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runekeon's review against another edition
4.0
A really good story that doesn’t reach its fullest potential. The writing is lacking negative space and the last third to half seems rushed. It is still a very worth while read.
ecoyne's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
sassypants70's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
jun1pper's review against another edition
1.0
It's like a 14 year old kid read "The Stand" and thought he could do better. This book is lurid in every way and I can't continue. Wolves and Nazis and clowns and hobos, dear god, and that magic ring is tooooooo much.
jcmiller5's review against another edition
5.0
This book was exceptional. I was never bored or ever felt like the book was lagging. The post apocalyptic nuclear warzone setting is amazing. From details on how burn marks have affected certain characters, to how other characters minds have literally snapped and cocooned into their own reality, to the selflessness and bravery of certain characters, this book was amazing. The story follows 3 different perspectives and is broken up into two different "books". Book one follows the characters journeys from the day the bombs dropped, to about a year after. Book two picks up seven years after the last events that happen in Book one. Many people will sway away from this book because of how long it is, but it is so incredibly worth it to pick it up and start/finish. There's a lot of good/ important lessons to be learned in a book like this. I really really enjoyed. 5/5!
marionettecreep's review against another edition
2.0
Fair warning, I'm not going to say that Swan Song is a bad novel... it's just a meandering one that suffers from its extended length. I will also be transparent and say that I tapped out about 524 pages into the 900+ in the book. What follows its very subjective and ultimately, if you've loved the book, that's fantastic, but it wasn't for me.
First things first, McCammon created a vivid and deeply vivid portrait of the nuclear apocalypse and what followed in this. To his credit, the author captured the utterly bleak (and often uncompromisingly horrific) aspect of what a full-on nuclear exchange and its aftermath would look like. There's passages that are legitimately challenging to get through, given the graphic content, and the world after the bombs is an interesting one in many regards. Full credit to McCammon, he knows how to create an interesting setting. If anything, this would compel me to look at his other works.
However, while the characters are interesting for the most part, they felt more like vehicles for the plot points rather than something fully developed in their own right. There's this real sense at times that you're reading a serialised book in sections, rather than something cohesive in terms of character development. The characters are there for the ride of the different little event arcs for the most part, rather than dedicated focuses.
As for what ultimately made me drop the book... it's that the story just didn't feel like it was progressing. There'd be some legitimately great moments that'd progress the sprawling plot, and then it'd just meander for 50-70 pages. I will also say that I was really into the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic elements, but the more fantastical and religious elements fell flat for me. It also felt like McCammon was kind of engaging in post-apocalyptic bingo, trying to fill in as many boxes as possible. It was a hard decision to drop the book, but with 400 or so pages left, I decided that it was time to move on.
This isn't my first brush with epic horror and for context I really enjoyed The Passage, which covers similar ground, but Swan Song just lacked the momentum that's kept me going with other longer texts. Swan Song just wasn't for me, and that's okay. If it had been two more focused novels of about 400-500 pages each, I would likely enjoy it a lot more.
First things first, McCammon created a vivid and deeply vivid portrait of the nuclear apocalypse and what followed in this. To his credit, the author captured the utterly bleak (and often uncompromisingly horrific) aspect of what a full-on nuclear exchange and its aftermath would look like. There's passages that are legitimately challenging to get through, given the graphic content, and the world after the bombs is an interesting one in many regards. Full credit to McCammon, he knows how to create an interesting setting. If anything, this would compel me to look at his other works.
However, while the characters are interesting for the most part, they felt more like vehicles for the plot points rather than something fully developed in their own right. There's this real sense at times that you're reading a serialised book in sections, rather than something cohesive in terms of character development. The characters are there for the ride of the different little event arcs for the most part, rather than dedicated focuses.
As for what ultimately made me drop the book... it's that the story just didn't feel like it was progressing. There'd be some legitimately great moments that'd progress the sprawling plot, and then it'd just meander for 50-70 pages. I will also say that I was really into the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic elements, but the more fantastical and religious elements fell flat for me. It also felt like McCammon was kind of engaging in post-apocalyptic bingo, trying to fill in as many boxes as possible. It was a hard decision to drop the book, but with 400 or so pages left, I decided that it was time to move on.
This isn't my first brush with epic horror and for context I really enjoyed The Passage, which covers similar ground, but Swan Song just lacked the momentum that's kept me going with other longer texts. Swan Song just wasn't for me, and that's okay. If it had been two more focused novels of about 400-500 pages each, I would likely enjoy it a lot more.
hnkuchera's review against another edition
4.0
Page turner for sure, but so depressing. I actually had to put it down for a while as my dreams kept getting darker and drearier. I was told Swan Song, while similar in subject, was better than Stephen King's "The Stand". It is no better or worse, just different.
kimabill's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up this book because it was suggested to me by whatshouldireadnext.com as a book that was very similar to The Stand by Stephen King, which is one of my all-time favorite books. And yes, the two have a lot in common. Good versus evil? - yep. Outcast nerdy teenage boy who turns to the dark side when someone makes him feel important? – check. Important future-predicting scene with Ouija board/tarot cards? – for sure. Shape-shifting bad guy? – oh yeah. Psycho bad guy sidekick with last name Lawry? – you got it. Dogs? Drugs? Guns? - yes, yes, yes. I could go on.
But there are important differences between the two books as well. In Swan Song, the world ends with a world-wide nuclear war rather than the superflu. For me, the superflu scenario of The Stand worked better because it was gradual and more suspenseful, giving the audience time to get more and more horrified. In Swan Song, it was just BANG and pretty much everyone and everything was gone, no time to even get scared. I felt like The Stand had more of a “mythology” behind it, if that makes sense – like it was more of an epic, complicated, multi-layered story. Swan Song was more of a big-budget action film – a riveting plot, lots of drama and battles and blood, but pretty surface-y. I didn’t really feel attached to the characters like I did in The Stand. I didn’t miss them when the book was over. There was one point when a character came upon a dead body and thought, “Noooooo! Not So-and-so!” And I had no idea who So-and-so was. In The Stand, you get inside the heads of the characters sooooooo much more than in Swan Song – you understand their internal conflicts, their backstories, their motivations. The characters have much more depth. I felt like I knew very little about where the characters in Swan Song were coming from. There were some big plot holes in this book (like the seven year leap ahead in time – what?!) and some cheesy predictable things (the whole “everyone has a true face underneath their outer face” deal), and those made me roll my eyes a little bit.
But the book was definitely a page-turner. It is almost 900 pages and I finished it in less than a week. I guess my review was doomed from the start to be unfair because it is impossible to not compare it to The Stand. And really, up against that kind of competition, it had no hope. On its own, it might have been a 4 star book; against the competition, it has to be a 3. And a half. Sorry to the author – I feel like I am being unfair. I want to say 4 stars, but it feels like a betrayal to Frannie, Stu, Tom, Nick, Larry, Glen, Ralph, Mother Abagail, and even Harold (my dear friends from The Stand) to rate it any higher. Maybe we just won't tell them about it...
But there are important differences between the two books as well. In Swan Song, the world ends with a world-wide nuclear war rather than the superflu. For me, the superflu scenario of The Stand worked better because it was gradual and more suspenseful, giving the audience time to get more and more horrified. In Swan Song, it was just BANG and pretty much everyone and everything was gone, no time to even get scared. I felt like The Stand had more of a “mythology” behind it, if that makes sense – like it was more of an epic, complicated, multi-layered story. Swan Song was more of a big-budget action film – a riveting plot, lots of drama and battles and blood, but pretty surface-y. I didn’t really feel attached to the characters like I did in The Stand. I didn’t miss them when the book was over. There was one point when a character came upon a dead body and thought, “Noooooo! Not So-and-so!” And I had no idea who So-and-so was. In The Stand, you get inside the heads of the characters sooooooo much more than in Swan Song – you understand their internal conflicts, their backstories, their motivations. The characters have much more depth. I felt like I knew very little about where the characters in Swan Song were coming from. There were some big plot holes in this book (like the seven year leap ahead in time – what?!) and some cheesy predictable things (the whole “everyone has a true face underneath their outer face” deal), and those made me roll my eyes a little bit.
But the book was definitely a page-turner. It is almost 900 pages and I finished it in less than a week. I guess my review was doomed from the start to be unfair because it is impossible to not compare it to The Stand. And really, up against that kind of competition, it had no hope. On its own, it might have been a 4 star book; against the competition, it has to be a 3. And a half. Sorry to the author – I feel like I am being unfair. I want to say 4 stars, but it feels like a betrayal to Frannie, Stu, Tom, Nick, Larry, Glen, Ralph, Mother Abagail, and even Harold (my dear friends from The Stand) to rate it any higher. Maybe we just won't tell them about it...
robhb's review against another edition
5.0
Been about 25 years since I read this last and damn does this book still hold up. This is a benchmark when it comes to post-apocalyptic fiction and narrator Tom Stechschulte is outstanding.