Review: A story in fast forward full of pop-culture
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 06 7, 2013
I was given a copy of this book to read an write an honest review.I guess with time and many books read one comes to appreciate a really good book. A story that can transport the mind to a new place and introduce the reader to new people. I also guess that over time my taste in fiction has become rather picky. If Dead Highways were one of the first stories I picked up when I was young then yes, I would have loved it. There are some good moments and I even laughed at the authors use of humor. However it could hardly pique my interest. This is not to say the author did a bad job; merely that this level of writing is somewhat elementary. (I like complex stories.)For starters the story is was to fast. Fast paced action is good but not on every page. I feel time needed to slow down or the reader is going to get burned out. This leads to another flaw. Lack of depth. This is with character, plot, setting or detail. There is good action and cool infected but I could not appriciate them because everything went by in a blur. The author describes scenes in a few sentences often with a pop-culture reference. When it reads "the scene reminds me of War of the Worlds" I immediately think of well, War of the Worlds, not Dead Highway.And this leads to another flaw. Pop-culture is way over used. Having the main character compare himself to Rick Grimes (Walking Dead hero) is unoriginal and a bit distasteful. This is a draw-back of writing a zombie (or zombie-esque) story where the characters already know what a zombie is. It seems the author wanted so bad to be the creator of The Walking Dead (or a character in the story) that he referenced it twelve times. Start fresh with your story and introduce it into a 'Walking Dead' free world. Numerous other pop-culture references filled the story and really threw me off so if this bothers you as well, stay away.*I think I'll mention that if you have not started The Walking Dead series/books and plan to then don't read Dead Highways as he gives away the ending of season two. Or hurry and finish so there is no shock and disappointment.*It might seem that I hated this book or that it's horrible; it isn't. The dialog is good. It's hard enough writing how people talk on a day-to-day basis. The quick witty converstaions and short sentences between the characters fit. It's also no easy task to start with an idea and see it through until finish. The author deserves credit for the completion. However a few more months of thought and more pages of brainstorming could have helped this story become something more.