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kreppen's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
3.0
carriethis's review
3.0
This book failed to live up to its book jacket blurb, and I'm super disappointed.
tmarthal's review
5.0
I really enjoy Wolfe's work. He has the great advantage of language and storytelling, and does not spin a yarn like most modern day fantasy writers. Compare this weird work to other fairy sci-fi mystery horrors and it stands on its own quite well.
There are layers here and other reviews acknowledge them and then say that they are important, yet then brush them away. Stardom, names, angelic beings, character figments and transformations abound, yet no explicit explanations given to us or to the guest's "host".
GW is great at using/abusing symbols and this work is no different. If you enjoy symbolism and mythos, then you will enjoy this.
There are layers here and other reviews acknowledge them and then say that they are important, yet then brush them away. Stardom, names, angelic beings, character figments and transformations abound, yet no explicit explanations given to us or to the guest's "host".
GW is great at using/abusing symbols and this work is no different. If you enjoy symbolism and mythos, then you will enjoy this.
xenobio's review against another edition
2.0
Totally not what I expected from the man who wrote The Book of the New Sun and The Book of the Long Sun. Those feel at first like weird things are happening randomly but it all ties together in a very powerful way. This one...I kept waiting and waiting for something to happen that would make sense of it all and it never did. And the way the male and female characters interact feels more like just "plain old-fashioned sexist" than "Jazz Age" or "retro".
cheezvshcrvst's review against another edition
4.0
Dialogue was superb, and it was an excellent multi-genre novel. Somehow felt a bit severed at the end there, almost as though there was more story to tell or else the main part of the story was omitted. Enjoyable read still the same.
**Edit (2022 reread)**
Okay, time travel, some scathing criticisms of Lovecraft (or was that my own interpretation), and… well, really, An Evil Guest has me trying to decide if what I think of it or understand about it changes with me or with the ongoing global destruction wrought by capitalism or somehow the knowing that many of the references Wolfe makes will be lost to time even as certain elements remain present or will emerge in the future… I don’t know. Rating this book as good or bad, or any one thing or another, is kind of missing the point. Money is the root of all evil, but there are also evils far older. Cassie is not a strong female protagonist, but she’s also very obviously not the main character except to herself (and aren’t we all.) Physics, alchemy, travel/colonialism, celebrity obsession, and greed are all plot points as well as the ensemble cast. What’s there to know about what Wolfe doesn’t tell us? And, kindly, be sarcastic about it when you ask: what *didn’t* Wolfe tell us in this novel? (It’s there that those themes and plot points are most *obviously* the story.)
**Edit (2022 reread)**
Okay, time travel, some scathing criticisms of Lovecraft (or was that my own interpretation), and… well, really, An Evil Guest has me trying to decide if what I think of it or understand about it changes with me or with the ongoing global destruction wrought by capitalism or somehow the knowing that many of the references Wolfe makes will be lost to time even as certain elements remain present or will emerge in the future… I don’t know. Rating this book as good or bad, or any one thing or another, is kind of missing the point. Money is the root of all evil, but there are also evils far older. Cassie is not a strong female protagonist, but she’s also very obviously not the main character except to herself (and aren’t we all.) Physics, alchemy, travel/colonialism, celebrity obsession, and greed are all plot points as well as the ensemble cast. What’s there to know about what Wolfe doesn’t tell us? And, kindly, be sarcastic about it when you ask: what *didn’t* Wolfe tell us in this novel? (It’s there that those themes and plot points are most *obviously* the story.)
soleadohmbt's review against another edition
5.0
A combination of alternate-reality, science fiction, future fiction, global conspiracy and not-ready-for Broadway musical and its actors. One of the greatest first lines I've read in a long time.
kpease's review against another edition
1.0
Thoroughly unrelatable wooden characters, meandering dialogue that goes nowhere, and a story that took far too long to go anywhere. I keep seeing the lovecraft comparisons, but I think this falls far short of that level until approaching the very end of the story.