oliverreeds's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
readbycandle's review
4.0
I listened to this on Audiobook and it just sent me to another place. The narrative was so good from title page to back cover, authors notes and quotes just made this so enjoyable. I'm on the look out for more!
noysh's review
5.0
See my comments on 'Alabaster: Pale Horse'. That's effectively an updated and current printing of this book. I just grabbed this volume and read from it as a bibliophile who likes to have first editions if possible.
marisacarpico's review
2.0
Did not realize that this was a continuation of a previous work, so this was a little inscrutable for me. Still, nothing here would make me want to read more or find out what happened before this.
ltg584's review
It's not often that I DNF a graphic novel, but right from the beginning it was obviously not my thing. I gave it two tries; no go. It has a really scattered plot, with difficult to follow dialogue bubbles. A lot of religious metaphor, and I'm not educated enough in religion to get the full effect that I'm sure others would appreciate. Some of the artwork was really enticing, but it wasn't enough to hold my interest.
xterminal's review
4.0
Caitlin R. Kiernan, Alabaster (Subterranean Press, 2006)
What I have always loved about Caitlin R. Kiernan's work is the sense of being lost; there's never quite enough explicitly stated to let the reader gain firm ground, leaving one to make the associations in one's head. And as we all know, the imagination produces scarier things than we'll ever actually see. It's the same thing that works so well in John Carpenter's best movies or Kathe Koja's early novels, but Kiernan wields it more masterfully than either when she's bringing her A game. And Alabaster is, most certainly, her A game.
Dancy Flammarion has never been a central character in Kiernan's work, but she's often on the sidelines, looking out at the events therein. In Alabaster, Kiernan switches up and makes Dancy the lead, exploring some of the avenues Dancy has hinted at in previous books. And the little albino girl with the big blade, as it turns out, is just as absorbing, if not more so, than the characters we already know so well. Guided by an angel (who might not be), she finds herself in situations that get stranger and stranger as life goes on. And considering how outright weird her first brush with the supernatural is, that's saying something. As always, what seals the deal here is Kiernan's almost delicate touch with prose, working words the way a baker kneads bread, banging them around and slapping them down on the table, with the final product achieving a paradoxical softness, with a hint of sweet to counter the sour. While Kiernan's fame has been growing over the past decade, she's still nowhere near the A-list writer she certainly deserves to be. If you're a fan of the supernatural and have not yet discovered Caitlin R. Kiernan, I suggest you do so at the earliest opportunity; for my money, she's right up there with Clive Barker and Ramsey Campbell as a purveyor of the strange and rare. ****
What I have always loved about Caitlin R. Kiernan's work is the sense of being lost; there's never quite enough explicitly stated to let the reader gain firm ground, leaving one to make the associations in one's head. And as we all know, the imagination produces scarier things than we'll ever actually see. It's the same thing that works so well in John Carpenter's best movies or Kathe Koja's early novels, but Kiernan wields it more masterfully than either when she's bringing her A game. And Alabaster is, most certainly, her A game.
Dancy Flammarion has never been a central character in Kiernan's work, but she's often on the sidelines, looking out at the events therein. In Alabaster, Kiernan switches up and makes Dancy the lead, exploring some of the avenues Dancy has hinted at in previous books. And the little albino girl with the big blade, as it turns out, is just as absorbing, if not more so, than the characters we already know so well. Guided by an angel (who might not be), she finds herself in situations that get stranger and stranger as life goes on. And considering how outright weird her first brush with the supernatural is, that's saying something. As always, what seals the deal here is Kiernan's almost delicate touch with prose, working words the way a baker kneads bread, banging them around and slapping them down on the table, with the final product achieving a paradoxical softness, with a hint of sweet to counter the sour. While Kiernan's fame has been growing over the past decade, she's still nowhere near the A-list writer she certainly deserves to be. If you're a fan of the supernatural and have not yet discovered Caitlin R. Kiernan, I suggest you do so at the earliest opportunity; for my money, she's right up there with Clive Barker and Ramsey Campbell as a purveyor of the strange and rare. ****
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