yes, the story moved forward but the circumstances, the people just "Baaa" (sorry that slipped out) yeh the sheep ...more

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Jan 20, 2021 Carrie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, horror, dystopia

There were times when reading this I had to pause, the character of Jacob was very triggering for me and sent me mentally to places I did not wish to go back to. To the point that I was going to DNF it, I'm glad I breathed through because I wanted to know what was going to happed, I was invested.

I found The Fireman to be a very interesting and messed up read. Also feels fitting for the times in which we are living.

I don't want to spoil anything but the cult like actions and some scenes (if you ...more

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Mar 05, 2017 Gertie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: apocalypse, audiobooks, unusual-abilities, scifi, library, scary

Listened to in audiobook form, narrated by Kate Mulgrew, who is a pleasure to listen to.

Before reading The Fireman, I had read only one other book by Joe Hill — NOS4A2. I enjoyed that book a lot, but did not think at the time "this is an author I have to follow". However now that I've read this one, I'm going to have to see what else he has written.

Using my usual "cold reading" approach (not rereading a blurb before starting book), it was a pleasant surprise me that this is actually a post-apoc Listened to in audiobook form, narrated by Kate Mulgrew, who is a pleasure to listen to.

Before reading The Fireman, I had read only one other book by Joe Hill — NOS4A2. I enjoyed that book a lot, but did not think at the time "this is an author I have to follow". However now that I've read this one, I'm going to have to see what else he has written.

Using my usual "cold reading" approach (not rereading a blurb before starting book), it was a pleasant surprise me that this is actually a post-apocalyptic story. I like the idea of the dragonscale outbreak, and the various ways it affects people and manifests itself. Clearly some serious suspension of disbelief was required for some aspects of the story, but I felt it was acceptable.

As for our main characters, I like Harper, and appreciated her ability to be calm when things are just all going to hell around her. Her husband was enjoyable to hate , though I admit I had a few moments where I understood some of his feelings toward Harbor, because aside from her obsession with Mary Poppins, she was a very vanilla, timid person much of the time. I often wished she had more spine to tell people when they were being assholes. That said, she's also just a much nicer person than I am , or than most people really.

The Fireman himself was a drawback for me. He was narcissistic, sometimes selfish and thoughtless, and whined like a 9 year old.

Some of the other characters were interesting... Renee was one of my favorites. Sometimes she was a little booty-toity and patronizing, though it was typically when she was right, so it's hard to hold that against her. Allie was a bipolar (hyperbole there) teenager. She could be a real sweetheart one minute, then turn around and be a bitch the next. This made for good drama though. Nick was good, though I feel they could have given him more personality instead of him just being the deaf kid. Father Story and Carol were also interesting. I'm not going to talk about all the characters though… So moving on…

There are a couple of dogs to his father's book stand that I noticed, and suspected that there are more to go back and other books . They were fun to notice – such as the deaf kid Nick and the notebook keeping jerk like Harold.

There are some moments when I got frustrated and annoyed. However I had to think about it… was it because I didn't like the story, or because the characters were pissing me off? It turned out it was because the characters doing things that would make me angry such as when someone was being cruel to Harper. I'm going to file it under good frustration. At least it got a reaction out of me.

...more

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Feb 21, 2020 Kathi rated it it was amazing

GREAT book! Kind of a cross between The Stand and The Walking Dead. Loved the original story and the ensemble. I could not put it down. Joe Hill is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

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