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A review by silentcat7135
Chalk by Paul Cornell
4.0
If the ending had gone differently, this would have been the greatest PSA against bullying since Stephen King's Carrie.
Ending aside, I enjoyed this, with its dissociative protagonist (sort of) and its blend of old gods, the ones who inspired monuments like the carvings of horses into chalk hills in England, and new gods, who communicate through the songs that top the pop charts each week. And given the story is set in the '70s, the songs those gods are choosing are from my youth (Culture Club et al, so points for nostalgia).* Ancients set on revenge are a pretty single-minded lot; once called, they don't just shuffle off back into the past if your resolve wavers. And reading the pop charts to interpret events is about as reliable as reading chicken entrails.
The bullying is brutal. So are the plans for revenge. Solidly good, but not for the squeamish.
*Oops. Apparently my musical memory isn't perfect. It's not set in the post-disco late '70s; it's set in the early '80s. Still, nostalgia for the music of my early adulthood rather than my late teens.
Ending aside, I enjoyed this, with its dissociative protagonist (sort of) and its blend of old gods, the ones who inspired monuments like the carvings of horses into chalk hills in England, and new gods, who communicate through the songs that top the pop charts each week. And given the story is set in the '70s, the songs those gods are choosing are from my youth (Culture Club et al, so points for nostalgia).* Ancients set on revenge are a pretty single-minded lot; once called, they don't just shuffle off back into the past if your resolve wavers. And reading the pop charts to interpret events is about as reliable as reading chicken entrails.
The bullying is brutal. So are the plans for revenge. Solidly good, but not for the squeamish.
*Oops. Apparently my musical memory isn't perfect. It's not set in the post-disco late '70s; it's set in the early '80s. Still, nostalgia for the music of my early adulthood rather than my late teens.