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A review by reneerianne
Logan's Run by George Clayton Johnson, William F. Nolan
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Oof, I did not enjoy this. It started off with an interesting premise: the population should be kept young to limit population increase and everyone over the age of 21 ‘voluntarily’ hands themselves in to die. But it stayed at an interesting premise that was, unfortunately, poorly executed. The book is short at 160 pages, and yet the two authors squeezed in so much unbelievable technology that a new machine or android or other technological contraption was introduced every 20 or so pages. The world building could have been a lot better at the beginning so that there wasn’t so much tech explanations needed later, because of this I only skimmed the last third of the book.
And then the characters… (Some spoilers ahead) First, I did not empathise with Logan at all, going from being a homer to being a runner as soon as his light starts blinking and all his morals suddenly change? Come on… The way he met Jess after just having witnessed her brother’s death and the fact that this awkward situation was not unpacked in a little more than 10 lines bothered me. It did not really come up again later and then, of course, they fall in love in the end. What?
What bothered me most about the whole ordeal was that Jess had no personality at all. She is still referred to as ‘the girl’ even in the final chapter. I know that this also might have aged poorly, but this book was originally published during the second wave of feminism so at least the two white, male authors could have done some research into the other sex. What we get instead are some gory scenes where Jess’s skin is peeled off by Logan because she ‘needs to be saved’ (WTF!?) and some mind boggling sex scenes that ended as abruptly as they started. Jess, throughout the book, has done nothing remarkable of her own, and Logan is continuously mansplaining the world to her. To be honest, it would have been more along the lines of the flimsy character that was built of him to dispose of her at his earliest convenience.
I’ll be dipping my toes into some works by strong, female authors next as I try to erase this story from my memory…
And then the characters… (Some spoilers ahead) First, I did not empathise with Logan at all, going from being a homer to being a runner as soon as his light starts blinking and all his morals suddenly change? Come on… The way he met Jess after just having witnessed her brother’s death and the fact that this awkward situation was not unpacked in a little more than 10 lines bothered me. It did not really come up again later and then, of course, they fall in love in the end. What?
What bothered me most about the whole ordeal was that Jess had no personality at all. She is still referred to as ‘the girl’ even in the final chapter. I know that this also might have aged poorly, but this book was originally published during the second wave of feminism so at least the two white, male authors could have done some research into the other sex. What we get instead are some gory scenes where Jess’s skin is peeled off by Logan because she ‘needs to be saved’ (WTF!?) and some mind boggling sex scenes that ended as abruptly as they started. Jess, throughout the book, has done nothing remarkable of her own, and Logan is continuously mansplaining the world to her. To be honest, it would have been more along the lines of the flimsy character that was built of him to dispose of her at his earliest convenience.
I’ll be dipping my toes into some works by strong, female authors next as I try to erase this story from my memory…