Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Carrion Comfort
Book Review: Brilliant and inventive horror epic!
Summary: 5 Stars
Dan Simmons is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to writing fiction. He is also, I'm happy to report, a genuine master of each. From the mind-blowing SF of his 'Hyperion Cantos' to the small-town nostalgia (and horror) of 'Summer of Night; from the chaos theory mathematics of 'The Hollow Man' to the 'psycho-analysis' of a retired astronaut in 'Phases of Gravity'; from a original modern twist on the vampire myth in 'Children of the Night' to the taut historical thriller of 'The Crook Factory', Dan Simmons has it all.'Carrion Comfort' is no exception to his genre-breaking nature. Simmons single-handedly redefines the epic horror novel, so long the sole territory of authors such as Stephen King and Dean Koontz.
This is a very gripping tale, and very surpising. Just when you think you have everything sorted in your mind Simmons pulls the rug from under you and sends you well and truly spinning. It is a high recommendation indeed when you can say of a novel that spans nearly to 1,000 pages that you wished it were longer. (Simmons' own 'Hyperion Cantos' sequence of SF novels exceeds 2,400 pages over 4 volumes and the same wish is also true of that tale.)
This is a true horror classic in every sense of the word. I just wish that Dan Simmons got the recognition that he so rightly deserves in terms of worldwide sales.
Book Review: A truly haunting story
Summary: 5 Stars
Dan Simmons is famous for his much-heralded SF epic "Hyperion Cantos" (winner of the 1990 Hugo Award for SF), but he has written many other books, horror as well as SF."Carrion Comfort" is one of his earlier horror books. It is a chilling story about a group of vampire-like, mutated humans, who do not feed on blood, but on other people's minds. Their so-called Ability enables them to enter a person's mind, take over control and force the victim to do whatever they want him to. Their favourite game is putting their victims up to killing other people.
Dr. Saul Laski, a Jewish psychiatrist, accidentally meets one of these 'mind rapists' during World War II in a concentration camp in Poland. He manages to escape and decides to spend the rest of his life searching for this horrible character. A series of killings in the town of Charleston in 1980 finally puts Laski on to the right track. In collaboration with Natalie Preston, a girl whose father has been murdered by one of these creatures, he follows the bloody trail left by the mind vampires.
This is not just another vampire story. It is an original and disturbing tale about a small group of apparently ordinary people, whose insatiable appetite for violence and their ability to control other people's minds transforms them into monsters. The vivid descriptions of the principal characters and of the 'mind rapes' experienced by the vampires' victims, really send shivers down your spine. In spite of the generally dark and gloomy atmosphere of the book, Simmons occasionally manages to squeeze in some rather funny passages too.
If you're into horror stories and you'd like to read a really good one, try "Carrion Comfort". I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
Book Review: Great Read !
Summary: 4 Stars
This is one of the best sci-fi/horror books i have read in some time. The language might not be quite as rich as , say ,Stephen King(But then again ,who is ?! )but the characters are very believable & given the huge premise of the story-line , and the long time-span of events involved , (approx 50 years ) , he has done remarkably well. I'm not even a huge horror fan , and when a friend lent me the book , i must admit to being a little intimidated by the size of it , but once i'd made a start i was immediately hooked.If you struggle to put a good book down , then only tackle this book whilst on Holiday ! Haven't read any more Dan Simmons books yet , just looking through Amazon's reviews now to pick one.Book Review: Unlikely hero meets tormentor from the past
Summary: 5 Stars
Simmons conjures up a race within-the-race of humans, with tremendous mental powers, who can make any other soul obey their smallest wish. The power keeps them strong and young, far stronger and far younger than they ought to be.They use their powers differently, a Television preacher to enhance his wealth, a slimy producer to get more sex, but the strongest of them all is of course the most frightening..
An old Gestapo devil, with many lives on his hands, still resides on his private island and has a great future planned for the human race, as he plans to make the world's leaders start the Final War against each other.
Only a few stand against him, one old woman of considerable powers herself(yet not nearly strong enough for the combined evil forces..)A young black woman and an overweight white southern state sheriff make an unusual couple in their hometown and joins the fight,together with an old jewish ex-death camp prisoner.
How does one protect oneself against an enemy who reads your thoughts and may command your will? An enemy that can find you wherever you hide?
The book is a page-turner, in spite of its colossal format(some 900 pages) and I strongly recommend it to anyone who loves horror books or modern fantasy.
Mr Simmons is a writer of great proportion, although far too unknown an translated in my country.
Book Review: Disappointing and over long
Summary: 2 Stars
Take "Scanners" mix in the "The most dangerous game" and drag the whole sorry thing out to over 1000 pages. This is the sort of thing that Stephen King does so well and that you just take for granted. It's only when someone tries and gets it wrong that you see just how well crafted and hard worked Kings writings are.
After the brisk opening the books pacing sags hugely in the middle when the author decides to throw a street gang into the plot. I did have one of those oh-god-we-have-a-middle-aged-white-man-trying-to-do-gang-speak panics but really that's the least of the books problems at this point. It never really regains the momentum it loses here despite a bewildering chase scene (which contains the gem of an exchange
"Why dont they just shoot us?" -- "because they're playing with us" )
Saul Laski is an admittedly interesting protagonist but the others (Gentry and Natalie) less so and your attention wanders when the seemingly indestructible concentration camp survivor is "off stage". Interestingly Tony Harod, one of the Scanners - sorry "vampires", seems to bear a striking similarity to fellow author Harlan Ellison.
Annoyingly The narrative flips between third person and first person to no real effect. I 'm sure it seemed a good idea at the time but there is a reason writers don't do it very often. The finale when it arrives is set on a giant Chess board with various characters as pieces. It doesn't work and means that Simmons has to resort to printing diagrams to show where people are standing because, you know, Ng1-f3! just doesn't get the heart racing unless your Gary Kasparov.
Avoid.