tiffasaurusrex's review against another edition
4.0
Blurb from Steven Erikson in the front- just got a whole lot more excited about this one!
tregina's review against another edition
2.0
When I'm having to force myself to the end of a book, I know something's not working for me. And this should have worked for me, it has all the ingredients of a book I'll like. Instead it read like a cut-rate Stephen King (and I like King) with the flow of its internal dialogue, and random shit and fart jokes that go on a little too long.
I spent the first two thirds of the book feeling like it was all set-up, and the last third wondering what the hell was going on as the Heroes Assembled, and there as no payoff for me at the end because it turned out to all be setup for the as-yet-unpublished second book in the series. Everything took too long, and with a couple of exceptions, I never got a solid sense of character: every time I saw a new name I had to try to figure out who the hell that was again, and the reactions to this abrupt change in reality never come across as at all realistic. It was also lacking a strong sense of place; the generic 'American' setting was peppered with moments of British idiom that kept making me question if I was even remembering the setting right.
The worst part for me was that I could tell it was something that, if done a little differently, I would like a whole lot. I'm still wanting it to be that book.
I spent the first two thirds of the book feeling like it was all set-up, and the last third wondering what the hell was going on as the Heroes Assembled, and there as no payoff for me at the end because it turned out to all be setup for the as-yet-unpublished second book in the series. Everything took too long, and with a couple of exceptions, I never got a solid sense of character: every time I saw a new name I had to try to figure out who the hell that was again, and the reactions to this abrupt change in reality never come across as at all realistic. It was also lacking a strong sense of place; the generic 'American' setting was peppered with moments of British idiom that kept making me question if I was even remembering the setting right.
The worst part for me was that I could tell it was something that, if done a little differently, I would like a whole lot. I'm still wanting it to be that book.
gwimo's review against another edition
3.0
In a flash of light, the world changes. People are whisked away. The ones that aren't, try to pick up the pieces - attempt to make sense of the nonsense. It's something out of an science fiction show - like Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. The streets are littered with car accidents - presumably the drivers were taken with the light. Shopping centers are empty. Life has left the earth. Taken away. But to where? And why were some people left behind?
It's hard to tell whether the ones that were taken are the lucky ones in Peter Crowther's Darkness Falling. It's definitely not the ones who weren't. When the light returns, bringing back some of the taken, things don't resume to normal. In fact, the people - now donning wrap-around sunglasses and thick work gloves - are alien to the world around them. Nearly zombified. It's a good concept, I tell you. However, can the storyteller keep the readers' attention?
Not sure what bothers me more. The fact that this book is riddled with punctuation mistakes - which are easily missed - c'mon, mine's not perfect. Or the fact that it's splattered with inconsistencies. The beginning of the book, the time is said to be five in the morning on the plane. Meanwhile, in later chapters, the time shift to two in the morning. When the plane makes a crash landing, they head for a Barnes and Noble that transforms into a Borders that changes back into a Barnes and Noble only to transform back into a Borders later on. On the ground, Rick, Johnny and Melanie see that the bus is being driven by Karl. Meanwhile, inside the bus, Karl is being attacked by one of the creatures and it is Ronnie who drives the bus when the three people on the street see it veering towards them. Small things like this, splattered over the pages, make me wonder how on earth the editors over at Angry Robot Books missed them. Peter Crowther states - in his acknowledgments - that the book was originally three separate volumes. This might excuse the inconsistencies if they weren't so close together. It also might excuse the repetition of earlier events; however, it would seem that Crowther simple cut & paste the passages as filler - make the book longer and the reader will think it's epic.
I'm not bashing Peter Crowther's ability to captivate the reader, however. Inconsistencies aside, the story and the characters are remarkable. Repetition aside, the story flows. Grammatical errors aside, the book is genius. Not since The Tommyknockers - the movie, as I've never read the book - have I been captivated by alien beings taking over human bodies. The novel borders on zombie domination - only these creatures are far from brain dead, even though the simplest tasks befuddle them at first. However, now that Darkness Falling marks the first book in a - what? a trilogy? a series? - I'm wondering how far I'm willing to travel this road.
I like to thank Angry Robot Books for allowing me to read this novel before it hit shelves. I also encourage the readers of sci-fi, urban fantasy and horror to join the Angry Robot Army in order to garner the same opportunities. You may even download free books for your e-readers - including this title, it would seem.
It's hard to tell whether the ones that were taken are the lucky ones in Peter Crowther's Darkness Falling. It's definitely not the ones who weren't. When the light returns, bringing back some of the taken, things don't resume to normal. In fact, the people - now donning wrap-around sunglasses and thick work gloves - are alien to the world around them. Nearly zombified. It's a good concept, I tell you. However, can the storyteller keep the readers' attention?
Not sure what bothers me more. The fact that this book is riddled with punctuation mistakes - which are easily missed - c'mon, mine's not perfect. Or the fact that it's splattered with inconsistencies. The beginning of the book, the time is said to be five in the morning on the plane. Meanwhile, in later chapters, the time shift to two in the morning. When the plane makes a crash landing, they head for a Barnes and Noble that transforms into a Borders that changes back into a Barnes and Noble only to transform back into a Borders later on. On the ground, Rick, Johnny and Melanie see that the bus is being driven by Karl. Meanwhile, inside the bus, Karl is being attacked by one of the creatures and it is Ronnie who drives the bus when the three people on the street see it veering towards them. Small things like this, splattered over the pages, make me wonder how on earth the editors over at Angry Robot Books missed them. Peter Crowther states - in his acknowledgments - that the book was originally three separate volumes. This might excuse the inconsistencies if they weren't so close together. It also might excuse the repetition of earlier events; however, it would seem that Crowther simple cut & paste the passages as filler - make the book longer and the reader will think it's epic.
I'm not bashing Peter Crowther's ability to captivate the reader, however. Inconsistencies aside, the story and the characters are remarkable. Repetition aside, the story flows. Grammatical errors aside, the book is genius. Not since The Tommyknockers - the movie, as I've never read the book - have I been captivated by alien beings taking over human bodies. The novel borders on zombie domination - only these creatures are far from brain dead, even though the simplest tasks befuddle them at first. However, now that Darkness Falling marks the first book in a - what? a trilogy? a series? - I'm wondering how far I'm willing to travel this road.
I like to thank Angry Robot Books for allowing me to read this novel before it hit shelves. I also encourage the readers of sci-fi, urban fantasy and horror to join the Angry Robot Army in order to garner the same opportunities. You may even download free books for your e-readers - including this title, it would seem.
dtaylorbooks's review against another edition
DNF.
I didn't want to stop reading it in the sense that I didn't want another horror novel to fail but I really just couldn't take it anymore. That blurb? It's misleading. Up to the point where I stopped reading, somewhere between a quarter and a third of the way through, not only was it from the POV of the radio people, but there was also some guy on a plane, a crazy old lady that talked to voices in her head and a serial killer. And they were all interpreting the same thing for far too long.
I was kind of wondering where the story was going right form the beginning when it started rambling on about this guy's wife and how he hated her and she was causing problems for him on the plane. This was one hell of a tangent that went on for far longer than it should have before the creepy element happened that zapped everyone away. Then that same zap moment was replayed from the POV of the crazy lady with an equally long tangent of backstory, the serial killer and all of his gross idiosyncrasies and the radio station people with more of the same. It's like I was stuck in the Twilight Zone, reliving the same damn moment over and over and over again. Or is that Groundhog's Day? Probably both.
The plot just stalled out for me and when actions actually started to get repeated amongst the characters (like serial killer and the radio people busting into people's empty houses) I just put it down. The characters were unnecessarily effed in the head, I felt like a hamster in a wheel reading and, personally, I could tell that it was someone only familiar with the stereotypes of Southern accents creating the accents in the story. I was right in assuming that since the author is British. Very cliche, podunk accents that one thinks of when they think of a Southerner, not necessarily what it really is.
Plus the author had a heinous habit of name dropping like crazy. I couldn't go a chapter without multiple references to books, authors, musicians, movies, actors and whatever else you could think of. And then he referenced Kent State, and needlessly mentioned the riots that happened there seemingly just to prove that the author himself knew about them, because it was irrelevant to anything that was going on. That just hammered the nail into the forceful coffin for me. I was done. I couldn't be bothered to make my way to the end if I had to slog through endless repetition and constant pop culture references.
This one had some great potential but it was far too scattered and directionless for my tastes. It breaks my heart when horror novels turn out to be turds but I'll carry on.
I didn't want to stop reading it in the sense that I didn't want another horror novel to fail but I really just couldn't take it anymore. That blurb? It's misleading. Up to the point where I stopped reading, somewhere between a quarter and a third of the way through, not only was it from the POV of the radio people, but there was also some guy on a plane, a crazy old lady that talked to voices in her head and a serial killer. And they were all interpreting the same thing for far too long.
I was kind of wondering where the story was going right form the beginning when it started rambling on about this guy's wife and how he hated her and she was causing problems for him on the plane. This was one hell of a tangent that went on for far longer than it should have before the creepy element happened that zapped everyone away. Then that same zap moment was replayed from the POV of the crazy lady with an equally long tangent of backstory, the serial killer and all of his gross idiosyncrasies and the radio station people with more of the same. It's like I was stuck in the Twilight Zone, reliving the same damn moment over and over and over again. Or is that Groundhog's Day? Probably both.
The plot just stalled out for me and when actions actually started to get repeated amongst the characters (like serial killer and the radio people busting into people's empty houses) I just put it down. The characters were unnecessarily effed in the head, I felt like a hamster in a wheel reading and, personally, I could tell that it was someone only familiar with the stereotypes of Southern accents creating the accents in the story. I was right in assuming that since the author is British. Very cliche, podunk accents that one thinks of when they think of a Southerner, not necessarily what it really is.
Plus the author had a heinous habit of name dropping like crazy. I couldn't go a chapter without multiple references to books, authors, musicians, movies, actors and whatever else you could think of. And then he referenced Kent State, and needlessly mentioned the riots that happened there seemingly just to prove that the author himself knew about them, because it was irrelevant to anything that was going on. That just hammered the nail into the forceful coffin for me. I was done. I couldn't be bothered to make my way to the end if I had to slog through endless repetition and constant pop culture references.
This one had some great potential but it was far too scattered and directionless for my tastes. It breaks my heart when horror novels turn out to be turds but I'll carry on.
tregina's review
2.0
When I'm having to force myself to the end of a book, I know something's not working for me. And this should have worked for me, it has all the ingredients of a book I'll like. Instead it read like a cut-rate Stephen King (and I like King) with the flow of its internal dialogue, and random shit and fart jokes that go on a little too long.
I spent the first two thirds of the book feeling like it was all set-up, and the last third wondering what the hell was going on as the Heroes Assembled, and there as no payoff for me at the end because it turned out to all be setup for the as-yet-unpublished second book in the series. Everything took too long, and with a couple of exceptions, I never got a solid sense of character: every time I saw a new name I had to try to figure out who the hell that was again, and the reactions to this abrupt change in reality never come across as at all realistic. It was also lacking a strong sense of place; the generic 'American' setting was peppered with moments of British idiom that kept making me question if I was even remembering the setting right.
The worst part for me was that I could tell it was something that, if done a little differently, I would like a whole lot. I'm still wanting it to be that book.
I spent the first two thirds of the book feeling like it was all set-up, and the last third wondering what the hell was going on as the Heroes Assembled, and there as no payoff for me at the end because it turned out to all be setup for the as-yet-unpublished second book in the series. Everything took too long, and with a couple of exceptions, I never got a solid sense of character: every time I saw a new name I had to try to figure out who the hell that was again, and the reactions to this abrupt change in reality never come across as at all realistic. It was also lacking a strong sense of place; the generic 'American' setting was peppered with moments of British idiom that kept making me question if I was even remembering the setting right.
The worst part for me was that I could tell it was something that, if done a little differently, I would like a whole lot. I'm still wanting it to be that book.
silverthistle5b786's review
4.0
Hoo boy! This is a good one! Haven't read anything similar in years! I'm not talking about subject matter though, I'm talking about writing style. LOVED it. I've never read anything by Peter Crowther before and if I'm honest I've never even heard of him before this book caught my attention but right from the very first page of the prologue I felt like I was meeting an old friend after a long absence.
Why? How? Because it's like this guy is channeling my coming of age book hero, Stephen 'The Man' King! It's uncanny!
They both have this 'way' of writing. It's like the books are written in a first person POV but with a third person narrative. I can't explain it, I'm positive there must be a term to describe that writing style but I just don't know what it is. There are a lot of inner monologues where someone will be describing how they're feeling or what they're thinking but they use words like 'he' or 'she' to describe themselves instead of 'I'.
Ack! I just can't put it into words...all I know is that I associate it with King and I like it.
So anyway, the book...
Darkness Falling is the first part of the Forever Twilight trilogy. I think it's considered to be Science Fiction but it's also probably easily slotted into the Horror genre. Maybe Apocalyptic fiction too. To keep with the King connection I'd compare it to having a bit of 'The Langoliers', 'The Stand', 'The Tommy Knockers'..actually, I could probably find a lot of bits from a lot of novels to compare this to. It's quite hard to pigeon hole. Invasion of the body snatchers with zombie aliens is kinda close.
It's very character driven and the whole story is told via multiple 'survivors' and while I love all that, it was a bit frustrating to get caught up in one person's story only to have the chapter end and have to remind myself of a new person's story-to-date and catch up with their portion again for the new chapter. I'll admit to enjoying the story of some characters more than others too, which made things all the more frustrating when a really good bit ended and I had to get through a character I wasn't enjoying as much to get back to the good stuff. It's all good, I just really wasn't that 'connected' to the radio station guys (and gal), which is a pity because they're sort of central.
There a LOT of name dropping scattered throughout. Pop culture, movie references, actors, etc and it's not that it bothered me exactly it just got tedious after a while. There's a section where one of the characters 'Ronnie' tells the character 'Karl' that he looks like the actor Paul Giamatti. Now, while that would have been great for me to get a visual of how Karl looks, I actually have no clue who Mr Giamatti is. Fail!
It felt like lazy writing. There's that mantra for writers that I've seen mentioned here and there, "Don't tell me, show me", but here 'showing' me involved a side-step to Google images to find out what Karl looked like. In case anyone is as un-savvy as I am, Giamatti the one who played the Ourangatang in Planet of the Apes.... I think.
Did I mention how scary it is yet? No? Well, it's scary. I had to stop reading it at night and lay it aside to finish during daylight hours. I'm not a huge devourer of the horror genre any more and don't claim to be an authority on what constitutes a successful scare but all I know is that when reading certain bits my brain was saying "No no no no no...omgomgomgomg". I think I'm probably quite wimpy as far as 'easily spooked' goes but to coin a Disney rating, it's worse than "mild peril".
I won't spoil anything by going into a deep analysis of the story line. I'll just end by saying - I LIKED IT!
Why? How? Because it's like this guy is channeling my coming of age book hero, Stephen 'The Man' King! It's uncanny!
They both have this 'way' of writing. It's like the books are written in a first person POV but with a third person narrative. I can't explain it, I'm positive there must be a term to describe that writing style but I just don't know what it is. There are a lot of inner monologues where someone will be describing how they're feeling or what they're thinking but they use words like 'he' or 'she' to describe themselves instead of 'I'.
Ack! I just can't put it into words...all I know is that I associate it with King and I like it.
So anyway, the book...
Darkness Falling is the first part of the Forever Twilight trilogy. I think it's considered to be Science Fiction but it's also probably easily slotted into the Horror genre. Maybe Apocalyptic fiction too. To keep with the King connection I'd compare it to having a bit of 'The Langoliers', 'The Stand', 'The Tommy Knockers'..actually, I could probably find a lot of bits from a lot of novels to compare this to. It's quite hard to pigeon hole. Invasion of the body snatchers with zombie aliens is kinda close.
It's very character driven and the whole story is told via multiple 'survivors' and while I love all that, it was a bit frustrating to get caught up in one person's story only to have the chapter end and have to remind myself of a new person's story-to-date and catch up with their portion again for the new chapter. I'll admit to enjoying the story of some characters more than others too, which made things all the more frustrating when a really good bit ended and I had to get through a character I wasn't enjoying as much to get back to the good stuff. It's all good, I just really wasn't that 'connected' to the radio station guys (and gal), which is a pity because they're sort of central.
There a LOT of name dropping scattered throughout. Pop culture, movie references, actors, etc and it's not that it bothered me exactly it just got tedious after a while. There's a section where one of the characters 'Ronnie' tells the character 'Karl' that he looks like the actor Paul Giamatti. Now, while that would have been great for me to get a visual of how Karl looks, I actually have no clue who Mr Giamatti is. Fail!
It felt like lazy writing. There's that mantra for writers that I've seen mentioned here and there, "Don't tell me, show me", but here 'showing' me involved a side-step to Google images to find out what Karl looked like. In case anyone is as un-savvy as I am, Giamatti the one who played the Ourangatang in Planet of the Apes.... I think.
Did I mention how scary it is yet? No? Well, it's scary. I had to stop reading it at night and lay it aside to finish during daylight hours. I'm not a huge devourer of the horror genre any more and don't claim to be an authority on what constitutes a successful scare but all I know is that when reading certain bits my brain was saying "No no no no no...omgomgomgomg". I think I'm probably quite wimpy as far as 'easily spooked' goes but to coin a Disney rating, it's worse than "mild peril".
I won't spoil anything by going into a deep analysis of the story line. I'll just end by saying - I LIKED IT!
tachyondecay's review
1.0
Darkness Falling chronicles the struggle of several survivors as they realize they probably should have paid attention to that last zombie movie. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and genre savviness is nowhere to be found.
I checked out about halfway through the first act. I love reading on my tablet, but it’s so easy to get into the rhythm of tapping to turn the page, skimming through each page as you slowly realize that no, it doesn’t get better. I hoped, in vain, that something would magically change about this book—that an actual, complex character would show up, or that we would get any kind of explanation for what was happening. Instead, it was more random running, and yelling, and conversation, and things that might zombies or aliens or zombie-aliens. And I just didn’t care.
I will hand it to Peter Crowther: he has tried not to retread any single path. At the beginning, when Ronnie’s wife and others disappear from the plane in a flash of light, I nodded and said, “Rapture. This must be a Rapture story!” Later, as the disappeared began returning and acting on autopilot, I said, “Ah-hah! This is a zombie Rapture story! Now we’re talking!” Matters just got more confusing from there, though. So, while Darkness Falling combines several well-used tropes to create an interesting new mixture of problems for its protagonists, it doesn’t quite make the combination work. Crowther is a good author who manages to create tension and suspense as his different groups awaken to the new reality of their situation and desperately struggle for survival.
A great author, however, would be able to do this while simultaneously dropping clues about the story behind the crisis. I’m not even asking for a full explanation by the end of the book—it’s OK to keep the reader in the dark, as long as one leaves enough hints that an invested reader could start making educated guesses. (Observe, for instance, the level of speculation surrounding the various mysteries in A Song of Ice and Fire. It is practically an entire academic sub-field now; soon enough universities will be able to issue degrees in Westerology.) Crowther neglects this side of the writing for the pulse-pounding, heart-thumping thriller aspects. And I can grok the need for thrilling speed, but I still need that deeper mystery.
I also need characters who mean something to me. Despite its thrilling second and third acts, Darkness Falling builds with all the speed of a sloth stuck in molasses. Crowther alternates among three or four different groups of protagonists, such as Ronnie and Angela (soon to joined by Karl) on the plane; Virgil and his victims; Rick and Geoff; and so on. As the event—whatever it is—happens, each of these groups discovers how alone they are and struggles to survive, finally meeting up towards the end of the book. Until then, however, there is a lot of duplication of information and dialogue, as various characters in each group go through the same, “Oh shit” moments of introspection. If Crowther had made his groups more diverse, included a wider variety of people from different countries, genders, and backgrounds, then this might have been more enlightening. Since most of the characters are from the same general socioeconomic background, their reactions and personalities are just so similar that it gets repetitive.
Overall, I struggled with an oppressive sense of ennui as I read Darkness Falling. I’m getting rather bored with the zombie apocalypse. I’m certainly done with reading about tough-as-nails small-town Americans banding together to survive disaster. There is just nothing, nothing at all about this book that stands out, grabs me, and urges me to keep reading. It’s either so bland and standard as to be uninteresting or so broad and uninvestigated as to be unintriguing. Why should I want to learn anything more about this darkness phenomenon if it means I have to wait until the next book? I’ll go read a book about zombies exploring space, thank you very much. (Is there such a book? Call me!)
I read several reviews that compare this book to a Stephen King novel. I can see why, and an unexpected consequence of this experience is that I now have more respect for King’s writing. I didn’t love Under the Dome; its characterization was weak and stereotypical, and the book was far too long. Regardless, King still knows how to write at a level that, at least in this book, has eluded Crowther. I didn’t necessarily like his characters or even find them that convincing, but I still remembered most of their names. And his story, even if not awesome, still made a kind of twisted sense. I can’t say as much for Darkness Falling.
Oh, and I’m not crazy about books whose titles are X Falling, where X is anything from “darkness” to “mutant bear politicians”. The only thing worse is X Rising. (I groaned when I turned the last page of this ebook and saw that the sequel was called Darkness Rising. I see now that the title is instead Windows to the Soul. Thank goodness for small favours.) I’m not sure who started this awful trend, but if I find out, I will … write a sternly worded letter of some kind.
This has been a somewhat scattered review because, to be honest, not enough of the contents of Darkness Falling have stuck with me in the less-than-24-hours since I finished reading it. This isn’t the kind of bad book where I become so furious that I begin taking notes and bookmarking quotations to use later on in an excoriating review. No, I’m afraid this is the other, less enjoyable kind of bad book that is merely bland and just not for me. Would it be for you? I’m not sure, but even if zombie-alien-Rapture-small-town-apocalypses are on your to-read list, there is probably a better example somewhere out there.
I checked out about halfway through the first act. I love reading on my tablet, but it’s so easy to get into the rhythm of tapping to turn the page, skimming through each page as you slowly realize that no, it doesn’t get better. I hoped, in vain, that something would magically change about this book—that an actual, complex character would show up, or that we would get any kind of explanation for what was happening. Instead, it was more random running, and yelling, and conversation, and things that might zombies or aliens or zombie-aliens. And I just didn’t care.
I will hand it to Peter Crowther: he has tried not to retread any single path. At the beginning, when Ronnie’s wife and others disappear from the plane in a flash of light, I nodded and said, “Rapture. This must be a Rapture story!” Later, as the disappeared began returning and acting on autopilot, I said, “Ah-hah! This is a zombie Rapture story! Now we’re talking!” Matters just got more confusing from there, though. So, while Darkness Falling combines several well-used tropes to create an interesting new mixture of problems for its protagonists, it doesn’t quite make the combination work. Crowther is a good author who manages to create tension and suspense as his different groups awaken to the new reality of their situation and desperately struggle for survival.
A great author, however, would be able to do this while simultaneously dropping clues about the story behind the crisis. I’m not even asking for a full explanation by the end of the book—it’s OK to keep the reader in the dark, as long as one leaves enough hints that an invested reader could start making educated guesses. (Observe, for instance, the level of speculation surrounding the various mysteries in A Song of Ice and Fire. It is practically an entire academic sub-field now; soon enough universities will be able to issue degrees in Westerology.) Crowther neglects this side of the writing for the pulse-pounding, heart-thumping thriller aspects. And I can grok the need for thrilling speed, but I still need that deeper mystery.
I also need characters who mean something to me. Despite its thrilling second and third acts, Darkness Falling builds with all the speed of a sloth stuck in molasses. Crowther alternates among three or four different groups of protagonists, such as Ronnie and Angela (soon to joined by Karl) on the plane; Virgil and his victims; Rick and Geoff; and so on. As the event—whatever it is—happens, each of these groups discovers how alone they are and struggles to survive, finally meeting up towards the end of the book. Until then, however, there is a lot of duplication of information and dialogue, as various characters in each group go through the same, “Oh shit” moments of introspection. If Crowther had made his groups more diverse, included a wider variety of people from different countries, genders, and backgrounds, then this might have been more enlightening. Since most of the characters are from the same general socioeconomic background, their reactions and personalities are just so similar that it gets repetitive.
Overall, I struggled with an oppressive sense of ennui as I read Darkness Falling. I’m getting rather bored with the zombie apocalypse. I’m certainly done with reading about tough-as-nails small-town Americans banding together to survive disaster. There is just nothing, nothing at all about this book that stands out, grabs me, and urges me to keep reading. It’s either so bland and standard as to be uninteresting or so broad and uninvestigated as to be unintriguing. Why should I want to learn anything more about this darkness phenomenon if it means I have to wait until the next book? I’ll go read a book about zombies exploring space, thank you very much. (Is there such a book? Call me!)
I read several reviews that compare this book to a Stephen King novel. I can see why, and an unexpected consequence of this experience is that I now have more respect for King’s writing. I didn’t love Under the Dome; its characterization was weak and stereotypical, and the book was far too long. Regardless, King still knows how to write at a level that, at least in this book, has eluded Crowther. I didn’t necessarily like his characters or even find them that convincing, but I still remembered most of their names. And his story, even if not awesome, still made a kind of twisted sense. I can’t say as much for Darkness Falling.
Oh, and I’m not crazy about books whose titles are X Falling, where X is anything from “darkness” to “mutant bear politicians”. The only thing worse is X Rising. (I groaned when I turned the last page of this ebook and saw that the sequel was called Darkness Rising. I see now that the title is instead Windows to the Soul. Thank goodness for small favours.) I’m not sure who started this awful trend, but if I find out, I will … write a sternly worded letter of some kind.
This has been a somewhat scattered review because, to be honest, not enough of the contents of Darkness Falling have stuck with me in the less-than-24-hours since I finished reading it. This isn’t the kind of bad book where I become so furious that I begin taking notes and bookmarking quotations to use later on in an excoriating review. No, I’m afraid this is the other, less enjoyable kind of bad book that is merely bland and just not for me. Would it be for you? I’m not sure, but even if zombie-alien-Rapture-small-town-apocalypses are on your to-read list, there is probably a better example somewhere out there.
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