A review by mojoshivers
Memory's Legion by James S.A. Corey
3.0
I've decided I'm not a short story reader. There are too many things that can go wrong to make me dislike a short story, too many possible weak links in the chain. Whereas with a novel, especially those in a series, I can coast on the good will that beloved characters can engender--when you have random characters in almost novellas in a series that I really only read for the core four characters, it can lead to a situation where I may become bored to tears.
Granted, it wasn't every story. In fact, I think there were only two stories that I just couldn't push myself to be interested in. But when those stories are about sixty pages each, I had a hard time finishing.
With normal novels, I give myself fifty pages to get engaged into the story before abandoning ship. With this collection I always had the hope the next story would be better, which in most cases it was. But had this been a normal novel and one of those sixty page stories had been four chapters in an otherwise engaging novel, I may have jumped off. I was that disinterested in the words before my eyes.
I think I've learned my lesson. If I'm to read a short story collection again, I need to know that there's not a rotten apple in the bunch. Expanse or no expanse--I just can't handle dull and uninspired storytelling at any level.
Granted, it wasn't every story. In fact, I think there were only two stories that I just couldn't push myself to be interested in. But when those stories are about sixty pages each, I had a hard time finishing.
With normal novels, I give myself fifty pages to get engaged into the story before abandoning ship. With this collection I always had the hope the next story would be better, which in most cases it was. But had this been a normal novel and one of those sixty page stories had been four chapters in an otherwise engaging novel, I may have jumped off. I was that disinterested in the words before my eyes.
I think I've learned my lesson. If I'm to read a short story collection again, I need to know that there's not a rotten apple in the bunch. Expanse or no expanse--I just can't handle dull and uninspired storytelling at any level.