Return to Barrow (30 Days of Night, Book 3) by Steve Niles, Ben Templesmith Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.81 You Save: $15.18 (76%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.80 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Return to Barrow (30 Days of Night, Book 3)
Book Review: let down
Summary: 2 Stars
this book was a let bown because it was no where near as good as 30 days of night. nothing new happens.. is way to similar the the first one.. Book Review: Disappointing and Unsatisfactory.
Summary: 3 Stars
I've read both the original 30 Days of Night and the first sequel Dark Days, which were both very enjoyable and entertaining. However, this sequel felt completely unnecessary. The original story was done and done, and this one added nothing at all. It's basically a repeat of the first book, with no new ideas whatsoever.
I tend to think that Steve Niles' writing is serviceable at best, but this time it just didn't have anything memorable at all. Dark Days, the first sequel, actually had very memorable characters, but Return to Barrow was very blah. So yeah, going in, I didn't think the story would be great, but I really did love the art from the first two novels - this time though, it really felt like Ben Templesmith just phoned it in. Or maybe I've just grown used to Templesmith's unique style and so it isn't so original anymore. Really, it felt like both creators phoned in this unnecessary sequel. Overall, I would say skip this one.
Book Review: A very good addition to the 30 Days of Night Saga
Summary: 4 Stars
Steve Niles' 30 Days of Nights and its follow-up Dark Days were two vampire stories that really hooked me in and wouldn't let go. Niles' finally created a vampire tale that eschewed the Anita Blake and Anne Rice oversexually-obsessed, brooding, and nonscary vampires that became so popular for some reason. Sure Niles' vampires were still well, and sharply dressed but that's were the similarities end. His vampires in both stories were vicious, bloodthirsty, sadistic and most of evil. There wasn't anything to like about these vampires and Niles' made sure that our sympathies were with the living.
In 30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow, Steve Niles brings back the series to the site of the first story and that's the Alaskan town of Barrow. A place still recovering from the events that transpired with the first story-arc. Those survivors who stayed and those who were away during the slaughter return to pick up the pieces of the town's shattered lives. But a group of vampires looking to avenge the deaths of the first group and continue their idea of using Barrow as ahunting ground have other ideas. T
There's really not much new that Niles' adds to what he's already told in the first story. The human inhabitants of Barrow must once again try to survive a vampiric onslaught by themselves with no governmental help. But this time around they know whats coming and have devised countermeasures that they hope would be enough to help them last the month-long night. This wouldn't be a horror comic if everything went as planned. They don't and things get bloody and horrific. The story continues on bloody page to bloody page until the conclusion where a twist on the forest guardian plot technique comes out of the shadows. This ending and those who make their surprising apperance gives Return to Barrow abit more of an optimistic resolution than the previous two books. Usually I would've complained that it was just so Deus Ex Machina, but it made sense and showed that not all vampires must succumbed to their killing nature.
30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow continues the fine story Niles' first started many years ago with 30 Days of Night and Dark Days. Though there wasn't much new things added in terms of ideas, the twist in the end made everything come together to give Return to Barrow its own identity from the other two. Fans of the first two books will not be disappointed.
Book Review: Excellent cap to the trilogy
Summary: 4 Stars
Some series are identified from the first as "a trilogy in the making". Others start as nominal 1-offs, then spawn a sequel, and then become series only through aggregation.
The second model is arguably harder to pull off, because either (1) the author hasn't planned ahead to inject future plot threads into early stories, or (2) the author does undertake such planning, but has to disguise those incomplete arcs so that early volumes can stand on their own.
I don't know whether Niles envisioned Barrow as a trilogy from the first issue of 30 Days, but my temptation is to doubt it. Rather, I think he was as surprised by the success of 30 Days as everyone else, and had to invent the second and third volumes within the boundaries of the story already established.
That's what makes 30 Days and its sequels so enjoyable. When the first volume came out, it functioned perfectly well as a self-contained story. Then when Dark Days followed after, the series became a neatly balanced two-fer, with the plot and dialog complexities of the latter balancing nicely against the voiceless horror of the original.
And now Return to Barrow re-defines both previous volumes, by making each seem to flow with perfect precision into this final showdown. Threads we had thought fully closed were in fact only temporarily tied; the elaborate final knot had not yet been revealed. Characters we assumed complete still had one last transformation in store.
Like the undead so beautifully rendered, Niles reminds us that no story ever fully dies while it still has its head.
Book Review: Rife with inaccuracies
Summary: 2 Stars
Before I start trashing this, I have to admit that I didn't even read it all the way through--all I did was skim it--and even then I noticed numerous inaccuracies.
I lived in Barrow for five years. I know what it's like, and I wonder if Mr. Niles did any research at all. Heck, did he even visit Alaska, period? Actually, he could have found much of his information on a tourist site for Barrow, but it would seem he didn't really care enough.
First off: the plot of vampires invading Barrow is, okay, mildly intriguing. Bizarre, of course, but interesting. However, Mr. Niles obviously has the idea that Barrow is an ideal place for vampires because it is shrouded in complete darkness for a month. Wrong on two counts. First, it's closer to two months--November 22nd to January 29th, I believe, though I may be off by a couple days. Secondly, it just isn't pitch black that entire time. Sure, the sun never rises above the horizon, but you know how light it gets right before sunrise and right after sunset. It's like that much of the time, and the rest it's your garden-variety nighttime sort of darkness. There's nothing spooky about it. Third, nobody in Barrow really *cares* about losing the sun for two months. It's just not a big deal. You turn on your car headlights and deal with it.
Next big inaccuracy: population. Currently, Barrow's population stands at about 4500. Yes, that is the year-round population; there is a decent tourist industry, but it's not so huge as to drop the winter population down to four-hundred-some people. That's just ridiculous. Also, the population is about 50% native, 50% other (white, Samoan, Filipino, Hawaiian, Korean...yes, *really*). I saw no non-whites in this book. Actually, most of the people I saw looked like trappers from a way long time ago, which was quite strange, because in my five years living there I really don't remember anyone who looked like that. (What would you trap, anyway? Sure, some people still hunt caribou, and seal, and whale...but there's a modern grocery store, too, and it's fairly simple to order bulk food by mail from Sam's Club.)
As for other smaller inaccuracies, I noticed a mailbox in one picture. There are no mailboxes in Barrow: everyone, which means everyone, gets their mail at the post office. In fact it's rather a local hangout--in the old post office, people would sit on the benches and just talk. There's no mobile police station, either (I can't say the existing police station is terribly new or nice, but it's definitely a solid building)...and no sheriff, and therefore no need for the main character to become a sheriff. In fact, there are no sheriffs in Alaska, period.
Oh, and that little bit about them missing the last airplane and no airplanes leaving until after winter? Come on. Barrow has a small but modern airport that accomodates two to three 737 combi jets every day. Yes, even in the winter. (How else would the mail or food come in, anyway?) Another major mistake regarding transportation: Brian says he "drove all the way up here from Anchorage." Maybe he did, but I'm pretty sure I saw him driving a fairly normal car there. The only way to drive to Barrow is in the middle of winter on an ice road. People do it sometimes in snow machines or four-wheelers, but there are no real roads to Barrow. The only way to get there is to fly--and again, you take a 737. Unless you're a glutton for punishment, I suppose, and then maybe you could drive up to Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay) and take some tiny airplane from there, or for even more fun and enjoyment you could take a tiny airplane all the way from Fairbanks to Barrow. Or you could go by boat, but seriously, who does that? (The ocean's all frozen in the winter anyway.)
I can give Mr. Niles credit for getting a couple facts straight: houses are on stilts, thanks to the permafrost; and it is indeed cold and windy in Barrow. But he should have visited to find that out for himself.
More Return to Barrow (30 Days of Night, Book 3) reviews:
1 2
1 2