boekiemonster's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
anjreading's review
4.0
A new Daryl Gregory book is always a weird and wonderful experience. This novella is a locked-room murder mystery featuring a boy band made up of genetically engineered animal-human hybrids. The WyldBoyZ's unscrupulous producer has been brutally murdered in his hotel room in Las Vegas. Detective Luce Delgado is on the scene, and she has twenty-four hours to solve the case before the feds take over. The "boys" in the band are wonderfully drawn, as is the character of Luce, and the whole books is a lot of fun from start to finish.
waclements7's review against another edition
4.0
Breath of fresh air
This is a ridiculous and silly story, which is just fine. I haven’t read any of the author’s other works, which I plan to remedy.
This is a ridiculous and silly story, which is just fine. I haven’t read any of the author’s other works, which I plan to remedy.
bravesirtoaster's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
tyrshand's review
5.0
Well, this is a whole lot of fun! I basically picked it up just because it’s Daryl Gregory and didn’t really pay attention to what it was about. This novella satisfies in nearly every possible way. It’s kooky, but perfectly takes the feel from its inspirations — it has the feel of classic science fiction but also of the classic mystery. It feels modern and plays with pop music tropes well. But most of it all, it is such a pleasure to read!
Now, I got some coworkers to read his “We Are All Completely Fine” earlier this year and one pointed out that there are some male-gazey bits to that one. And I could definitely see it on that re-read. I did not see any of that here, so I think maybe she’d be more pleased with this one.
I did say satisfies in “nearly” every way. There was one line — of course publishers ask you not to quote from review copies, so I won’t and I’ll be interested to see if it is in the final copy. I need to sit on it a bit and ponder why I think it was there. Currently I’m thinking it’s a joke in poor taste that maybe was written after some big events of the past year, but not the most recent ones. Which means I’d still have thought it was in poor taste if I’d read this last April, but it wouldn’t have stung quite so much.
Now, I got some coworkers to read his “We Are All Completely Fine” earlier this year and one pointed out that there are some male-gazey bits to that one. And I could definitely see it on that re-read. I did not see any of that here, so I think maybe she’d be more pleased with this one.
I did say satisfies in “nearly” every way. There was one line — of course publishers ask you not to quote from review copies, so I won’t and I’ll be interested to see if it is in the final copy. I need to sit on it a bit and ponder why I think it was there. Currently I’m thinking it’s a joke in poor taste that maybe was written after some big events of the past year, but not the most recent ones. Which means I’d still have thought it was in poor taste if I’d read this last April, but it wouldn’t have stung quite so much.
sharondblk's review
5.0
A while ago I saw Daryl Gregory had released a book called The Album of Dr Moreau. Daryl Gregory is one of those authors whose book are all different and have descriptions that sound odd, but are brilliant.
Before embarking on this I listened to [b:The Island of Dr. Moreau|29981|The Island of Dr. Moreau|H.G. Wells|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388230211l/29981._SY75_.jpg|68894], and I'm really glad I did. I found The Island difficult, because of the classism, racism and speciesism, as well as the wanton cruelty. On it's surface The Album seem lighter and to lack the horror of it's inspiration, but it's all there, hiding just under the surface. I'm really glad I waded through the original material, it gave The Album so much more depth and meaning.
The books were about the same length, which made me sad, because I read this in a weekend, and I would have gladly spent weeks with the Wyld BoyZ. The book was published in 2021 but set in 2001 and is full of boy band jokes, animal puns and nods and winks to genre fiction, some of which I got and many of which I'm sure I missed. A satisfying, sometimes uncomfortable, wonderful read.
Before embarking on this I listened to [b:The Island of Dr. Moreau|29981|The Island of Dr. Moreau|H.G. Wells|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388230211l/29981._SY75_.jpg|68894], and I'm really glad I did. I found The Island difficult, because of the classism, racism and speciesism, as well as the wanton cruelty. On it's surface The Album seem lighter and to lack the horror of it's inspiration, but it's all there, hiding just under the surface. I'm really glad I waded through the original material, it gave The Album so much more depth and meaning.
The books were about the same length, which made me sad, because I read this in a weekend, and I would have gladly spent weeks with the Wyld BoyZ. The book was published in 2021 but set in 2001 and is full of boy band jokes, animal puns and nods and winks to genre fiction, some of which I got and many of which I'm sure I missed. A satisfying, sometimes uncomfortable, wonderful read.
gtbenathan's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Highly enjoyable retelling of Doctor Moreau. Also, a fun murder mystery with a really fun wrap up.
toadsoup's review
4.0
I picked up an arc for this solely based on the title and premise, and I was NOT disappointed. An extremely original take on boy bands and locked-room mysteries, this novella is a quick but memorable read. My main issue is that it spends 15% of its page-count name-dropping , but if you can get past that.... it’s great
chukg's review
5.0
Super fun, mystery with viewpoint chapters from all the suspects, intersecting with the 'boy band' phenomenon that I am kind of aware of from my daughters. Lots of little clues, seems like it almost would be possible to 'solve' the murder yourself as a reader.