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blodeuedd's review
2.0
I really do not know how to explain this book. Weird dystopia fantasy? I mean how to even explain where it takes place. There is this pyramid where people work work die. Then there is this swampland where people eat moss and, you know what. This is a book better read than explained. You have to see it to believe it. It really is the strangest land, and I wonder why it is like that. We get some more hints in this one. Freaky fantasy? Oh I must read my review of book 1 and see if I called it something.
Alan is trying to save his son who has a disease called Idle Hands, a freaky one for sure, but then the whole world is freaky. He has to go back to the place he escaped from to save his son. Honestly what are they doing at that place!
He has help. A gay biker who was discared for being day (told you the pyramid people are weird). Nora who makes maps and knows the Pyramid are hiding some.
I really can't say a lot about the plot, spoilers you know. There is adventure, danger and freaky stuff. At times the book might just be too weird for me.
I need to know those hidden truths! I need to know about the world and the pyramid. Oh those secrets. Secrets drives me crazy, cos I want answers at once.
And I check and I did not know how to explain the world then either. I will just call it the future? gone to hell ;)
Alan is trying to save his son who has a disease called Idle Hands, a freaky one for sure, but then the whole world is freaky. He has to go back to the place he escaped from to save his son. Honestly what are they doing at that place!
He has help. A gay biker who was discared for being day (told you the pyramid people are weird). Nora who makes maps and knows the Pyramid are hiding some.
I really can't say a lot about the plot, spoilers you know. There is adventure, danger and freaky stuff. At times the book might just be too weird for me.
I need to know those hidden truths! I need to know about the world and the pyramid. Oh those secrets. Secrets drives me crazy, cos I want answers at once.
And I check and I did not know how to explain the world then either. I will just call it the future? gone to hell ;)
cindyc's review
4.0
I was super excited to start Idle Hands after absolutely loving Gleam, the first book in The Factory Trilogy. This is the second book in a series so beware of potential spoilers about the first book. If you haven’t read Gleam or haven’t heard about The Factory Trilogy yet, you can read my review of Gleam here. It’s definitely a must-read if you like weird and funky worlds with flawed characters and crazy creatures.
In Idle Hands we return to the huge factory world that is Gleam. Wild Alan is still in the Discard, that weird, chaotic place where survival is the main goal. Alan has a good reason for doing everything he can to stay alive: he has to save his son, Billy. If you’ve read Gleam, you know that Alan is not particularly known for his survival skills and the fact he’s gotten this far is mainly due to luck and other people’s skills. After days of stumbling through the Discard a starving Alan is caputred by a motorcycle gang. It’s here that the story really takes off again, with Alan finding a companion for his journey and the resources to start his rescue mission. Alan hasn’t changed much since the first book, he is still pretty selfish and very focused on his own needs. I have to admit though that Alan goes through a lot in this book and the way his character grows and evolves, especially towards the end of the book, was what was needed to push the story onwards. I really enjoyed seeing him overcome obstacles and slowly actually tuning in to his environment and the people around him.
The story takes us to some familiar places and brings back quite a few characters from the first book. But there’s plenty of new environments to discover and new creatures to marvel at/shiver from. Idle Hands masterfully escapes second-book syndrome by providing us with a new goal for Alan and lots of action, adventure and novelties. I like Bloody Nora, the Mapmaker, a lot. She’s just the kind of bad-ass woman Alan needs to keep him going. Her skills are also quite interesting. As the name suggests, she is skilled at finding her way and she is determined to break into the pyramid to get some maps that nobody has been able to lay eyes on for many, many years. This way she hopes to uncover some of the secrets of the Pyramid and maybe also of Gleam in general. She’s also a very skilled fighter, just the kind of person you’d want by your side on what is one of the most dangerous missions into the Pyramid.
The Pyramid works in a peculiar way. We know that they take blood from the people living inside, but we do not know for what purpose. The jobs the Pyramidders do are also all compartimentalised. Everyone works on small pieces of what seems to be an enormous puzzle, but nobody can know enough to actually put everything together to find out what is going on. I’m absolutely intrigued by the Pyramid and I’m glad we’re a little bit closer to finding out what is actually going on in there. I can’t wait to read more about it.
I don’t want to spoil too much of the book, so I’ll not say anything more. If you liked Gleam, you’ll really enjoy Idle Hands. It is such an interesting, weird, intriguing read I was literally glued to the pages. I hadn’t finished a book this quickly in a while, which means a lot. The story, though absolutely bonkers at times, flows so well and reads so quickly. I can’t wait for the third book, which will hopefully be released soon to continue on this journey with Alan and hopefully find out more about the Pyramid and its secrets.
In Idle Hands we return to the huge factory world that is Gleam. Wild Alan is still in the Discard, that weird, chaotic place where survival is the main goal. Alan has a good reason for doing everything he can to stay alive: he has to save his son, Billy. If you’ve read Gleam, you know that Alan is not particularly known for his survival skills and the fact he’s gotten this far is mainly due to luck and other people’s skills. After days of stumbling through the Discard a starving Alan is caputred by a motorcycle gang. It’s here that the story really takes off again, with Alan finding a companion for his journey and the resources to start his rescue mission. Alan hasn’t changed much since the first book, he is still pretty selfish and very focused on his own needs. I have to admit though that Alan goes through a lot in this book and the way his character grows and evolves, especially towards the end of the book, was what was needed to push the story onwards. I really enjoyed seeing him overcome obstacles and slowly actually tuning in to his environment and the people around him.
The story takes us to some familiar places and brings back quite a few characters from the first book. But there’s plenty of new environments to discover and new creatures to marvel at/shiver from. Idle Hands masterfully escapes second-book syndrome by providing us with a new goal for Alan and lots of action, adventure and novelties. I like Bloody Nora, the Mapmaker, a lot. She’s just the kind of bad-ass woman Alan needs to keep him going. Her skills are also quite interesting. As the name suggests, she is skilled at finding her way and she is determined to break into the pyramid to get some maps that nobody has been able to lay eyes on for many, many years. This way she hopes to uncover some of the secrets of the Pyramid and maybe also of Gleam in general. She’s also a very skilled fighter, just the kind of person you’d want by your side on what is one of the most dangerous missions into the Pyramid.
The Pyramid works in a peculiar way. We know that they take blood from the people living inside, but we do not know for what purpose. The jobs the Pyramidders do are also all compartimentalised. Everyone works on small pieces of what seems to be an enormous puzzle, but nobody can know enough to actually put everything together to find out what is going on. I’m absolutely intrigued by the Pyramid and I’m glad we’re a little bit closer to finding out what is actually going on in there. I can’t wait to read more about it.
I don’t want to spoil too much of the book, so I’ll not say anything more. If you liked Gleam, you’ll really enjoy Idle Hands. It is such an interesting, weird, intriguing read I was literally glued to the pages. I hadn’t finished a book this quickly in a while, which means a lot. The story, though absolutely bonkers at times, flows so well and reads so quickly. I can’t wait for the third book, which will hopefully be released soon to continue on this journey with Alan and hopefully find out more about the Pyramid and its secrets.
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