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gayatriii's review against another edition
3.0
I just finished this book and I'm exhausted! The plot is fantastic, the characters are endearing and loathsome, but Simmons' painfully detailed descriptions of seemingly irrelevant points ruined it for me. While it was enjoyable in bits, the frustrating pace is what I will remember.
imposterwalrus's review
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
cormoranlucreade's review against another edition
Very graphic and fatalistic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder
ted_funsten's review against another edition
4.0
Carrion Comfort, one of Dan Simmons' early novels, is a long horror novel. But Simmons is skilled at creating strong stories and characters to keep the reader involved. Though my interest flagged briefly at times, I was drawn along to the satisfying conclusion.
I've found other Simmons books off-putting because his literary references sometimes come off as more showing off than serving the stories. That wasn't the case here.
I've found other Simmons books off-putting because his literary references sometimes come off as more showing off than serving the stories. That wasn't the case here.
marieeve1978's review against another edition
2.0
It's never a good sign when the first thing you think at the end of an audiobook is: "finally!"
The book is too long. Some scenes are very good, but others could have been completely omitted. There are too many characters and since the author wants to make sure to not have any loose ends, the story is interminable. Finally the loss of my favorite character at about 50% of the book was a big let down for me.
The book is too long. Some scenes are very good, but others could have been completely omitted. There are too many characters and since the author wants to make sure to not have any loose ends, the story is interminable. Finally the loss of my favorite character at about 50% of the book was a big let down for me.
angus_mckeogh's review against another edition
1.0
Why do I keep reading Dan Simmons? I couldn’t tell you. His books are monster big and I haven’t even managed to finish some. The premise always sounds exciting and then there’s no delivery. This novel was long and horrible. Probably my last time delving into his work.
finestgreen's review against another edition
1.0
Did Not Finish. Reviewed 1 star after reading the first 26% because I just lost interest and couldn't find any reason to keep going.
raptorred's review against another edition
4.0
FINISHED. What an ending. It took me a while to get this done, but I think it was totally worth it. Mr. Simmons, I cannot wait to read your other books. He has such a way of creating a movie in your mind and becoming fully immersed in the plot, the characters, cheering on the good guys, booing the bad guys, and definitely making one squeamish at the uncomfortable, ahem, scenes.
This story is set in the 80s, so racism, political turmoil, police, gangs, film industry corruption, wall street devils, you name it. Everything comes into play and everything is tied to these vampires with the ability to control humans. Those with the Ability have influenced historical events throughout history. I believe this is truly a very scary notion to have absolutely no control of your mind or body at the whim of someone else.
The character development was very thorough and nothing is left to chance in the end. A sheriff, a psychiatrist and a photographer set out to catch the undetectable and uncatchable....
I didn't see this book as much as a horror rather than a thriller adventure imo, but still very well written.
This story is set in the 80s, so racism, political turmoil, police, gangs, film industry corruption, wall street devils, you name it. Everything comes into play and everything is tied to these vampires with the ability to control humans. Those with the Ability have influenced historical events throughout history. I believe this is truly a very scary notion to have absolutely no control of your mind or body at the whim of someone else.
The character development was very thorough and nothing is left to chance in the end. A sheriff, a psychiatrist and a photographer set out to catch the undetectable and uncatchable....
I didn't see this book as much as a horror rather than a thriller adventure imo, but still very well written.
misstwosense's review against another edition
2.0
It's 2020- You can do better.
This book is insanely racist. Both the overt racism of the "n" word (used more and more frequently as you progress in the book, a cheap device the author uses as if the reader is too dumb to get that one character is both capital E Evil and going mad), and lots of more subtle racism in too many shapes and forms to count (these clearly NOT intended, just the real life horrors of a white man writing about- and often in the voice of- black people, Jewish people, Asian people, etc).
The writing itself is simple but without any economy of word or thought. It feels like it could have been a novella if Simmons had cut out the CONSTANT over explaining, repeating facts, trying to add depth to characters that still feel paper thin, and Marty-Stuing all over place. (Hard to deal with the very, very obvious way the author sees himself in the Sheriff and, upsettingly, the rapist character.)
Oh, btw, do you like reading endless scenes of highly sexualized rape? Do you like stories with female protagonists that are written by a man who appears to have never even seen an actual woman, let alone spoken to one? Do you like EXTREMELY unsatisfying endings that are completely illogical to how actual humans think and act but are necessary to further the story? Well then, boy is this the yada yada yada.
But lo, it's not just wildly racist and misogynist, its homophobic as well. The really troubling thing is, though, I've read two novels by Simmons at this point. They were written nearly 20 years apart in his career yet BOTH have eeeevil gay male characters. In the more modern book, The Terror, he balances it out by having not evil gays too, but this is a pattern now. I question Simmons' relationship to gay people. The whole book is a pretty strong case for writers writing only in a voice similar to their own. I'm not necessarily saying a straight white cis man can't write good female or poc characters. I'm saying THIS one sure cant
The story itself I would call Interview with a Vampire meets any generic airport political thriller, all mixed into a SNL "The Californians" sketch based broth. You WILL learn the best routes to take in LA, Chicago, or all of Germany. Simmons had to justify those travel costs somehow!
Back to the point. He writes every chapter in a different voice, some first person, most 3rd. This leads to the aforementioned constant repetition as we see characters discover things we the reader have known about for chapters already. Seeing people solve mysterious isn't fun if we already know what happened, and the constant pov changing grinds every chapter to a screeching halt as we switch from something interesting to someone else having a cup of coffee. DAN SIMMONS SURE LOVES COFFEE.
I could continue to go on about this book, because there's plenty more I disliked. However, I'm giving it two stars because it IS horrifying to read. Not scary, but unpleasant, uncomfortable, etc. So it at least succeeded in that. Yeah? But ultimately I want to say it's 2020. The tropes in this book are super tired at this point, so don't waste your time on a brick filled with so much ick. Find modern horror literature and you can have all the scares without the baggage. No one needs to be reading something this racist, this unnecessary, and this unnecessarily racist in 'modern' times. You can find better. Don't waste your time.
This book is insanely racist. Both the overt racism of the "n" word (used more and more frequently as you progress in the book, a cheap device the author uses as if the reader is too dumb to get that one character is both capital E Evil and going mad), and lots of more subtle racism in too many shapes and forms to count (these clearly NOT intended, just the real life horrors of a white man writing about- and often in the voice of- black people, Jewish people, Asian people, etc).
The writing itself is simple but without any economy of word or thought. It feels like it could have been a novella if Simmons had cut out the CONSTANT over explaining, repeating facts, trying to add depth to characters that still feel paper thin, and Marty-Stuing all over place. (Hard to deal with the very, very obvious way the author sees himself in the Sheriff and, upsettingly, the rapist character.)
Oh, btw, do you like reading endless scenes of highly sexualized rape? Do you like stories with female protagonists that are written by a man who appears to have never even seen an actual woman, let alone spoken to one? Do you like EXTREMELY unsatisfying endings that are completely illogical to how actual humans think and act but are necessary to further the story? Well then, boy is this the yada yada yada.
But lo, it's not just wildly racist and misogynist, its homophobic as well. The really troubling thing is, though, I've read two novels by Simmons at this point. They were written nearly 20 years apart in his career yet BOTH have eeeevil gay male characters. In the more modern book, The Terror, he balances it out by having not evil gays too, but this is a pattern now. I question Simmons' relationship to gay people. The whole book is a pretty strong case for writers writing only in a voice similar to their own. I'm not necessarily saying a straight white cis man can't write good female or poc characters. I'm saying THIS one sure cant
The story itself I would call Interview with a Vampire meets any generic airport political thriller, all mixed into a SNL "The Californians" sketch based broth. You WILL learn the best routes to take in LA, Chicago, or all of Germany. Simmons had to justify those travel costs somehow!
Back to the point. He writes every chapter in a different voice, some first person, most 3rd. This leads to the aforementioned constant repetition as we see characters discover things we the reader have known about for chapters already. Seeing people solve mysterious isn't fun if we already know what happened, and the constant pov changing grinds every chapter to a screeching halt as we switch from something interesting to someone else having a cup of coffee. DAN SIMMONS SURE LOVES COFFEE.
I could continue to go on about this book, because there's plenty more I disliked. However, I'm giving it two stars because it IS horrifying to read. Not scary, but unpleasant, uncomfortable, etc. So it at least succeeded in that. Yeah? But ultimately I want to say it's 2020. The tropes in this book are super tired at this point, so don't waste your time on a brick filled with so much ick. Find modern horror literature and you can have all the scares without the baggage. No one needs to be reading something this racist, this unnecessary, and this unnecessarily racist in 'modern' times. You can find better. Don't waste your time.
amy123456789's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25