khobb's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
fellumhistane's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
flatmtns's review against another edition
2.0
Pleasant, very quick read that reminds me of a muddled version of early Neil Gaiman.
Pros: engaging ideas/unique magic, genuine investment in characters’ emotional development, relatively inoffensive style (although there are a few real clunkers of metaphors)
Cons: magic system feels arbitrary - limitless most of the time, with irrational constraints that just pop up out of nowhere. Sort of an underlying machismo/pointlessly pro military bent that I found a little exhausting. Misplaced use of jargon.
Pros: engaging ideas/unique magic, genuine investment in characters’ emotional development, relatively inoffensive style (although there are a few real clunkers of metaphors)
Cons: magic system feels arbitrary - limitless most of the time, with irrational constraints that just pop up out of nowhere. Sort of an underlying machismo/pointlessly pro military bent that I found a little exhausting. Misplaced use of jargon.
naokamiya's review against another edition
3.0
Despite my middling rating, I enjoyed "The Library at Mount Char" far more than it would suggest. It's a rapidly and immaculately building cauldron of cosmic dread and mystery, and the characters are dripping with personality, even the ones whose sense of morality and humanity is so alien to ours that they should be impossible to understand. The book is fantastically trippy and surreal as well, there's imagery in this thing that I can safely say I don't think I've ever seen elsewhere, at least not in the way it's pulled off here.
My main problem with "Mount Char" which prevents me from rating it higher is just how inaccessible this is. I know, I know - coming from me this sounds ridiculous, as I have a love for the weird and "out there", but "Mount Char" drops you into its world without hand holding at all and forces you to uncover its secrets for yourself, and even then good luck understanding what's really going on in the lore by the end. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this approach, in fact I usually love it, but here it was simply a matter of investment. It was difficult to get invested for the first 150 or so pages, and though it picks up and starts to become (slightly) more comprehensible, it's nonetheless a bit frustrating that my emotional investment didn't really set in until halfway. Still, this book is great, and it will probably take another read to parse.
My main problem with "Mount Char" which prevents me from rating it higher is just how inaccessible this is. I know, I know - coming from me this sounds ridiculous, as I have a love for the weird and "out there", but "Mount Char" drops you into its world without hand holding at all and forces you to uncover its secrets for yourself, and even then good luck understanding what's really going on in the lore by the end. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this approach, in fact I usually love it, but here it was simply a matter of investment. It was difficult to get invested for the first 150 or so pages, and though it picks up and starts to become (slightly) more comprehensible, it's nonetheless a bit frustrating that my emotional investment didn't really set in until halfway. Still, this book is great, and it will probably take another read to parse.
gelisvb's review against another edition
4.0
This is the perfect book to read this time of year, it's dark and has some of the most fucked up characters ever written.
This is a about a group that were taken against their will as apprentices by this sort of God that made each of them learn a peculiar discipline, a catalogue and master it, it could be languages or it could be murder and torture or possible future, impossible future or healing.
Twenty years later the kids are NOT all right and they all developed a psychosis to various degree of seriousness.
I could never foresee what would happened and I was blown away over and over again.
The author has a way of make you care for each character, even the rapist ,blood soaked purpled tutued monster, David.
This is a about a group that were taken against their will as apprentices by this sort of God that made each of them learn a peculiar discipline, a catalogue and master it, it could be languages or it could be murder and torture or possible future, impossible future or healing.
Twenty years later the kids are NOT all right and they all developed a psychosis to various degree of seriousness.
I could never foresee what would happened and I was blown away over and over again.
The author has a way of make you care for each character, even the rapist ,blood soaked purpled tutued monster, David.
kmyhaver's review
4.0
I had put this on my TBR list a long time ago and I must say that when I re-read the description after getting it from the library I was skeptical. But this was a wonderfully fun and strange (make that very strange) book- I couldn't put it down!
gordybombay's review against another edition
I could not get into it and couldn't find it in me to care about the story.
tansy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
4.5
I really agonised over the stupid star rating for this one. It's really good! I snuck away from my desk to read it secretly at work! I think it has some problems with the way events hang together and I understand complaints about a) the amount of violence and b) the ending. For me, the violence was so over the top it became cartoonish and didn't bother me, and I thought the ending was brilliant. The pacing does dramatically change for the last quarter of the book, it deliberately slows down and becomes something else, and I was genuinely caught off guard by the final events. I think ultimately this is not going to be a book for everyone, but those people who love it will love it hard. I wish Scott Hawkins had published more fiction, I would have loved to see where he went next.
alibrareads's review against another edition
4.0
This reminded me of American Gods a little bit, which I also really enjoyed! Carolyn was a really interesting character who had me wondering if she was really a villain in disguise as the book went on. I also really enjoyed the bond that formed between Steve and Naga the lion, that was entertaining.
There were some pretty violent and horrific things described in this book, and trigger warning for the mention of rape. But this was also full of some great dry humor, which I generally enjoy. Like Steve’s whole train of thought about Buddhism very early on the book made me chuckle.
I also liked just the random introductions of names and things that weren’t necessarily explained, but kept coming up so by the end I was like oh yeah, that Q-33 North is a big problem, but I have no idea who or what that is. And it works in this kind of absurd story, where things are often just thrown at you and not explained fully.
If you hate when stories jump around in time so that you don’t understand everything until near the end (and then not even everything), then you won’t like this probably! The characters are interesting, but because the writing style is on the dry side, you might find them a little flat if you prefer your characters to have a lot of outward expression.
But it was wild, almost with bits of horror sprinkled in, it was curious, bizarre, whimsically, violent, unapologetic about telling this strange story. Recommend if you enjoy Neil Gaiman’s writing or absurd stories with like disastrous world-ending consequences.
YouTube review: https://youtu.be/vTyuCIoYvmw
There were some pretty violent and horrific things described in this book, and trigger warning for the mention of rape. But this was also full of some great dry humor, which I generally enjoy. Like Steve’s whole train of thought about Buddhism very early on the book made me chuckle.
I also liked just the random introductions of names and things that weren’t necessarily explained, but kept coming up so by the end I was like oh yeah, that Q-33 North is a big problem, but I have no idea who or what that is. And it works in this kind of absurd story, where things are often just thrown at you and not explained fully.
If you hate when stories jump around in time so that you don’t understand everything until near the end (and then not even everything), then you won’t like this probably! The characters are interesting, but because the writing style is on the dry side, you might find them a little flat if you prefer your characters to have a lot of outward expression.
But it was wild, almost with bits of horror sprinkled in, it was curious, bizarre, whimsically, violent, unapologetic about telling this strange story. Recommend if you enjoy Neil Gaiman’s writing or absurd stories with like disastrous world-ending consequences.
YouTube review: https://youtu.be/vTyuCIoYvmw
kmarks917's review against another edition
5.0
I’m admittedly new to fantasy but... what did I just read? Regardless, that may be one of the best books I’ve ever read!! I’ve tried Gaiman and others and left feeling pretty meh. But the way this story was told was perfection — I had absolutely zero idea what was happening the first, oh, 85 pages and almost DNF. But thanks to the GR reviews I powered through and once it all started coming together (slowly) I was engrossed. Its so twisted and the dark humor was spot on.