Scan barcode
brassduke's review against another edition
3.0
The three stories intertwine very well and the central themes are engrossing. I very much enjoyed the pace and just as one timeline was beginning to lose it's impact, the book visited one of the others. As with "The Last Werewolf", the main character is very introspective and it's not a story you feel particularly happy when you've finished.
Some of the moral concepts touched upon are very interesting but, probably as a result, few of the characters are particularly likeable. It's still worth a read, very much so.
Some of the moral concepts touched upon are very interesting but, probably as a result, few of the characters are particularly likeable. It's still worth a read, very much so.
djrmelvin's review against another edition
3.0
I started this book a few months ago, stopped reading because it wasn't the right time in my life to be reading the intense torture scenes, but came back to it because I had to find out how the other two plots tied into that horror. Having read other books from Duncan, I knew he would not leave any loose ends. His characters are masters of self-delusion, but eventually, his characters reveal everything. I might have to re-evaluate that opinion now. The doomed-from-the-start love story is heartbreakingly beautiful, the broken-man-healed story bumps up against dark humor and then turns into a different sort of love story, but the plot that should bring them all together is so slippery and garbled that it seemed to me that the main character himself wasn't quite clear on the reason for the torture. In my opinion, it seemed as if Duncan had the idea for the torture scenes (there's no doubt they're well written and researched) and then created two plots that would feed into and feed out of them. Even in the hands of such a strong and fearless writer, that sort of story telling will show thin spots.
angielisle's review
3.0
There's some lovely examples of prose and it's affect on a scene, but I hard a hard time getting into and staying in this book - not because of the violence, but because I kept predicting the plot threads.
janhicks's review
3.0
Not his best book, but still really well written. It pulls you along, and there are some interesting ideas, but at times you can see him thinking too hard and trying to show off his research too much. I also thought the ending was quite weak for him.
More...