Reviews

Sadako by Kōji Suzuki

teresatumminello's review against another edition

3.0

My mini-review of [b:Birthday|25794|Birthday (Ring, #4)|Kōji Suzuki|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386921265l/25794._SY75_.jpg|3421124] says the book is “A nice coda to the Ring trilogy.” That is now inaccurate since two more books in the series have appeared. This installment advances the story in time and technology, but too much of the action appears “off-stage”: not a good thing for a plot-driven work. A few sentences seem to come out of nowhere, but that might be a fault of the translation.

Except for the S-shape, the image on the cover doesn't have much to do with the story. The design on the book itself is not as unappetizing as the dust jacket, which I removed for reading. Otherwise, I don’t think I could’ve read the book; the cover is that ugly.

This is not my usual reading matter, but my son passes on Suzuki's translated works to me and it’s fun to share. I have a few questions to discuss with him, but I have to wait until he’s read it.

v1rtua's review against another edition

4.0

Review coming soon

ellecactus's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

alicelalicon's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

scottjp's review against another edition

4.0

You would think that a series would be played out by this point but Suzuki keeps adding fresh and fascinating new twists to his mythology

harlenguin's review against another edition

3.0

Quite a lot of fun, but not really incredible. Feels more like a continuation of Spiral primarily, but it does build off of everything else. Some ridiculous moments are quite funny.

nickbaldassare's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

wanderaerrr's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

alexampersand's review against another edition

3.0

There's a potentially interesting idea at the core of the book, however about two-thirds of the way through we once again end up rehashing the plot of Ring. And I get it, we want to make sure new readers are caught up and forgetful readers have their memories refreshed. But just reading a character reciting the entire story for himself feels a little dry. 

And then the resolution of the book is pretty much once again just a multi-page monologue from one character just explaining everything that was happening.

So... interesting plot with the serial killer, but ultimately quite poorly executed for me.

mrdcoolblue's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The book series is nothing like the film series, but even disregarding that, this book has very strange pacing, no climax to speak of. While there are a few good tense moments, the series had left the horror genre a long time ago. I would call this sci-fi fantasy. Don’t come into this looking for a ghost story.