Review: Icarus, Stand Up for Once in Your Life ...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 28, 2013
There are enough book report-ish reviews here to describe the plot, characters and setting for me not to go into all of that. What I will go into is why I gave this novel three stars. For me, three stars means the book was ok. If I could go back in time, I wouldn't stop myself from reading it. If someone asks if they should read "All Who Wander are Lost," I'll say "Yes, but only if you've read the first novel. Just don't expect it to live up to 'On Unfaithful Wings.'"This being the second book, I was looking forward to seeing Ric (Icarus) begin to come into his own at his new "job." No, that is not at all what we get here. But, hey, I'm not the author, and given how well Bruce Blake managed the first novel in the series, I was game to see what happpens when Ric tries to go back and undo his mistakes.The short answer is - He screws up again. And again. And again. I don't think I'm giving away the plot here because if you have read the first novel, then you know Ric was not a winner in life. After dying and being brought back as a harvester of souls, he continued to screw up by acting like a child.To his credit, Blake stuck with a fundamental truth of humanity: We are what we are. Ric was a whiny guy in life. He's still a whiny guy after death. Forget the heavenly mission, surrounding angels and demons and carrion (people with the same job as himself, just working for the other team), Ric can't do anything without at least one wise-crack (which he's pretty good at) and several pages of whining (which is tiresome). He's the "why me" guy everyone knows.I'd hoped for a little character progression, though. I don't know if this entire novel was a setup for progression or just the next logical step for Ric in Blake's eyes. Either way, the amount of time spent in Hell becomes tiresome. It's an assembly line job of a plot: Go to Hell, be lost, stumble into right place, leave Hell ... Go to Hell, be lost, stumble ... etc., etc.I still like Ric. I like Blake's writing style. I like the supporting cast, who are all fully developed (as is Ric), and I like the consistent flow of the narrative. What I don't like is Ric's character and the way the story is developing.I enjoy the series enough that I'll buy the third book, no doubt, and hope for the best. But if the story continues in the same vein, I'll likely give up and walk away.