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duckyquack's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Dramatic and I am emotionally invested in the best way possible
ababs's review against another edition
5.0
I loved it. The story and characters kept me engaged the whole time. The mystery of the spore was interwoven nicely with the predictability of human nature, giving it a real but supernatural feel. I wanted to find out how it ended, but I didn't want it to be over. The ending wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was fitting and well written.
kalliegrace's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
3.5
3.5, this is outside of my already wide range of genres - gritty apocalyptic saga. This feels like several seasons of something like the walking dead crammed into an overly long book. I did enjoy the characters, so spending so long with them wasn't a chore. I just don't quite understand what the disease was, and why scientists hadn't tried to figure it out. I also feel like the book could have ended several times and just kept going. But this was my first Joe Hill so I might try another by him.
jimbowen0306's review against another edition
3.0
Ummm, no. I really couldn't get into this book, which is a mixture of The Stand, Dawn of the Dead, and any book you can think of where the 2 protagonists come together under pressure.
The book sees what happens as the world falls apart after an unknown fungus starts to infect people, causing their skin to change (it grows like a lizard like pattern), and subsequently burst into flames. At first, society tries to help the infected, but as the infection becomes more widespread, society starts to fall apart, and degenerate into chaos.
Into this world steps Harper and the fireman, who deal with the chaos in their own way, before becoming united at the end of the book. It's your usual post apocalyptic fair. If you've read this sort of stuff before, you might like this stuff. Me? I was more, well I've seen all this stuff before.
The thing that irritated me most, however, is that the book is called The Fireman, when it's not really about him (or at least only partially). It's really about Harper. It's like reading Murder on the Orient Express, or Death on the Nile, only to find Miss Marple rocking up to solve the crime, instead of Hercule Poirot.
The book sees what happens as the world falls apart after an unknown fungus starts to infect people, causing their skin to change (it grows like a lizard like pattern), and subsequently burst into flames. At first, society tries to help the infected, but as the infection becomes more widespread, society starts to fall apart, and degenerate into chaos.
Into this world steps Harper and the fireman, who deal with the chaos in their own way, before becoming united at the end of the book. It's your usual post apocalyptic fair. If you've read this sort of stuff before, you might like this stuff. Me? I was more, well I've seen all this stuff before.
The thing that irritated me most, however, is that the book is called The Fireman, when it's not really about him (or at least only partially). It's really about Harper. It's like reading Murder on the Orient Express, or Death on the Nile, only to find Miss Marple rocking up to solve the crime, instead of Hercule Poirot.
alexandra_ninelives's review against another edition
1.0
I’m so mad I wasted my time with this book.
About 3 parts in I knew I’m not going to be in love with this book but I still had hope. Now I’m just furious.
This was the biggest nonsense I’ve read this year and I’m not saying this lightly, I read a lot of awful books this year unfortunately.
John was a secondary character even in his own story. He had no characteristics besides loving Sarah and being sad about Sarah.
Harper was a mess. You tell me she’s a sunshine girl but honestly, she was just a pushover. They could do literally anything to her and she took it without any anger or rebellion. She sometimes told them she’s pregnant to indicate not hurting her but she did not try to protect that child at all.
The other characters were so plain and boring I don’t want to talk about them.
The plot…. At first I was intrigued. A spore that makes people look cool but burn up? Sign me up. But soon we realized it was just a ploy to show us how cruel people are. Like we don’t know that already. I did not need another book about that, I read plenty. And yes, this wasn’t exactly torture porn but it was so unnecessary.
I want to mention one thing because it’s me. The cat killed. Why? That freaking cat did nothing wrong, he was just chilling and happy to finally be around humans. It did not need to happen, not even for shock value. I was shocked enough by this bad book. Look, I like Joe Hill’s books but this was not it.
About 3 parts in I knew I’m not going to be in love with this book but I still had hope. Now I’m just furious.
This was the biggest nonsense I’ve read this year and I’m not saying this lightly, I read a lot of awful books this year unfortunately.
John was a secondary character even in his own story. He had no characteristics besides loving Sarah and being sad about Sarah.
Harper was a mess. You tell me she’s a sunshine girl but honestly, she was just a pushover. They could do literally anything to her and she took it without any anger or rebellion. She sometimes told them she’s pregnant to indicate not hurting her but she did not try to protect that child at all.
The other characters were so plain and boring I don’t want to talk about them.
The plot…. At first I was intrigued. A spore that makes people look cool but burn up? Sign me up. But soon we realized it was just a ploy to show us how cruel people are. Like we don’t know that already. I did not need another book about that, I read plenty. And yes, this wasn’t exactly torture porn but it was so unnecessary.
I want to mention one thing because it’s me. The cat killed. Why? That freaking cat did nothing wrong, he was just chilling and happy to finally be around humans. It did not need to happen, not even for shock value. I was shocked enough by this bad book. Look, I like Joe Hill’s books but this was not it.
peteroneill's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
eleanorlow's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
cspacco's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
knittingchaos's review
5.0
I loved this book! It is the best one Joe Hill has written so far. I completely lost myself in this world of fire & ash… I stayed up late reading it, I thought about it at work, I wondered how it was going to end, I wondered what I would do… I know that it will not be for everyone, (what book is?) but I gladly lost sleep so I could spend time in this post-apocalyptic world.
njdarkish's review against another edition
5.0
Coming off a reading high after finishing NOS4A2 I decided to take another dose of Joe Hill-- and was glad I did.
This story really had some umph. The concept of a disease that makes you burst into flames is pretty cool, but by the time the novelty of death by fire started wearing off I was waist-deep into the lives of compelling characters, fascinating abilities, and horrifying villains. This book has it all (but never feels like too much): a religious group turning into a cult, psychotic militia groups, an attempted-murder mystery, a medical thriller, love stories, and more. I was thrilled the whole time.
Plus, you know you're in for a good ride when at the halfway mark you're convinced there's no way things can get worse but have to because of how much of the book is left.
By the way, this one is worth picking up in audio, the reader is very good.
This story really had some umph. The concept of a disease that makes you burst into flames is pretty cool, but by the time the novelty of death by fire started wearing off I was waist-deep into the lives of compelling characters, fascinating abilities, and horrifying villains. This book has it all (but never feels like too much): a religious group turning into a cult, psychotic militia groups, an attempted-murder mystery, a medical thriller, love stories, and more. I was thrilled the whole time.
Plus, you know you're in for a good ride when at the halfway mark you're convinced there's no way things can get worse but have to because of how much of the book is left.
By the way, this one is worth picking up in audio, the reader is very good.