Wow! Michael actually reviewed A BOOK? That's rare to see nowadays!
Welp, I'm back to Neil Gaiman land and unfortunately, this is my least favorite of Wow! Michael actually reviewed A BOOK? That's rare to see nowadays!
Welp, I'm back to Neil Gaiman land and unfortunately, this is my least favorite of his work so far. Ironic because the movie adaptation is one of the best animated films ever made and it became so apparent reading this how much the adaptation to screen improved so many key features of the book while also enhancing the book by expanding characters and adding stuff that made lots of sense. This seems to be a trend with Gaiman adaptations I'm noticing.
I mean, WOW. The prose is a huge step down compared to the books I've read by him. The parents just seem oblivious to Coraline and don't seem to care, shrugging at every single sentence she spurts out. It doesn't help that there's no descriptive emotions. It's mostly just 'Coraline said' or 'The Cat said' or 'The Other Mother said', it's so bland and doesn't give a good idea of how the characters are feeling. The characters just say stuff. They don't do stuff. When they do stuff, it's when there's no pretty much no dialogue 90% of the time. I do like the illustrations and it definitely helped me deviate from the book from the film so I had different images to focus on, but I got to say this felt VERY lacking compared to Gaiman's other body of work. There's just not enough steam here.
It's not all terrible but I've so far given every Gaiman book I've read a Full 5 Star Rating, this is a noticeable step down. Whether it's to change style for a Young Adult audience I don't know, but it's certainly the worst Gaiman book I've read. Although, there are some moments that do shine throughout the book, mainly the interactions with the cat and the hunt for the marbles. Yeah, I don't have much else to say. I'd certainly recommend reading Neverwhere over this or any of the stories I've read by him again....more
Once in a blue moon it seems I'll type up a review for a book. And yep! It's that rare occasion where I get to talk about something!
For those who are Once in a blue moon it seems I'll type up a review for a book. And yep! It's that rare occasion where I get to talk about something!
For those who are unaware, I had massive reading burnout in 2020 no thanks to reading The Lord of the Rings (not to say it was bad though!) and for the last five years I've only read a total of 8 Books (including this) from the last two years. I am attempting to read more though and I think I finally found a way of just putting myself down to read by just listening to Vinyl. Anyways, that's the reason I haven't read in a long time. But I hope with this new trick I will be posting more on books!
-REVIEW-
This is possibly the most horrifying thing I have ever read. To be honest it shouldn't have surprised me since I find the majority of disaster films depressing, so I should have expected this to be really brutal. The first thing I need to point out is TO NOT go in thinking this is science fiction. This should more be credited as horror, not Sci-Fi! Possibly one of the most emotionally upsetting parts of this book is in the second half in is Book II Chapter IV. I won't spoil, but this was such a petrifying chapter to begin with. What I think really makes the book standout today is how when fear overcomes us we lose grip and all sense of rational thought and do monstrous, regrettable, horrific things to one another in the sense of peril. It became very clear with the Cousin's chapters that this was not some schlocky book like I was expecting it to be, this is a realistic tale of warfare of Humanity Vs. Fear.
I have to dock points off because the writing is oftentimes dry. Even Jules Verne had more appetite in Around the World to showcase. I don't know, I just feel while this story is absolutely horrific in the sense that this really captured my insecurities while being outside, the writing isn't as amazing as it should have been. But wow, seeing London in the 19th Century was very much something I wanted to look upon for a while now. I will rarely touch this book again just because of how vivid it's description of human insanity is. But I am honestly impressed that a book can instill this much horror into someone even today.
Thankfully it was short. Would I call it enjoyable? I don't think so. But I would call it realistic. From the back of my mind I remember the 2005 Film capturing the absolutely panic and dread and insanity that this book vividly showcases us but I'm disappointed no one has decided to do a full on adaptation of the novel the way it is. In the right hands of someone like Robert Eggers this could be a truly devastating and panic inducing classic for the cinema, but it seems people are more interested in showcasing the main theme of the book on film, not showcasing the story as intended, which is why I think a big reason of this book works so much is because it was written at the end of the 19th Century which today feels to me unreal in itself.
I don't have any other words. Just Horrifying....more
This review will be short since I myself am not the reader I was once. It takes me a LONG time just to read books because I get sidetracked by other tThis review will be short since I myself am not the reader I was once. It takes me a LONG time just to read books because I get sidetracked by other things like my writings and what not, not to mention I forget things after a while if I haven't read in a bit. But I thought I'd talk about this a bit mainly because I bought Saga Press's new Elric Saga Vol. 1 hardcover and wanted to read some classic fantasy. And I wasn't disappointed!
It's a simple tale, but in general I found myself engrossed at points by the world in general that Elric lives in. I think the conflict between him and Yyrkoon was great, the latter is a fun villain in general. There's a couple of moments that stick out in my mind, specifically Yyrkoon's absolute shock when Elric just shows back up thinking he killed him and in general, the fight with the Fifteen Headed Snake (WHAT?!), there's moments I really enjoyed here and it feels like it's a book made of great moments that stick in your head for quite some time.
I don't have much else to say here mainly because I forgot so many little details about the story (I know, reading is hard for me nowadays) but I thought this was pretty fun. Elric is a good protagonist and I definitely cared about what was happening to him throughout the story. There's lots of moments I enjoyed here, so I'll be sure to hopefully commit to reading the next book in Saga Press's Vol. 1 soon. Fun!...more
My computer is in shop so I'll do quick thoughts on my phone.
Well, it was fine? The characterization is obviously the best part of the whole story andMy computer is in shop so I'll do quick thoughts on my phone.
Well, it was fine? The characterization is obviously the best part of the whole story and the characters are pretty good. It's surprisingly more lighthearted than I thought it was going to be. Murderbot is obviously a well done protagonist and I enjoyed reading about them.
However, everything else is rather simplistic and overall generic. I hope this series doesn't just become "The Company is bad and we must stop it!" because the premise is already extremely cliched and the world building does nothing for me. However, the book didn't fall too much into cliche so maybe this series will stick the landing?
It's a fine novella and a okay start to a series but I hope the prose improves and it moves away from it's generic premise into something truly interesting. I'll pretty much pick up the second book....more
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