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hstew's review against another edition
5.0
The post-apocalypse. What a splendidly morbid setting. So many things can be done in the future wasteland, yet most post-apocalyptic fiction generally feels the same. Not Swan Song.
A nuclear war. Good VS Evil. A young girl named Swan, whose only protection is a worn out wrestler named Josh; who may be the world's only hope. Sister and the glowing ring. The man with the scarlet eye.
Colonel Macklin and the Shadow Soldier, Roland Croninger: the "king's knight". So many great characters. All of which will affect Swan's journey of becoming the last best hope for the human race.
Let me attempt to recite the plot without giving any spoilers: After a nuclear attack; the United States, and presumably the rest of the world, has become a wasteland. Humanity's only hope is a young girl named Swan who may be able to breath life into the dead Earth. Along people will try to protect her from those who wish to harm her.
That is about all I can say without giving too much away, but there is so much more to story than what I just wrote. This is a book about hope in a world where there is none. About how humanity might be worth saving after it nearly destroyed itself.
There is a small detail that a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction forget about. Hope. Pelting the reader with death and despair. Only to show us a sliver of hope, and hinting that possibly; the world might be saveable. Or even better; worth Saving. This is something that Swan Song exceeds in. You feel how important Swan is, and realize why people would give their lives to protect her. The giant battered wrestler, Josh; and the tough stubborn Sister.
One thing that surprised me about the book is that there are certain parts which genuinely scared me. I'll just write the name of the character(Or at least the name that the characters gave him; his actually name is never revealed; though I'm fairly certain it rhymes with the level.) The man with the Scarlet eye, the man who likes movies, and the most disturbing in context; Friend. He is the head antagonist, and does whatever he can do strip all the hope out of the hopeless wasteland of that nuclear war left the human race.
The two other antagonists are also great. Their story is just as interesting as the other characters without interacting with the protagonists until two thirds into the book. This may sound strange, but it gives the characters time to grow and change. The story keeps you hooked. It constantly keeps the tension up while you are wondering when they are going to meet. I can tell you; when they do, you will not be let down.
This story is so much different than I thought: in so many great ways. Robert Mccammon is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. He knows how to shape a truly original story that is difficult to predict. I loved this book, It is one of my favorite books of all time, and recommend it to anyone who loves post-apocalyptic fiction. Or books that are just plain great.
I have heard this book compared to Stephen King's The Stand. I have never read the stand, but from what I've heard; they sound similar plot wise. One thing I would love to see is Swan Song made into a miniseries. The book is around 900 pages, so I don't think a movie could fit in all the important details. Sadly, Robert Mccammon has been ignored when it comes to Hollywood. I don't know why, but there a lot of things about Hollywood that I will never understand. Anyway, Swan Song is terrific. Go buy it.
A nuclear war. Good VS Evil. A young girl named Swan, whose only protection is a worn out wrestler named Josh; who may be the world's only hope. Sister and the glowing ring. The man with the scarlet eye.
Colonel Macklin and the Shadow Soldier, Roland Croninger: the "king's knight". So many great characters. All of which will affect Swan's journey of becoming the last best hope for the human race.
Let me attempt to recite the plot without giving any spoilers: After a nuclear attack; the United States, and presumably the rest of the world, has become a wasteland. Humanity's only hope is a young girl named Swan who may be able to breath life into the dead Earth. Along people will try to protect her from those who wish to harm her.
That is about all I can say without giving too much away, but there is so much more to story than what I just wrote. This is a book about hope in a world where there is none. About how humanity might be worth saving after it nearly destroyed itself.
There is a small detail that a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction forget about. Hope. Pelting the reader with death and despair. Only to show us a sliver of hope, and hinting that possibly; the world might be saveable. Or even better; worth Saving. This is something that Swan Song exceeds in. You feel how important Swan is, and realize why people would give their lives to protect her. The giant battered wrestler, Josh; and the tough stubborn Sister.
One thing that surprised me about the book is that there are certain parts which genuinely scared me. I'll just write the name of the character(Or at least the name that the characters gave him; his actually name is never revealed; though I'm fairly certain it rhymes with the level.) The man with the Scarlet eye, the man who likes movies, and the most disturbing in context; Friend. He is the head antagonist, and does whatever he can do strip all the hope out of the hopeless wasteland of that nuclear war left the human race.
The two other antagonists are also great. Their story is just as interesting as the other characters without interacting with the protagonists until two thirds into the book. This may sound strange, but it gives the characters time to grow and change. The story keeps you hooked. It constantly keeps the tension up while you are wondering when they are going to meet. I can tell you; when they do, you will not be let down.
This story is so much different than I thought: in so many great ways. Robert Mccammon is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. He knows how to shape a truly original story that is difficult to predict. I loved this book, It is one of my favorite books of all time, and recommend it to anyone who loves post-apocalyptic fiction. Or books that are just plain great.
I have heard this book compared to Stephen King's The Stand. I have never read the stand, but from what I've heard; they sound similar plot wise. One thing I would love to see is Swan Song made into a miniseries. The book is around 900 pages, so I don't think a movie could fit in all the important details. Sadly, Robert Mccammon has been ignored when it comes to Hollywood. I don't know why, but there a lot of things about Hollywood that I will never understand. Anyway, Swan Song is terrific. Go buy it.
bwoo's review against another edition
Very cheesy dialogue and over the top religious subtext.
sable222's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Really fun classic sci-fi/fantasy! I didn’t love the Christian overtones personally but I think it mostly avoided the corniest Christian horror tropes, or maybe I just enjoyed the rest of the story so much that I overlooked them. A truly unique mix of genres.
erebus53's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
Sometimes going in blind to a book is not the best idea. I think much of my disappointment with the book was because I went in thinking it was dystopian science-fiction but instead it was a Christian Morality-Tale Horror.
When I was 10 I wrote an adventure story that involved interesting ideas that were not physically possible. The storytelling was fun but the content was childishly inaccurate and embarrassingly naïve, and that this book reminded me of that story, more than once, says a lot about the delivery. I wanted to be able to root for the survivors but, their world was inconsistent. The people were living out of cans, and all the crops were dead, but yet there was a horse? What was it eating.. nothing much ever went in its front end or out the back.
Once I had reconciled myself to science not quite lining up, I could sit back and enjoy the supernatural bits. My favourite part of the story was a tarot card reading which was, at least vaguely accurate in how they work. I got the impression the author cracked a book for that one. There are also a few objects that are used as scrying implements, which lead the stories of two people to meet up. I tend to like things with clouded prophecies so this hit the spot.
The psychology in this was just... bad. You have a child who starts off twisted, and gets worse. There is a war vet who is obviously addled, a bag-lady who has repressed the memory of a traumatic event, a woman with recurring nightmares and hallucinations about her own trauma, and an escaped megalomaniacal asylum inmate who is crazy like a fox. In the effort to create monsters I feel like the author has made ridiculous caricatures that don't reflect reality. If only it was fun I might forgive it, but no. This is not Batman. Oh well.
The book is one of juxtaposed horror and hope. I wish it were that simple, but the horror runs deep in the psychology of 1987. There is so much unintentional horror that leaks through; Pro-Wrestling, pro-military, sex-shame, fat-shame, drug fear, casual Racism, lack of consent, casual misogyny, the criminally insane, male effeminacy as monstrosity...
CW:
When combined with the intentional horror that (in no order) contained, homelessness, neo-Nazis, nukes, torture, insanity, infanticide, pedophilia, racial slurs, slavery (and sexual slavery), body horror, mutation (things with extra heads and legs), mutilation (corpses and living people), maiming, senseless violence, cannibalism, animal death, Grooming, rape, child death, starvation, just more and more death, war, more war,
and their tanks and their bombs, and their bombs and their guns.
Have I mentioned how much I dislike battles? I'll say it again for those in the back.
Our constant companion in all this, is an evil shapeshifting being who is unnamed, but hinted about all through the book. The recurring use of Biblical quotes would have been amusing for me but often explained overtly. I had a chuckle when it was subtle but rolled my eyes hard every time I felt like the author was saying "you see what I did there!?" and it felt like he was explaining the joke. At one point a character is given a coat of many colours and I was glad that he didn't explain that one.
OK, this was published in 1987 and I'd like to give it latitude because things like The Walking Dead and even McCarthy's The Road, have done it all better since, but really it's not that well written. The unspoken wish from the get go is "Please, Mr President, don't nuke us!", which is the most honest wish of the 1980s even if Reagan is never mentioned by name. Also.. this book is too damned long to be this lame.. why am I a masochist? I'm going to have to slam this like that Whale book.
When I was 10 I wrote an adventure story that involved interesting ideas that were not physically possible. The storytelling was fun but the content was childishly inaccurate and embarrassingly naïve, and that this book reminded me of that story, more than once, says a lot about the delivery. I wanted to be able to root for the survivors but, their world was inconsistent. The people were living out of cans, and all the crops were dead, but yet there was a horse? What was it eating.. nothing much ever went in its front end or out the back.
Once I had reconciled myself to science not quite lining up, I could sit back and enjoy the supernatural bits. My favourite part of the story was a tarot card reading which was, at least vaguely accurate in how they work. I got the impression the author cracked a book for that one. There are also a few objects that are used as scrying implements, which lead the stories of two people to meet up. I tend to like things with clouded prophecies so this hit the spot.
The psychology in this was just... bad. You have a child who starts off twisted, and gets worse. There is a war vet who is obviously addled, a bag-lady who has repressed the memory of a traumatic event, a woman with recurring nightmares and hallucinations about her own trauma, and an escaped megalomaniacal asylum inmate who is crazy like a fox. In the effort to create monsters I feel like the author has made ridiculous caricatures that don't reflect reality. If only it was fun I might forgive it, but no. This is not Batman. Oh well.
The book is one of juxtaposed horror and hope. I wish it were that simple, but the horror runs deep in the psychology of 1987. There is so much unintentional horror that leaks through; Pro-Wrestling, pro-military, sex-shame, fat-shame, drug fear, casual Racism, lack of consent, casual misogyny, the criminally insane, male effeminacy as monstrosity...
CW:
When combined with the intentional horror that (in no order) contained, homelessness, neo-Nazis, nukes, torture, insanity, infanticide, pedophilia, racial slurs, slavery (and sexual slavery), body horror, mutation (things with extra heads and legs), mutilation (corpses and living people), maiming, senseless violence, cannibalism, animal death, Grooming, rape, child death, starvation, just more and more death, war, more war,
and their tanks and their bombs, and their bombs and their guns.
Have I mentioned how much I dislike battles? I'll say it again for those in the back.
Our constant companion in all this, is an evil shapeshifting being who is unnamed, but hinted about all through the book. The recurring use of Biblical quotes would have been amusing for me but often explained overtly. I had a chuckle when it was subtle but rolled my eyes hard every time I felt like the author was saying "you see what I did there!?" and it felt like he was explaining the joke. At one point a character is given a coat of many colours and I was glad that he didn't explain that one.
OK, this was published in 1987 and I'd like to give it latitude because things like The Walking Dead and even McCarthy's The Road, have done it all better since, but really it's not that well written. The unspoken wish from the get go is "Please, Mr President, don't nuke us!", which is the most honest wish of the 1980s even if Reagan is never mentioned by name. Also.. this book is too damned long to be this lame.. why am I a masochist? I'm going to have to slam this like that Whale book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
bit101's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
It's hard not to directly compare this to Stephen King's "The Stand". It was written not too many years after and the plot is nearly identical. Something happens that kills most of the population of earth and the survivors start gathering together - in a good camp and an evil camp - with magical beings at the head of both. You build towards the final confrontation, and... well I won't spoil it, but you can guess who wins. There's even an almost identical scene of survivors going through a dark tunnel to escape the NYC - the Lincoln Tunnel in The Stand and the Holland Tunnel in Swan Song (if I recall correctly). OK.
I think The Stand is much better, but I've heard that others see it the other way around. King is a far better writer, in my opinion. McCammon repeats the same phrases over and over. If I heard "snow covered mountains" one more time...
There are also points where the author draws things out painfully for suspense, but to the reader it is so obvious what is going to happen.
Example: they go to the mountain and it's a high security, obviously government run place with power and computers and a "god" who is going to bring down the talons of death on the world. And "God" stands there arming the final doomsday device, while everyone else is looking on saying "what is this place? what are you doing?" Are they all that clueless?
And then when Swan is trying to figure out the code to stop the launch. "What word ends a prayer???" Stop? No. 30 seconds. End? No, 20 seconds. What could it be??? 10 seconds. "OMG, what word ends a prayer? I just don't know." 5 seconds. Painful.
But it's not horrible, and quite readable.
I think The Stand is much better, but I've heard that others see it the other way around. King is a far better writer, in my opinion. McCammon repeats the same phrases over and over. If I heard "snow covered mountains" one more time...
There are also points where the author draws things out painfully for suspense, but to the reader it is so obvious what is going to happen.
Example: they go to the mountain and it's a high security, obviously government run place with power and computers and a "god" who is going to bring down the talons of death on the world. And "God" stands there arming the final doomsday device, while everyone else is looking on saying "what is this place? what are you doing?" Are they all that clueless?
And then when Swan is trying to figure out the code to stop the launch. "What word ends a prayer???" Stop? No. 30 seconds. End? No, 20 seconds. What could it be??? 10 seconds. "OMG, what word ends a prayer? I just don't know." 5 seconds. Painful.
But it's not horrible, and quite readable.
nick5299's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
mikaylasky's review against another edition
2.0
Surprisingly, I strongly disliked this. I went into it with high hopes because of how loved it seems, but became quickly disappointed. I tried to push through, but the book never got any better for me. Some parts became very interesting and then lost me again not long after. It felt like a more boring version of The Stand.
itsonlyfiction's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
clfenters's review against another edition
I picked this up based on the strong recommendation of two separate patrons, but I'm just not interested in nuclear fallout, post-apocalyptic material. I was not gravitating towards this book at all.