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A review by daisyheadmaesie
Symphony by Charles L. Grant
2.0
My first thought when finishing the book: Oh thank God it's over. I nearly abandoned this one twice. Once about 100 pages in, and again at around 230. By that point I'd told myself I had simply gone too far into it to abandon. Just slam through it, I encouraged myself.
This book was a major turn off to the apocalypse genre as a whole. The concept was wonderful, the execution was horrendous. It is too slow for too long, with too many characters you don't give a damn about. At quite a few parts I kept thinking some people were others, and couldn't keep track of who said what. Then once the climax hits it lasts for 20 pages (I feel like there's a 'that's what she said' joke in there somewhere). You never know who to root for because Charles Grant doesn't ever fully explain the plot. The entire book is some weird meta version of the end of the world, where most of the story needs to be done in your own head through assumption. Usually I like that kind of stuff, where the reader is left to do their own interpretations. But this was much too vague and nothing close to enjoyable. As I sit here thinking about it, I have yet to understand who the antagonist really was and what Casey, the main character, actually did to fight them off.
I also didn't realize, when I started Symphony, that it was the first of four books-- I don't know why I thought all four horsemen would be in one tiny book but I did. Of all the horses, Death should've been the most exciting. Extremely disappointed that I won't get to hear about Famine-- Jeepers I can't imagine how excrutiating that story must be. Sorry Grant, but I won't be picking up any of your other books anytime soon.
This book was a major turn off to the apocalypse genre as a whole. The concept was wonderful, the execution was horrendous. It is too slow for too long, with too many characters you don't give a damn about. At quite a few parts I kept thinking some people were others, and couldn't keep track of who said what. Then once the climax hits it lasts for 20 pages (I feel like there's a 'that's what she said' joke in there somewhere). You never know who to root for because Charles Grant doesn't ever fully explain the plot. The entire book is some weird meta version of the end of the world, where most of the story needs to be done in your own head through assumption. Usually I like that kind of stuff, where the reader is left to do their own interpretations. But this was much too vague and nothing close to enjoyable. As I sit here thinking about it, I have yet to understand who the antagonist really was and what Casey, the main character, actually did to fight them off.
I also didn't realize, when I started Symphony, that it was the first of four books-- I don't know why I thought all four horsemen would be in one tiny book but I did. Of all the horses, Death should've been the most exciting. Extremely disappointed that I won't get to hear about Famine-- Jeepers I can't imagine how excrutiating that story must be. Sorry Grant, but I won't be picking up any of your other books anytime soon.