Swan Song

This book is too long by a third at least maybe even by a half. So much extra was put in just because the author enjoyed writing scenes that really didn't need to be there. There's pretty sketchy character development and the plot is only okay. It feels pretty hackneyed at this point. Plus, in the last couple hundred pages of the book, some of the language suddenly becomes pretty offensive for this day and age. Some very unfortunate use of accented English is used and there are definitely some words that would not pass muster today. Even if this may have been one of the first of the genre That doesn't necessarily mean it's still any good. For over 900 pages. I'd say skip it

How do you review such a massive book with a wide breadth of themes and plot elements? I know, how about a quick, tidy, tried-and-true Alphabet review? Because, let's be honest, nobody wants to read a fifteen-page review of my rambling thoughts. This format has a clear beginning and end.

So, hold your magical glass crystals close and your tarot cards even closer, because here we go!

Quick synopsis: America is in dire straits after a nuclear war. A vicious creature named the Man with the Scarlet Eye is after Swan, a special child who might just hold the key to saving the world.

A is for Atmosphere – Oh! A great one to kick it off with. This book has it in spades! Prepare yourself for obliterated cityscapes, abandoned grocery stores, old, rickety gas stations, magical farms, mountainsides, and so much more!

B is for Beauty – The transformation of Swan is just perfection. It is a story about destiny that is filled with an incredible number of twists and turns. One of the most interesting character arcs.

C is for Creativity – It is refreshing to go into a book thinking it is going to be straight horror, but find out it tackles quite a few other emotional issues such as loss, hope, freedom, comradery, resourcefulness, etc.

D is for Disfigurement – Outward-facing appearances play a large role in this story. If you do not look a certain way, you are an outcast, and some military factions will take action against you. The way in which this idea is presented and where it ends up is ultimately fascinating and unique. Curveballs abound!

This monster of a book took me a while to finish because of how disturbing it is. Body horror is perhaps one of the things that can actually disturb me. Swan Song is a double-edged sword in that it's the only book that has been compared to Stephen King's “The Stand,” and written around that same time as it. That book is one of my favorites and it's considered King's magnum opus.

This story is excellent in its characters and their hardships, but there is a massive shift in its pivitol moment that falls a little short with little explanation. The book itself is worth reading, but the book itself is near 1k pages, which can be difficult to swallow.

3.5 stars. Not much that can be said that hasn't already. Could have trimmed down the length, whereas I wanted even more pages from The Stand

Phew. Every year I try read the longest book on my TBR. And I have conquered it this year! That was epic. Very similar to The Stand. At times gruesome and horrific, at times touching and hopeful.

Field by Field!

10/10 fantastic

This book is always compared to The Stand, and it's almost impossible to not compare the two. There are many parallels. But thankfully, there are plenty of differences. I think this book is perhaps better written than The Stand, and the Stand has more noticeable flaws (honestly, Swan Song is incredibly smooth and polished, it feels like an author more at the top of their game than King was when he wrote The Stand). However, The Stand had better characters and relationships, and better dialogue, and emotional moments. I also just loved part 1 and part 2 better than the parts 1 and 2 of Swan Song.

Where Swan Song shines, though, is not ever being dull or descending into “The Kid” type nonsense, leaning more into the horror and fantastical elements that make this book so memorable, pulse pounding, horrifying, and electrifying, and having a much better third act. The third act of Swan Song is great.

Divorced from The Stand, though, what you have is an absolutely exceptional novel that had me gripped from page 1 and never let go. I'm so annoyed I've been recommended this book for 15 years and have never picked it up. McCammon is such a great author and I look forward to reading more of his stuff. The only nitpick I have is that part of the final chapter really didn't work for me, but most of the climax and the very end did.

Ugh. I really really wanted to like this book, but it was a SLOG to get through. After being catapulted through a fantastic first third-ish, I tried to ride that momentum to the end, but it petered out hard.

Three things ruined this book for me more than anything else.

First off, the writing style/length. Holy shit this dude is verbose in the most useless way possible. It was padded out like a bad highschool essay. At least a third of this novel should have been left on the cutting room floor.

If you're going to describe literally every place and room and character down to the shoes on their feet and the texture of the floor, at least do some fucking environmental storytelling with it.

You don't need to tell me about every single character's red/brown/black coat/jacket/sweater with holes/dirt/tears. Tell me what they do differently. How they're surviving. Tell me about the orphan trying to hide two golden rings on a chain under his shirt. Tell me about the old man with prison tattoo style tally marks on his face. Tell me about anything that could be remotely interesting about these people that I can care about.

Same with the corpses that are literally everywhere and used as lazy grimdark set dressing. Just telling me there're bodies everywhere gets repetitive and boring real fast. Give me something interesting to grab onto. Show me a family in a bedroom and empty pill bottles. Show me cars at the bottom of ravines. Show me remains that tell me something about these people in their final moments, protection/betrayal/love/fear/regret/ANYTHING. Instead it's just spooky skeletons everywhere, no humans anywhere.

Also UGH sometime after around the halfway point, the prose slips into this weird hokey colloquial corny ass country voice for the rest of the book?

Secondly, and this one is kinda nitpicky, but there's a shitload of fridge logic in this book. Fridge logic works in a two hour movie because I don't really have time to do the math on how much food you'd need to find to feed an army of thousands for seven years in a post apocalyptic scavenger society. But in a thousand page book?? I'm constantly taken out of it by the absolute nonsensical shit that is just glossed over. No one's refining gas, but they have barrels and barrels of usable gasoline after seven years? It's raining and muddy all the time but somehow people are still finding cardboard boxes to sleep in?

Even worse, we're introduced to a group of orphans after the seven year time skip, who have been living alone for the most part the entire time. They're all 10-17ish, so they were 3-10ish when the bombs dropped. They all speak better English, and besides the fact that they're kinda dirty, are way smarter and more civilized than I was at that age. You'd expect some kind of unique culture to emerge right? Some unique traditions or slang or behaviors/fears/traumas? Nah. McCammon is more interested in telling you that the cave walls are slightly damp and shiny and that the room is warm and smells like stale gunpowder and farts.

Finally, I REALLY wish someone would have told me that this novel is basically Christian prosperity doctrine fanfiction. The core philosophy of this book is repulsive and implies some shitty beliefs.

The Good characters are all born Good. Goodness is an intrinsic quality and Good characters are surrounded by Good people, they do Good things and Good things happen to them. They don't have to make any difficult decisions because the Right path is always clear. There's always a heroic option for them to take and they take it without any second thoughts because they were divinely chosen and have magic powers and this is their destiny and they are Good and Righteous and blah blah blah

The Evil characters are all intrinsically Evil, etc etc etc.

No fucking nuance, no depth, no challenge, no growth. People are what they were born to be and nothing else.

It's a survivalist wasteland, but only the evil characters have to make any difficult choices. Why do they have to compromise their morals to survive? Because they were born evil and deserve to be punished, obviously.

I have more to say, but this is getting way too long and I think I might be ranting at this point.

First third of this book, up to the bombs dropping? 5/5. Everything up to the timeskip? ~3.5/5. Everything after? 1/5 at best.

Not bad, just not my cup of tea....

This was an amazing book that definitely took you for a ride, however it was a difficult read. The visuals are very graphic and the raw intensity of emotions were hard to stomach. It was definitely uncomfortable, and in reality it was supposed to be. This is a book about human nature placed in horrific circumstances. You see the best and the worst in the characters and often find yourself wondering if you had everything stripped from you, what choices would you make? Give it a read!

You can see right from the outset that Robert is inspired a bit by Stephen King. The comparisons to Stand are there for all to see. He has the gift of storytelling with faith being a big part of the theme. Just felt that he did not do enough justice to building up of the Good vs Evil plot. Overall recommended read for SK fans and Post apocalyptic curry.

This book was a good reminder that I don't like this genre of books or the writing style. I'll leave it at that.