Sign in with Facebook
Gregor Xane's Reviews > Dead Sea
by
If you love monsters, don't even bother reading the rest of this review, just pick up this book. If you love survival at sea stories, don't read further, just pick up this book.
Yes, I, too, like monsters and stories of survival at sea, but I don't like these tropes quite enough to overlook some of this book's shortcomings. I felt this had some pacing problems; the middle was particularly saggy, and the ending felt quite rushed. Key plot elements weren't introduced early enough not seem tacked on at the last minute. The overall effect was like watching one of Zack Snyder's trademark action sequences in the movie 300 when we see the Spartan soldier leap in glorious slow motion toward the enemy and then suddenly snap back into real time to deliver the fatal blow. Except here we'd be watching the Spartan hovering in the air over his enemy for a few minutes of screen time rather than a few drawn out seconds.
Don't get me wrong. I didn't dislike this book. There was a lot I really liked about it. It had a lot of great monsters, harrowing scenes, cool set pieces, and solid characters. (Saks was my favorite.) I just felt it was a bit bogged down with repetitious descriptions of fog and mist. I think some scenes and some characters could have been cut to give the work more focus.
If this book were 70 pages shorter, I'd say that instead of liking it quite a bit, I'd be loving it quite a lot.
Reading Progress
Comments Showing 1-19 of 19 (19 new)
newest »
Kindle edition is now 0.99 for a limited time.
Bought with 1-Click. Thanks for the heads-up!
I agree with your last sentence completely. The book reached some really awesome heights, but it was dragged down by so many redundant descriptions.
Nice review, Gregor! I loved this one and yes, it did lag a wee in the middle. The puppet spider baby made up for it though - freaking amazing!
Daniel wrote: "I agree with your last sentence completely. The book reached some really awesome heights, but it was dragged down by so many redundant descriptions."Yes, this had some great stuff in it. I really liked the whole (view spoiler).
I'm certainly NOT down on Curran. I'd certainly pick up another book by him.
Oh, and I see you just recently finished Last Days. That book's great. I think I have that rated 4 stars, and I keep meaning to go back and switch it to 5. I recommend that thing at every turn.
Bill wrote: "Nice review, Gregor! I loved this one and yes, it did lag a wee in the middle. The puppet spider baby made up for it though - freaking amazing!"Thanks, Bill. Oh, yeah. This book had some awesome monsters in it.
Great review, Gregor. I agree with what you pointed out (it could have been shorter without losing anything), but I forgave all that. :)
Thanks, Irena. The flaws I saw in this one are shared by a lot of books, and a lot of books I like. This was my first Curran, but it won't be my last.
The Mist on a ship was a decent way to describe it, I thought, with some Event Horizon.What I really liked was (view spoiler)
Jason wrote: "The Mist on a ship was a decent way to describe it, I thought, with some Event Horizon.What I really liked was [spoilers removed]"
Yeah, I really liked that aspect, too.
Nice review! I very much share the 70 pages too long sentiment, but I got a huge kick out of the rest of the novel. Sadly, I'm noticing a trend with Curran's longer works that they could all use a more ruthless edit. His novellas, however, are stripped back and all the better for it.
Kaisersoze wrote: "Nice review! I very much share the 70 pages too long sentiment, but I got a huge kick out of the rest of the novel. Sadly, I'm noticing a trend with Curran's longer works that they could all use a ..."Thank you!
I'll have to check out his novellas then. I've grown rather fond of that form as of late.
Gregor wrote: "Daniel wrote: "I agree with your last sentence completely. The book reached some really awesome heights, but it was dragged down by so many redundant descriptions."Yes, this had some great stuff..."
I'm definitely not down on him either. It's more like I recognize his potential, and it makes me disappointed when he fails to live up to it. Especially when all it would take is another draft or two to elevate the book from great to unforgettable.
I picked up his novella collection, Blood, Bones, and Bullets, and read the first two (Puppet Graveyard and The Underdwelling). They're MUCH tighter than Dead Sea, and I enjoyed them a lot.
Last Days is incredible. So unique and dark and funny. And man, that payoff at the end was something else. I think I found it through a review you had commented on, actually. Did you read the acknowledgements page at the end of the book? It's pretty hilarious.
Daniel wrote: "Gregor wrote: "Daniel wrote: "I agree with your last sentence completely. The book reached some really awesome heights, but it was dragged down by so many redundant descriptions."Yes, this had s..."
I just went back and re-read the acknowledgements page. Man, I'd forgotten how pleased I was to see that he'd thought to thank Paul.
Especially his daughters, Paul and Paul. That was really touching.
Yes, I was a choked up a bit when I read that.
Your review resonates with me so much. I'm probably a little harsher in my review than you, but the general feeling you express in this review hits the nail on the head.
Bjorn wrote: "Your review resonates with me so much. I'm probably a little harsher in my review than you, but the general feeling you express in this review hits the nail on the head."Thank you, sir. Yes, it seems you may have been a bit harsher, however, many, many sins could have probably been overlooked if the book had been leaner.
Agreed. I honestly liked it; I just wanted to like it more than I did. :-/
