Dave Green's Read Alerts
My hobbies include just about anything, really...except reading, I hate reading! Kidding of course, reading is my favorite hobby! I love not only reading, but creative writing as well. I'm currently working on a novel about a group of paranormal social workers who try to help creatures like themselves cope with being different while also protecting humanity from the more malevolent beings. Other hobbies include music, yoga, comedy clubs, movies, and video games. I read from just about any genre, but my favorites are fantasy/urban fantasy, mystery, science fiction, and graphic novels (that's what us comic-book geeks call them to try to sound more sophisticated). In my secret identity, I work as an accountant for a nonprofit organization . I know...accounting and creative writing don't exactly go together...what can I say, I'm full of contradictions! My rating system: 5 STARS - I absolutely loved this book! I couldn't wait to finish it, yet I also never wanted it to end! 4 STARS - I liked this book an awful lot! It would have been perfect, except for some minor issue or issues that detracted from my overall enjoyment. 3 STARS - I liked this book, but found it somewhat flawed. Probably would not read again, but might still give the author and/or series a second chance. 2 STARS - Overall, a disappointing read for me. It had its moments, but sadly the bad outweighed the good. 1 STAR - I hate the part of my brain that convinced me to read this book!
This book was a major disappointment :( I’m a huge fan of Mike Carey’s work for DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, and I thought he did a masterful job crafting new tales for characters created by Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore. So when I heard he was working on a series of novels, I was eager to see what he could do with a world of his own creation. Sadly, the answer turned out to be…not very much.The premise of following the exploits of an exorcist-for-hire sounds promising, but Carey just doesn’t do enough with it. Overall, the story just plods along and takes way too long to get anywhere. Felix Castor is a likeable-enough protagonist, and some of his dialogue was witty, but most of the people and creatures he encounters are dull and one-dimensional. The first 150 pages or so spend way too much time detailing Felix’s search for a ghost that doesn’t have enough presence to be interesting. Later, a new adversary is introduced, but again, the demon isn’t overly exciting or compelling, and I found it hard to care about what was going on. The book does have some good moments, but nearly enough of them.
I think what really hurt this novel was that Mike Carey was writing in a new format and was over-compensating. Carey is used to writing for 22-page comic books, so he’s forced to get to the point. Here, since he has more space, he made the mistake of describing even the most mundane things in excruciating detail, and it ruins the pacing of the novel. Mike Carey is a great writer, but I felt he really missed the mark with this one.