Jeff Vandermeer - Blog Posts

irresponsibleink

1 month ago

Jan + Feb Reading Wrap Up

I will be the first to admit that it’s a little late for a February wrap up when it’s nearly April, but I wasn’t planning on doing one until recently, so fuck off.

Ushers by Joe Hill - Short Story (4 stars)

I’ve been a Joe Hill kick recently, since his new novel comes out in October. Ushers is a short story that follows a young man who can see grim reapers, and this ability affects his life in both positive and negative ways. I gave this story 4 stars. It was okay, but I don’t really like short stories for the simple reason that they are too short! It was creepy, it was well written, and an overall interesting read, so if you want something spooky, you want to give Joe Hill a shot, or you just have a free lunch break, take a gander at it.

The Pram by Joe Hill - Short Story (3.5 stars)

Another Joe Hill short story, this entry follows a husband who comes across a supernatural pram and, as you can imagine, creepy chaos ensues. This was a fun read. I didn’t enjoy it as much as Ushers. I don’t enjoy stories that are particularly hopeless, and I also don’t fully enjoy stories where the main character is evil, an unreliable narrator, or crazy, because it tends to make me sympathize with them less. It was well written, just as Ushers was, and I would like to know more about the lore of the story. The background of the story seems so much more interesting than the story itself.

Ancestor by Scott Sigler - Novel (3 stars)

Ancestor follows a team of experts as they attempt to craft a brand new species with the specific purpose of xenotransplantation. In the process, they create hungry entities that stalk the humans they were created to help. You’ll like this novel if you enjoyed Jurassic Park. It has a healthy balance of likable and unlikable characters. This was a fine novel. I gave it three stars. I wasn’t angry, I read it, but had I known what my experience would be, I probably would’ve gone with something else. Ancestor has the feel of a big budget action movie that you go to see on a weekday because nothing else is playing that evening. Or better yet, some random action thriller you found on Netflix that you turn on while you clean the house. It’s fine. My only major problem with the story is that the monsters weren’t scary to me. The descriptions made them sound like mutated chickens, and the image was more surreal than it was scary. I don’t know if I can recommend this. I don’t think I’m in the target demographic. You’ll probably like this novel if you enjoy James Patterson or Michael Crichton.

Stones to Abbigale by Onision - Novel (0 stars)

Holy shit. This was the worst book I've ever read. Ever. I’m not kidding. I read this as part of a reading challenge, and I have so many regrets. The only good thing to come out of it was my new skill of being able to stop reading books that I hate. If I start a book and I don’t jive with it, it’s a DNF now. I can’t ever get the time back that I wasted reading this garbage. At one point, I crumpled up a page, threw it in the toilet and pissed on it. Click here or here for more details.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson - Novel (4.5 stars)

I’ve been hearing about Brandon Sanderson for years so I was excited to read his stuff for the first time. This book was good, had some really solid worldbuilding, but I’ll warn you, it is long and it is part of a series. The final 15% made me feel like I was on drugs and I was losing my goddamn mind. Trying to explain the ending to the uninitiated is like trying to explain Endgame to someone who has never seen a marvel movie. It would be five stars but I didn’t enjoy the pacing of the novel. For a more in-depth review, click here.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - Novel (0.5 stars)

Annihilation follows a government funded team as they enter a mysterious land afflicted with paranormal activity known as Area X. I didn’t like this book. The issue is that I don’t enjoy ambiguous stories and I didn’t know that’s what I was walking into. Who is that? What is this? What does that mean? Why is this happening? How does the story end? Who knows? Who cares?! If I’m going to devote my time to a novel, I would like to A) relate to the characters, B) understand what is going on, and C) know that there was a point to what I just read. Even stories that aren’t inherently deep, like the Fast and the Furious franchise, have a point. And the point of the Furious franchise is to entertain. The Hunger Games is a critique of elitism and power structure. A story should be about something and if it’s not about anything, it should at least try to entertain. I didn’t know what Annihilation was about or what it was trying to do. My problem with ambiguous stories is that a lot of them are pointless meanderings masquerading as deep and complex story telling. You can write virtually anything and say, “Well, it’s not supposed to make sense!” When I finished Annihilation I was left no different than the start of the story. It made me feel nothing.

And this is a side tangent, but what is with the Snowbird thing? For the uninitiated, the main character’s husband had a nickname for her, and the nickname was Snowbird. He kept repeating it over and over again in every flashback and it annoyed me. A part of it made have been the fault of the narrator, as I listened to the audiobook and her drawl on the word made me want to slit my wrists.

I’m left asking, what was the point? It was a six hour audiobook, why did I devote so much time listening to that when I gained nothing? Not even entertainment? I was bored and annoyed. The climax was confusing and lackluster. I saw the sequel on sale this week for 1.25 and I had to remind myself how much I hated the first book, but come on! A 1.25?! Can you think of a place where you can get a book for a 1.25? I might go back and see if it’s still there. For a 1.25 I’d buy twelve more Onision books.

Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham - Novel (4 stars)

It should surprise nobody that I am a Gilmore Girls fan. When I discovered Lauren Graham had a memoir, I jumped at the chance to read it, and it was splendid. The novel includes dozens of anecdotes (funny, sad, and everything in between), focused on Gilmore Girls and the overarching structure of Graham’s career. I highly recommend this if you like Lauren Graham or Gilmore Girls. It’s funny, it’s touching, and I just discovered that Graham has written a fiction novel which I will be reading very soon.

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare - Novel (3.5 stars)

Clown in a Cornfield follows Quinn Maybrook, who, after moving to a small town, finds herself trapped in a cornfield with her new friends and several chainsaw-wielding psychopaths wearing clown costumes. This was a good book, though I was a little disappointed. If you’re on BookTok, you know people have talked up this novel, and I was expecting a little more. For one thing, I didn’t feel very connected to the protagonist. We know how she feels and we know about her past, but we don’t really see a lot of her personality. In larger conversations, it feels as if she’s just a bystander. Other than that, things were okay. It was enjoyable, and I wasn’t really creeped out while reading this. It is classified as a horror, but I’d say it’s closer to a suspense novel. There’s a sequel, but I probably won’t read it. This could be a standalone novel if you don’t read the epilogue.

Thanks for reading. I may do these monthly or bi-monthly, I haven’t decided yet.