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A review by suzemo
Desolation Road by Ian McDonald
4.0
This is the first work I’ve read by Ian MacDonald and I (mostly) really enjoyed it. McDonald knows how to write. He knows how to write fluidly and beautifully and have fun with his words, which I really appreciate. Most of the book is lyrical and fun, and I loved the imagery and magical realism he presents.
This book is about the town of Desolation road... it starts with the founding and the slow addition of characters. The writing about founding of the town, the new characters rolls around your brain and relaxes and slowly feeds you the atmosphere and the characters.
It was wonderful. And then about three quarters of the way through the book it lost me. All of a sudden I couldn’t keep the characters apart. I would have to pause to remember who was who, why they were running around wherever they were and wonder why we were even there.
There was an overly contrived scene/reason/giant plot device to bring all of the characters back, and to be honest, I just didn’t care that much anymore. The melody of the writing had been lost, and to be honest, it definitely lost me.
I loved the greenperson and I definitely loved the character of Doctor Alimantando.
This book is about the town of Desolation road... it starts with the founding and the slow addition of characters. The writing about founding of the town, the new characters rolls around your brain and relaxes and slowly feeds you the atmosphere and the characters.
It was wonderful. And then about three quarters of the way through the book it lost me. All of a sudden I couldn’t keep the characters apart. I would have to pause to remember who was who, why they were running around wherever they were and wonder why we were even there.
There was an overly contrived scene/reason/giant plot device to bring all of the characters back, and to be honest, I just didn’t care that much anymore. The melody of the writing had been lost, and to be honest, it definitely lost me.
I loved the greenperson and I definitely loved the character of Doctor Alimantando.