mountsleepyhead's review
3.0
While I am beyond thrilled that Coheed and Cambria are including a story with their new records (hopefully it's not wishful thinking to assume they're going give the rest of the Vaxis series the novella treatment) as the context enhances the listening experience, it's a shame the writing is a clunky as it is. This is par for the course for the band's literary tie-ins (see: the Amory Wars comics series which has the exact same problem). The story itself is great and I'm excited for the rest of the series to unfold. In essence it's a kickass intergalactic love story set on a planet that is a private prison. It's pulpy, but in a fun way. And then the characters talk to each other and the dialogue just hurts. It's like bad comic book dialogue in a story that desperately needs to be moody and cool. There are also a lot of weird little adjectives and metaphors that feel out of place with the space opera storytelling. At one point Sister Spider's mask is described as "Pepto-Pink" and I never got over that. They have Pepto Bismol in this galaxy? How interesting! Alas, I'll take what I can get.
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