Reviews

Harrison Squared, by Daryl Gregory

norcani's review against another edition

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4.0

Really fun interpretation of lovecraft myth. It is left a bit open at the end, like there is a sequel planned, but I couldn't find anything concrete on it for now. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I knew this as I don't like starting unfinished series.

erollinus's review against another edition

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4.0

I thoroughly enjoyed this- it had a really nice blend of comedic moments (some were unexpected, and told from sarcastic mouths- which was a joy to read) and points of just dread and horror. I'm a lover of Lovecraftian horror, as it just has this atmosphere about them. H2 hits the mood perfectly, in my opinion, but not in a way to turn you off from reading the rest of the book. My only complaint is the ending was kind of weak. He spends the entire book building up this mystery and impending doom... to The End. While the ending made sense, I wish there was more.

Hopefully there will be a sequel, as Gregory did leave it kind of open at the end.

fbone's review against another edition

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3.0

This was light, fun and silly. The author has an active imagination. Each page brought us a new element. I gave up guessing what would happen next. The ending was not all resolved but I don't expect a sequel.

mygeekblasphemy's review against another edition

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5.0

I really enjoyed this. It's at a 4 stars right now, but I might bump it up to a 5 with time. (I rarely rate anything a 5 right away. I don't know, it's a quirk.) I want to write some awesome critical analysis, but right now I'm just like, "Fun! So much creepy fun! I want MORE!" I really hope Daryl Gregory makes this into a series. I'd actually happily read sequels to We Are All Completely Fine as well, but I desperately want sequels to THIS book.

Harrison is an awesome protagonist. There are a lot of great side characters (Aunt Sel, Saleem, Lydia, Lub), which is always a huge bonus. Sometimes I think great side characters are more important to a story than great villains. (Seriously, that whole line about how a story is only as good as its villain is just wrong.) The line by line prose is great -- I started writing down snarky quotes and then stopped because I was just basically quoting the whole book. Overall, I think I had maybe one teeny tiny problem with the story -- I won't detail for spoilers -- but it's a pretty tiny nitpick.

The whole thing is, I don't know. Lovecraft meets Buffy meets Hardy Boys? Whatever it is, I want more of it.

old_tim's review against another edition

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5.0

Loved it! My favorite YA Lovecraft story of the year!

http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2015/05/tentacles-and-teeth.html

hedera_helix's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a pretty good YA novel.

philfromocs's review

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4.0

Cthulu hardy boys.

anniemariek's review

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3.0

The story wasn't bad, but it felt like the author had never been around teenagers before.

emdoux's review

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5.0

Like Lovecraft?
Like YA?
Read this book.

Really, it's that simple.

testpattern's review

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3.0

A fairly diverting entertainment that marries the Angry Teen with the Squamous Aquatic Horror genes. It hits all of the Lovecraftian notes deftly, makes just enough references to the Mythos to solidify its place, but mostly build upon a pastiche of The Innsmouth Horror. Most of the cast are thinly sketched types, and there is a sense of rushing through any such literary folderol as character development or understandable motivation, but the individual scenes are done with brio, and there is a cohesive stylistic texture to things. A worthwhile read of an afternoon.