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leeroyjenkins's reviews
190 reviews
Ice by Anna Kavan
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book bounces between hallucinations and reality to keep the reader unsure. But the gimmick is overdone, leaving the end product a mess, seemingly intentionally difficult to follow. This, coupled with overly symbolic, flowery descriptions of literally everything in the story, make it almost unpleasant to read. At one point I was astonished to learn the protagonist had won the gratitude of a local warlord for his part in what had seemed at the time to be a drug induced phantasm. It's as if the author wanted to show off and impress us with how clever she was. I found this annoying. An author can impress me by writing a good story.
And that's where Ice falls flat. The author has an interesting end of civilization scenario but doesn't engage in anything but rudimentary world building. She has a tight command of the language yet relies heavily on deus ex machina to move the story along. There were many times when "somehow" the protagonist "managed to" get out of an unfavorable situation. The girl seems nothing more than a plot device. She's the white whale but we have no inkling of the roots of the main characters obsession over her, other than her unusual appearance. But they both will pursue her to the end of the Earth because, reasons, I guess. I'm not asking for all the reader's questions to be answered. I just want people behave like real people, even if the protagonist may or may not be the same person, except they probably aren't, but they might be, maybe. It all seems almost lazy in its execution, a "what do you, the viewers at home, think" delivery.
Overall I found Ice interesting on the surface but not particularly enjoyable. The clunkiness of the storytelling seemed to serve no purpose other than to be difficult for the sake of it. And the author seemed desperate to use her obviously wide vocabulary to dazzle the reader rather than to tell a good story.
And that's where Ice falls flat. The author has an interesting end of civilization scenario but doesn't engage in anything but rudimentary world building. She has a tight command of the language yet relies heavily on deus ex machina to move the story along. There were many times when "somehow" the protagonist "managed to" get out of an unfavorable situation. The girl seems nothing more than a plot device. She's the white whale but we have no inkling of the roots of the main characters obsession over her, other than her unusual appearance. But they both will pursue her to the end of the Earth because, reasons, I guess. I'm not asking for all the reader's questions to be answered. I just want people behave like real people, even if the protagonist may or may not be the same person, except they probably aren't, but they might be, maybe. It all seems almost lazy in its execution, a "what do you, the viewers at home, think" delivery.
Overall I found Ice interesting on the surface but not particularly enjoyable. The clunkiness of the storytelling seemed to serve no purpose other than to be difficult for the sake of it. And the author seemed desperate to use her obviously wide vocabulary to dazzle the reader rather than to tell a good story.
The Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
3.5
It was... OK... Clarke got better later in his career. This was definitely a product of the time in which it was written. It wasn't bad but it was not up to Clarke's standard. The mystery was not great. The characters were a bit two dimensional. It was enjoyable enough but I'm not sure it deserves classic status. Were it written by someone without a "name" it would not receive the praise it has.