Paul R Wrote:It's an FPW book, so that pretty much means I'm gonna like it. But I do definitely have hang-ups.
First and foremost, as far as I could tell there were no mentions of either the phrase 'cheek by jowl' or the all-time-favourite word, 'maw'.
That was not good! Get your act together - some things should always remain a constant!
On a more serious note, most of the comments on this thread I agree with.
Specifically:
Tom was a despicable character (Junior, not Senior, obviously) throughout the book and so his sudden change of heart right at the end just didn't sit well with me.
And nor did the 'let's confuse the lilitongue' routine. It had survived for hundreds of years, it could hover and float and unleash the mark of death, but it couldn't tell Tom and Jack apart? Hmmmmm.
I don't want to go down the route of saying how it should have been done - hell, if I could do that, you'd all be worshiping at my alter, not FPW's. But usually when I finish an FPW book, I'm not left thinking to myself, "Well, he should have done that, or this, or the other." One of the things that makes FPW stand out as a writer (to me) is that at the end of one of his books there simply aren't ways it could have been done better. Sure, there are always different ways to do things, but that's the 'I wish' factor: I wish he'd done that differently, not he should have done it differently.
But I did still enjoy it. Hell, there was even a 'moist eye' moment (well, more than a few, actually!) when Jack was telling Vicky that he had to go away. That was done brilliantly.
And another good thing: maybe I was just reading too fast, but has FPW gone and got himself a new proof reader? Usually his books are littered with typos but I don't think I saw a single one!
Mike Hanson Wrote:Another excellent RJ novel. I just finished it this past weekend.
Also, great reviews in this series of posts. It was fun to compare
my own thoughts with everyone else.
**Spoiler Supposition**
A lot of "what-ifs" here...but, if the Lilitongue really is going
to take Tom to The Otherness, and Tom both looks a hell
of a lot like Jack, and has that close genetic link to him,
added to the fact that The Otherness (and many of its
denizens) are very aware of Jack's responsibility in killing
off the Rakoshi (so much so that they tried to pull Jack
through a portal to the other side in CONSPIRACIES), one
might think that all of these denizens of The Otherness
might mistake Tom for Jack and exact their retribution
which could either be a horrible long drawn out death,
or worse (converting/transforming Tom to a puppet of
the otherness...a sort of...anti-jack)?
What do you think?
Mike
Mike Hanson Wrote:Another excellent RJ novel. I just finished it this past weekend.
Also, great reviews in this series of posts. It was fun to compare
my own thoughts with everyone else.
**Spoiler Supposition**
A lot of "what-ifs" here...but, if the Lilitongue really is going
to take Tom to The Otherness, and Tom both looks a hell
of a lot like Jack, and has that close genetic link to him,
added to the fact that The Otherness (and many of its
denizens) are very aware of Jack's responsibility in killing
off the Rakoshi (so much so that they tried to pull Jack
through a portal to the other side in CONSPIRACIES), one
might think that all of these denizens of The Otherness
might mistake Tom for Jack and exact their retribution
which could either be a horrible long drawn out death,
or worse (converting/transforming Tom to a puppet of
the otherness...a sort of...anti-jack)?
What do you think?
Mike
t4terrific Wrote:The best part of the book, for me, was when Jack found out he could take the stain from Gia. He put his hands in the goo and toched her back instantly, without even a thought of it. If he could "fix-it" later he would, but all he knew was he'd rather be the one in jeopardy than her. That was "cool".
KRW Wrote:And Gia knew it could only be transferred one more time and didn't tell Jack.
Bad planning on her part. She didn't say anything so Jack could fix it with the one more try. I'm pretty sure she knew what Jack would do when he found out she had the stain, she should have warned him sooner than she did. Oh well, it worked out.
XiaoYu Wrote:I had the strangest urge, when Tom and Jack were trying to move the levitating Lilitongue, to want one of them hold on to it with both hands and dangle from it. For whatever reason, if I ever came across an immovable floating object, that's something I'd want to do. No clue why :confused:
...
t4terrific Wrote:I'd like to climb on top of it "King of the Mountain" style.