A review by kittykaz
Phantom : Unheil über Der Stadt by Dean Koontz

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

- the characters were so human, it was really nice. Not only did their reactions to all the shit that was happening believable and relatable, they actually took the time to question their own morality, which is something i personally never saw before in a horror book. Huge plus point!
- i absolutely, 100% blame Stephen King for this one, but the fact that Lisa (and any other character, for that matter) wasn't sexualized was such a pleasant surprise :) The way those inappropriate comments were depicted and handled in here was super nice. (Though i do wonder why a teenager had to be involved in the first place but that may just be a me problem)
- the mystery of what exactly is responsible for all this was wonderfully set up and carried throughout the entire book, even after we started learning about its nature.
- Going off the last point: I loved reading about the scientific theories they discussed. And i really appreciate how thorough they were with them. They really left no stone unturned!
- at first i thought the whole Kale thing was a little unnecessary but it actually ended up adding a very cool aspect. The question whether it really is as powerful as it seems to be added so much more suspense.
- Flytes theory that it only gained its consciousness from the humans it consumed was also sUPER interesting, since it sort of implies that they really did fight the incarnation of humanities own darkness and evil. Very thought-provoking!
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