Comment

unbalancedbutfair
Dec 13, 2012unbalancedbutfair rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
In many ways this was a brilliantly executed novel. I stayed up late reading it when I should have been working or sleeping. For me that is usually the mark of a great novel. I really did like this book but I think it falls just shy of "great". First the good: Excellently executed. Even when I knew that a character had only one role to play, to help change the protagonist, and wasn't a true character I still wound up empathizing with that character. That speaks volumes. When you can say "oh, he's doing thus and such" and still feel empathy instead of just seeing a plot device you have a good writer at the helm. Also: the action is very well written he strikes an excellent balance between action and character development. The first 300 pages are an absolutely amazingly well told story. It was only towards the very end that I started feeling conflicted. The author includes rape--not itself a bad thing we need stories that explore this taboo subject-- but I think he gives it slightly short shrift. And that gives me pause. It's good to unpack taboo and dangerous subjects in stories, maybe the best way, but I feel he could have done a better job and taken more time with it. Really that's my only issue with the book. Other than that it's brilliant. But it's a big enough issue to lose a star in my review.