valoriedalton's review against another edition
4.0
Gabriel Bleak is part of the Shadow Community, a group of humans infused with special powers granted from a Hidden world. Some of them can enter minds, some see the future, some carry familiars, and some, such as Bleak, control energy to make it both weapon and tool. He also has a talent for seeing and speaking to ghosts. The CCA, a division of Homeland Security, investigates people like Bleak. They are following him closely, trying to capture him and bring him into their facility. Very troubling is that the wall up North, a barrier against the flood of supernatural that could enter the living world, has weakened and is letting in things unseen before. New powers are cropping up in the hands of people who will not use them for good. A dark force is gaining strength and searching for a way to enter fully, only able to extend tendrils used to control others.
Loraine Sarikosca works for the CCA, but the more she sees them in action, the more doubts she has. She also feels a strange compulsive force towards Gabriel Bleak, just as he does to her. Locked within the fortified walls of their fortress, the CCA imprison and experiment on members of the Shadow Community. They want to capture and control, use the Shadow Community to their own wishes. But a darker plot is at hand when it is discovered that the darkness behind the wall has one of its tendrils in the CCA and his plans are quite different and far more threatening.
I very much enjoyed Bleak History because the concept is so unique. Rather, we have recently been experiencing an influx of ‘humans with powers’ stories because of the popularity of comic book adaptations, but Shirley has managed to make a distinctive and interesting world of his own within the genre. I liked reading about the different Shadow Community members and their specific talents. I only wish that we could have entered that world a bit deeper and met more of the people, or had more people around Gabriel helping with their own special talents. Most of the Shadow Community members are secondary and have their specific, defined roles that come and go. Characters like Scribbler could be much deeper and more defined, and very interesting.
Shirley puts a lot of detail into his descriptions of the Shadow Communities powers and visions. When Shoella creates her own world, we are given a beautiful picture of it. I was fascinated, too, by the way Scribbler is portrayed in the small part he plays. His obsession and nature comes through very clear. I suspect that Shirley’s knack for detail is derived from his background as a screenwriter, but it also comes from natural talent. Shirley has an easy, clear way of writing, though sometimes the lengthy descriptions, especially when they speak of more spiritual and less tangible matters, got me a bit lost.
There is a lot of action in the book between getting chased, darker forces committing crimes, and seeking out the truth of what is happening. The book barely lags or takes a breath, but there are a few moments of quiet reflection for the characters. Though there is a small love connection, the book isn’t a romance at all, which is refreshing when so much of the paranormal genre is half as much romance as it is supernatural. With an open ending, we are left to wonder what becomes of Gabriel and Loraine as they embark on another journey together.
Loraine Sarikosca works for the CCA, but the more she sees them in action, the more doubts she has. She also feels a strange compulsive force towards Gabriel Bleak, just as he does to her. Locked within the fortified walls of their fortress, the CCA imprison and experiment on members of the Shadow Community. They want to capture and control, use the Shadow Community to their own wishes. But a darker plot is at hand when it is discovered that the darkness behind the wall has one of its tendrils in the CCA and his plans are quite different and far more threatening.
I very much enjoyed Bleak History because the concept is so unique. Rather, we have recently been experiencing an influx of ‘humans with powers’ stories because of the popularity of comic book adaptations, but Shirley has managed to make a distinctive and interesting world of his own within the genre. I liked reading about the different Shadow Community members and their specific talents. I only wish that we could have entered that world a bit deeper and met more of the people, or had more people around Gabriel helping with their own special talents. Most of the Shadow Community members are secondary and have their specific, defined roles that come and go. Characters like Scribbler could be much deeper and more defined, and very interesting.
Shirley puts a lot of detail into his descriptions of the Shadow Communities powers and visions. When Shoella creates her own world, we are given a beautiful picture of it. I was fascinated, too, by the way Scribbler is portrayed in the small part he plays. His obsession and nature comes through very clear. I suspect that Shirley’s knack for detail is derived from his background as a screenwriter, but it also comes from natural talent. Shirley has an easy, clear way of writing, though sometimes the lengthy descriptions, especially when they speak of more spiritual and less tangible matters, got me a bit lost.
There is a lot of action in the book between getting chased, darker forces committing crimes, and seeking out the truth of what is happening. The book barely lags or takes a breath, but there are a few moments of quiet reflection for the characters. Though there is a small love connection, the book isn’t a romance at all, which is refreshing when so much of the paranormal genre is half as much romance as it is supernatural. With an open ending, we are left to wonder what becomes of Gabriel and Loraine as they embark on another journey together.
david_agranoff's review against another edition
3.0
Anyone who has read my blog knows that John Shirley (Co- Screenwriter of the crow) is one of my all time favorite authors. An underrated trailblazer in both science fiction and horror, Shirley's cyperpunk pre-dates William Gibson and his psycho-sexual splat punk horror pre-dates Clive Barker. While Shirley doesn’t have the sales they do he has the respect and blurbs of his peers. I suspect in this culture where TV and movies carry more weight than cult novels, one great adapatation is all it will take for Shirley to get discovered out of the genre ghetto.
The project that is most likely to do just that is Bleak History. Shirley’s most mainstream novel BH is more easily tagged in the popular highly marketable genre of Urban Fantasy. In the first 100 pages I was worried this would be my first negative review of a John Shirley novel. The idea seemed simple and almost designed to be marketed in the urban fantasy thing.
The plot sounds simple on the surface. The thin line between the world of the living and the dead is breaking down. Certain people like Gabriel Bleak the main character have powers over the supernatural. There is agency that is monitoring the magic outbreak and recruiting people. I’ve heard reactions to the plot as it sounds kinda like X-men, no not really but I admit I was yawning a bit in the early pages. It is the extremely weird and original plots of Shirley's novels (check out City come a walking or Three Ring Pychus for out their plots) that set his work apart from standard Science Fiction or horror.
I should have trusted Shirley to rise above and make a very original piece. Once the details of the story start to unfold amazing things happen. I dog eared page 159 as the page where my imagination started cooking with the novel. It's not that exciting stuff didn't happen before that, it's just that's when the story really took flight. The hard part for me as a reviewer is that a reader deserves to discover these details as the book unfolds. As the thin line between the natural and supernatural falls apart the thin line between our rights and tyranny also falls.
In many ways Bleak History is about how we as a society or a country deal with threats. What if the threat was not terrorists, but magic? Would the same country that has two political parties supporting the patriot act and one defending it's use of torture do to protect it's self from a world where the power of the supernatural was really in the hands of the people.
Shirley is the master of the horror novel as political allegory. These are not beat you over the head - in your face allegory, and despite the obvious statements on rendition and torture there is deeper message. His novel Demons may be his more biting socio-political satire, but I am hoping that Bleak history will be a bridge that will bring new readers to his long chain of brilliant novels. Read it!
shelleyrae's review against another edition
3.0
There is a lot going on in Bleak History and there is no gentle introduction to the characters or the world itself, between the conspiracies, the Hidden and the Shadow Community it's pretty complex and as it races along its hard to catch your breath and figure out exactly what is going on. Initially I felt a bit lost in the action and could't find a way to identify with the story or Bleak but that changed gradually.
I think that Shirley has created a unique world with an interesting cast of characters but I couldn't get wrapped up in in the way I would have liked ahd I found some way to find an emotional connection. I think Bleak History is probably more appealing to a masculine than feminine audience.
I think that Shirley has created a unique world with an interesting cast of characters but I couldn't get wrapped up in in the way I would have liked ahd I found some way to find an emotional connection. I think Bleak History is probably more appealing to a masculine than feminine audience.
More...