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Alejandro's Reviews > Innocence
Innocence
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This novel was of those cases where you begin to read it and you are sure at that early point that you will give it a 5-star rating, then the story was still in the first part and there were some moments not very entertaining and then you know that you are enjoying the reading but the book will get a 4-star rating as best, but certainly not less than that, and bam! in the final "laps" of the run, in the third part, you don't understand why such a simple and enjoyable story gets so complicated and so unnecesary big, and you have no choice to give it just a 3-star rating.
Influences
It's pretty evident and even Dean Koontz made a comment on the narrative that the story has a strong influence on the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast. Even, I'd say that not only the classic tale but also the popular TV adaptation of the story with Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. Also, I felt some feeling of the ambiance of the film City of Angels.
The style of narrative also has a style very much like the TV series Kung-Fu, or just to mention some more contemporary examples can be named the TV series Lost and American Horror Story. In the sense that you are reading the story in the "present" of it, but conveniently you get to read some chapters telling the precise events of the "past" to understand key moments of the current story.
Characters
The strongest issue on the book is the great development of characters, specially the main ones as "Addison" and "Gwyneth". Using freely an phrase of the author, the way that those two characters act, react and interact is really priceless and a very valid reason just to read the novel.
Also, the book present other mysterious characters like "The Fogs" and "The Clears", however, sadly, I don't think that the story get to explode the full potential of that kind of characters and even to validate the purpose of even being there.
The main villain, while he was really evil and he does a lot of very bad things, I think that he wasn't well used and his reason of being in the story is diminished unexpectedly.
Story
The story begins in a wonderful way, full of mysteries, with interesting characters and a good pacing of development, but suddenly in the third part got in a totally different direction and it passed from being a small event to something of world scale, and you are bombarded with so much stuff of assimilate that you want to jump away from this running train since there is too much, just too much. I got overwhelmed since it was totally unexpected that the story got so big in scale. And besides that, you feel that many of the elements of what you think was the story, they just feel now as irrelevant or without any reason. If the story was big since the beginning I may be able to accept it and embrace it, however, as I told you, the story was small, simple and enjoyable, and certainly, I can't deny that Koontz gives you hints here and there that you certainly know that something big is brewing but I don't know, when the "big" thing hit the book, it was just like that impact changed the very genre and/or type of novel that you are reading and now you are in a whole new kind of story, but just too late in the book to be able to cope about it to really enjoy it. It's sad, since I was really enjoying the experience of the novel but the final chapters totally changed my impression of the book.
Influences
It's pretty evident and even Dean Koontz made a comment on the narrative that the story has a strong influence on the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast. Even, I'd say that not only the classic tale but also the popular TV adaptation of the story with Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. Also, I felt some feeling of the ambiance of the film City of Angels.
The style of narrative also has a style very much like the TV series Kung-Fu, or just to mention some more contemporary examples can be named the TV series Lost and American Horror Story. In the sense that you are reading the story in the "present" of it, but conveniently you get to read some chapters telling the precise events of the "past" to understand key moments of the current story.
Characters
The strongest issue on the book is the great development of characters, specially the main ones as "Addison" and "Gwyneth". Using freely an phrase of the author, the way that those two characters act, react and interact is really priceless and a very valid reason just to read the novel.
Also, the book present other mysterious characters like "The Fogs" and "The Clears", however, sadly, I don't think that the story get to explode the full potential of that kind of characters and even to validate the purpose of even being there.
The main villain, while he was really evil and he does a lot of very bad things, I think that he wasn't well used and his reason of being in the story is diminished unexpectedly.
Story
The story begins in a wonderful way, full of mysteries, with interesting characters and a good pacing of development, but suddenly in the third part got in a totally different direction and it passed from being a small event to something of world scale, and you are bombarded with so much stuff of assimilate that you want to jump away from this running train since there is too much, just too much. I got overwhelmed since it was totally unexpected that the story got so big in scale. And besides that, you feel that many of the elements of what you think was the story, they just feel now as irrelevant or without any reason. If the story was big since the beginning I may be able to accept it and embrace it, however, as I told you, the story was small, simple and enjoyable, and certainly, I can't deny that Koontz gives you hints here and there that you certainly know that something big is brewing but I don't know, when the "big" thing hit the book, it was just like that impact changed the very genre and/or type of novel that you are reading and now you are in a whole new kind of story, but just too late in the book to be able to cope about it to really enjoy it. It's sad, since I was really enjoying the experience of the novel but the final chapters totally changed my impression of the book.
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Innocence.
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Reading Progress
December 13, 2013
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Started Reading
December 13, 2013
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December 30, 2013
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horror
December 30, 2013
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novel
December 30, 2013
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paranormal
December 30, 2013
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politics
December 30, 2013
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religion
December 30, 2013
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romance
December 30, 2013
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Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 66 (66 new)
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[deleted user]
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Dec 30, 2013 09:15PM
Lol! I just finished it. I feel exactly the same. Excellent review. My first pass at Koontz will try another. I did like the books theme/message.
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Mal wrote: "Lol! I just finished it. I feel exactly the same. Excellent review. My first pass at Koontz will try another. I did like the books theme/message."Great minds think alike ;) Hehehe.
If this book was your first experience with Koontz's work, I can recommend you "Phantoms". It was the first book that I read by him and I liked it a lot.
Mal wrote: "Thx Alejandro!";)
I felt the same way about this book. I always try to give Koontz the benefit of the doubt but his books always end up this way for me:(
Jo Anne wrote: "I felt the same way about this book. I always try to give Koontz the benefit of the doubt but his books always end up this way for me:("Really? That's odd, since while I didn't enjoyed this book, I usually having wonderful reading experiences with Koontz's books. Have you tried... "Phantoms", "Life Expectancy", "Velocity", "Intensity", "Midnight" and/or "Lightnings"? (Just to name some of the books that I have read by him and that I enjoyed a lot)
Great review! I had to laugh. I'm not sure what avid reader doesn't relate to the "fall from grace" of a potential 5+star book. lol
Debbie wrote: "Great review! I had to laugh. I'm not sure what avid reader doesn't relate to the "fall from grace" of a potential 5+star book. lol"Hahaha ;) Oh, yes. I'm sure that all of us as readers we have been in that situation, the book starts awesome and in the process it falls down :P
Alejandro wrote: "Debbie wrote: "Great review! I had to laugh. I'm not sure what avid reader doesn't relate to the "fall from grace" of a potential 5+star book. lol"Hahaha ;) Oh, yes. I'm sure that all of us as re..."
Hate when that happens. lol What is worse bad beginning or the slow decline?
Debbie wrote: "Alejandro wrote: "Debbie wrote: "Great review! I had to laugh. I'm not sure what avid reader doesn't relate to the "fall from grace" of a potential 5+star book. lol"Hahaha ;) Oh, yes. I'm sure th..."
Mmh. Good question. I think that a bad beginning is worse since that can alienate the reader and making him/her stop reading without knowing if the book gets better or not. While a slow decline, since you are already hooked to the story, it's more likely that the reader will end the book anyway.
I've occasionally had the opposite happen, where I'm sure the book will end up being a two or three star book at best and the ending changes that.
Katy wrote: "I've occasionally had the opposite happen, where I'm sure the book will end up being a two or three star book at best and the ending changes that."It happens to me too ;) Yes, sometimes you are pretty sure that the book won't be able to reach even a 3-star rating and an awesome ending can overwhelm you in a good way and making to change your overall impression of the whole book :)
Katy wrote: "I've occasionally had the opposite happen, where I'm sure the book will end up being a two or three star book at best and the ending changes that."I've that too Katy and it's always a welcome surprise. Like a rescue effort! lol Followed by anger at the author.. if you could do this great ending.. why didn't you employ this effort throughout the whole book.
I read a couple of his Odd Thomas books a while ago, maybe during my Stephen King phase; I could have been looking for more of the same, but it just didn't pan out for me. Too predictable, maybe, or too shallow. That's not what you are saying, Alejandro, I know, yet our experiences had in common that our books were not entirely satisfactory.
Jan wrote: "I read a couple of his Odd Thomas books a while ago, maybe during my Stephen King phase; I could have been looking for more of the same, but it just didn't pan out for me. Too predictable, maybe, ..."I haven't tried his "Odd Thomas" series. Yes, indeed there are some books that just are not totally satisfactory. Maybe that's the worse part, since it'd be just a plain bad book, one wouldn't worry too much, but it was the huge potential to be a great book but ending so off-track that we are sad about. I still have to read more Stephen King, since my experience with his work is more due the Film adaptations, and indeed I want to read more of Stephen King. And while my experiences this year with Koontz with "The Hushband" and "Innocence" weren't as I expected, I still have several books from Koontz between my favorites like "Phantoms" and "Life Expectancy" :)
I read the first few Odd Thomas books and quite enjoyed them myself *shrug*
They weren't bad. I didn't intend to denigrate them, plus I shouldn't judge the rest of the author's work by them--yet one tends to do that, and there are just so many choices. I do end up picking and choosing. And it's fantastic to read the reviews on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ of some I didn't get to myself.
Katy wrote: "I read the first few Odd Thomas books and quite enjoyed them myself *shrug*"Since I am fan of Dean Koontz, eventually I have to try the Odd Thomas series. I hope to enjoy it. :P
Jan wrote: "They weren't bad. I didn't intend to denigrate them, plus I shouldn't judge the rest of the author's work by them--yet one tends to do that, and there are just so many choices. I do end up pickin..."Don't stress up, Jan :) I understand what you meant since the beginning. :) I think that it's almost impossible that all books of a prolific author will be good, even with their hardcore fans. I am huge fan of Dean Koontz and I enjoyed a lot of his books, but that doesn't blind me to judge each book that I read by him or any other author has something apart from my previous experiences. In 2013, it was a curious feeling that the two books that I could read by him "The Husband" and "Innocence" weren't experience so rewarding, at least to me, as previous books, but still I am glad of being able to read them and judge them myself. Still, as something that it's starting to become like a personal motto (due so many time that I already quoted it)... No two people read the same book. And while my personal experience with this book wasn't so good, I'll be truly glad if I catch any positive review about the book by some other reader. :)
And yes, Jan, indeed there so many choices that it's overwhelming when one is choosing what book to read next ;) It's very good to have so many choices but also it's a risk of reading a "bad" book (at least a bad book for us) but sometimes it doesn't mean that the book was really bad, it was just not the right one for us, at least in this moment ;)
And certainly always I take in account the great reviews here, on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, by fellow readers, since it's a strong factor in the choosing of the next book to read :)
Alejandro wrote: "I think that it's almost impossible that all books of a prolific author will be good, even with their hardcore fans."Yes, this is absolutely true. I was a huge fan of Anne McCaffrey, bought every single one of her books, but there were several of her books I just didn't like. It's okay to have different experiences with books, Jan. I was just adding my viewpoint, that's all!
In this regard, give me books over movies, any day. Much higher success rate with books!
Katy wrote: "Alejandro wrote: "I think that it's almost impossible that all books of a prolific author will be good, even with their hardcore fans."Yes, this is absolutely true. I was a huge fan of Anne McCaf..."
Definitely I hope to be able to read the book series of "Dragonriders of Pern" by McCaffrey at some moment. :)
Jan wrote: "In this regard, give me books over movies, any day. Much higher success rate with books!"My feelings are divided since in the same way that I am an avid reader, I am a film freak too. :) I love to watch films and TV, in the same way that I love to read books. But I understand your position ;)
The Dragonriders series is one that remains high quality throughout, until her son takes over. He wants to make things too action-y.
Katy wrote: "The Dragonriders series is one that remains high quality throughout, until her son takes over. He wants to make things too action-y."So, the book series is worthy of reading only on its original run when she was alive?
Well, that's just my opinion. I've read two of the ones that Todd cowrote, prior to her death, and they just didn't have the same feel. They were okay, but IMO the ones that Anne wrote herself are better. One of the cool things about Anne McCaffrey's stories is that if you look for it, you can see that every single series is connected to the others in some way. It's sometimes a bit hard to see, but it's there. My favorites were the Dragonriders, of course, but I also quite liked her Planet Pirate sci-fi series, which she cowrote with a few different people. I remember having quite a heated discussion with some other fans in Portland over how all the stories fit together and in what order... :-)
Katy wrote: "Well, that's just my opinion. I've read two of the ones that Todd cowrote, prior to her death, and they just didn't have the same feel. They were okay, but IMO the ones that Anne wrote herself are ..."Well, I guess that's normal that the books of her son wouldn't be as good as hers or at least not with the same feeling and/or style. Not matter that he is her son, he is not her.
Thanks for commenting too about the Planet Pirate series, to have it on mind too then.
When you say that all her stories are connected in some way, did you mean her stories of Dragonriders, or that she did subtle connections between all her books in general, in all her book series?
I mean all of her books are set in the same universe, but at different points in time, and at different places. As I said, I've read almost every single book she's written, and I saw the connections. The Dragonriders series, for example, is a group of settlers from Earth that end up sort of lost in space; the Planet Pirates takes place a couple hundred years later, closer to earth. The psychic stories are set closer to modern time. Those are the ones that are problematic - the first couple books in those series are really good, but after that they become repetitive, basically just rehashing the same plot. I think she was probably hooked in for a certain number of books and ran out of ideas or something.
Great review without giving spoilers. I plan to read this one in the next week or so.
Alejandro wrote, "My feelings are divided since in the same way that I am an avid reader, I am a film freak too. :) I love to watch films and TV, in the same way that I love to read books...."I have changed over the years in this regard. Whereas it seems harder and harder to make a movie that is truly art, so many authors find the way to be creators. Just my reaction; not sure anyone else has had that view. (Special effects just do not make a movie memorable in my eyes!)
I never really connected to Koontz as much as with his contemporary fellow-authors. I don't know why really. I've read one or two of his books, many years ago. Great review, as always!
Katy wrote: "I mean all of her books are set in the same universe, but at different points in time, and at different places. As I said, I've read almost every single book she's written, and I saw the connection..."Interesting to know :) Thank you for explaining :)
kari wrote: "Great review without giving spoilers. I plan to read this one in the next week or so."I like to make reviews without making spoilers to avoid to ruin the experience and/or surprises of readers who want to read the book but they haven't do it yet. Sometimes isn't easy but if I feel the irresistible impulse of making a spoiler (hehe) at least I hide it marking it clearly as such ;)
Awesome that you plan to read the next week :) I will like a lot to read your own review about it.
Margitte wrote: "I never really connected to Koontz as much as with his contemporary fellow-authors. I don't know why really. I've read one or two of his books, many years ago. Great review, as always!"Well, as I commented, not all books of a prolific author can be good, at least not good for everybody. I am a huge fan of Koontz since my first long novel of horror that I read was by him, before of that I was only reading anthologies of short stories, and my reading experience with "Phantoms" was SO GOOD that since then I have tried to read as much as possible of his work. Usually has been really good experiences (you may check my reviews about his books on my shelves) it was just this last year (2013) that I met with two books by him that I didn't enjoy, but that it didn't make me to stop trying other books by him in the future :)
I saw this at the store the other day. Now I'm glad i didn't spend my money! lol
Ashley wrote: "I saw this at the store the other day. Now I'm glad i didn't spend my money! lol"Well, two people never read the same book. I didn't enjoy this one as much as I expected, mainly due the final climax, but it isn't a guarantee that you wouldn't like it. At the end, each one has to trust his/her instincts about the books that chooses. :)
Great review! Felt exactly the same way. I really loved all of Koontz' work up until the last few years. His most recent books have been all over the place.
Sam wrote: "Great review! Felt exactly the same way. I really loved all of Koontz' work up until the last few years. His most recent books have been all over the place."Hi, Sam! Thanks for your commment. Yes, I had kinda bad luck with this book (Innocense) and "The Husband" and it was an odd experience to me, since maybe I was more fortunate before, but it was like I always liked all his books, and now I met two books that I didn't enjoyed. Maybe as you pointed his most recent work hasn't been so rewarding as some older books. Certainly, my next book by him, I'll try to be something kinda older just to be safe ;) I don't think that I could manage three dissapointments in row. :P
Wow. Awesome review! :) I think you touched on all bases, I'm just sorry it went downhill a bit, but three is still not bad.
Kat Stark wrote: "Wow. Awesome review! :) I think you touched on all bases, I'm just sorry it went downhill a bit, but three is still not bad."Thank you! Oh, I don't regret of having read it. And yes, a 3-star isn't so bad.
Great review! I'm almost tempted to read it, just to see what you are talking about. Also...the Beauty and the Beast thing!
Anne wrote: "Great review! I'm almost tempted to read it, just to see what you are talking about. Also...the Beauty and the Beast thing!"Maybe you should give it a try. No two people read the same book. Maybe you would enjoy it more than me. And after all, it's not like that I hated it. No, no. I am glad of having read it. It was only the way of ending it that I found odd. But the development of the novel is quite engaging.
Great review, Alejandro! Too bad that those final chapters changed the whole book for you. *Sigh* It happens.
Nice review, Alejandro! I know the feeling of watching a 5-star book slowly derail...it isn't a fun feeling.And I can't stand City of Angels so...
Great review. You actually made me want to read the book, but I will read it without too much expectations! :)
Another great review Alejandro, sorry didn't work out to you at the end as you first expected. Saludos!
Florencia wrote: "Great review, Alejandro! Too bad that those final chapters changed the whole book for you. *Sigh* It happens."Hi, Florencia! :)
Yes, indeed it was a bummer since the novel was going real good and captivating with so much potential. Still, I am glad of having read the book. However, since I had kinda bad luck with recent material by Koontz that it's one of my favorite authors, it's most likely that I will try better some of his older works that I haven't read yet.
Carmen wrote: "Nice review, Alejandro! I know the feeling of watching a 5-star book slowly derail...it isn't a fun feeling.And I can't stand City of Angels so..."
Hi, Carmen! Oh, yes, indeed it isn't fun at all being enjoying so much a book and then it happens all of sudden and it makes just impossible to give a good rating to the book.
I haven't read the novel of City of Angels (did you mean that?) but I have watched the film and yes, I understand what you mean... kinda poetic but still is a darn bad ending!
Magdalena wrote: "Great review. You actually made me want to read the book, but I will read it without too much expectations! :)"Hi, Magdalena! Please do! :) As I commented, many of the reading experience is really great, with interesting characters and many environment elements with so much potential. I didn't regret of having read the novel. And at the end, maybe you'd be able to enjoy it more :) Never two people read the same book. If you engage into the novel, I'd love to read your own review about it.
Maria wrote: "Another great review Alejandro, sorry didn't work out to you at the end as you first expected. Saludos!"Hi, Maria. Yes, well, I still way glad of having read the novel and being able to form my own opinion about it. Maybe it was all the potential that didn't pick its tops and the too sudden change in the course of the story that ruined the ending.
Saludos! ;)
