Reviews: A Mixed Bag

First up is Pop Apocalypse: A Possible Satire, by Lee Konstantinou.

I was originally drawn in by the cover. There is a very obvious pop-art feel to the color scheme and the layout. The red cow reminded me of another novel I had recently read a review for, Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan. A very different book, though. Because that one is about zombie cows. Yes. I know. But I haven't read that one yet, so we'll talk about the one I have read. I really enjoyed this book more than I originally expected. It has a lot of elements that I enjoy, consisting of undertones of what has probably been called cyberpunk (even when it's not).

This story has a timely feel, even though it is set in a near-future where individuals can trade their "reputations" like a public commodity. The world of this novel is populated by the haves and the defintiely-never-haves, filled with conspiracies and questionable agendas, brimming with a certain kind of pseudo-(and actual)techno-jargon and it features a very flawed protagonist who happens to find himself caught up in a very unexpected set of circumstances.

To be honest, the first half of the book moved a little slow, I thought. It picked up considerably after a certain plot is revealed. Everything about this novel dovetailed into the style and content of a lot of writers that I have been enjoyed quite a lot lately - I found smatterings of John Scalzi and Cory Doctorow in the weaving of wry humor and pop culture into the mix, Max Barry's Jennifer Government (which I LOVE) shares similar themes and some general plot elements, there was a touch of Lauren Beukes' Moxyland, and definitely I could see the influence of William Gibson throughout. I would consider this speculative fiction if some of the things happening weren't a little too close to reality. This was Konstantinou's first novel, so I'm curious to see where he goes from here. I believe I gave this one at least three stars.

The second book is Every Demon Has His Day by Cara Lockwood.

 

I'm going to just go ahead and quote the Goodreads review I did after I finished this one.

"This book was fine as a light read, which is exactly what it is intended to be. If you like fluffy pop-romance with a bit of silly paranormal element, then you will enjoy it. I was just hoping for more of a Christopher Moore or A. Lee Martinez type of style than what was delivered. Although I think Cara Lockwood may have been trying for that level of irreverence and wit, I'm not sure she entirely hit the mark here.

My biggest issue with the book was probably more of a proofing or editing problem. On page 31 is the following sentence: "The one thing she'd vowed to do was to never let a Garrett see her cry, and now here she was balling like a baby in front of the one man she hated more than any other in the world."

I don't know why "balling like a baby" wasn't caught and corrected before this went to print. The word for crying that should be used in that phrase is "bawling." Most small errors don't bother me, but that particular mistake annoyed me when I read it and continued to nag at me through the rest of the book to the point of actually preventing me from enjoying some elements of Lockwood's writing."

So. Meh. Not my usual read, and I guess there's a reason for that. This one garnered two stars form me.