This is a Doorstopper of a book, but it’s a doorstopper well spent. Setting, characters, and plot are very well-detailed, and while at times the Squick factor is uncomfortably high, it’s rarely overdone or gratuitous. McCammon doesn’t pull any punches, with the setting or the characters. The bad guys are (almost) all complete monsters, but they’re unique monsters. Sister had to be my favorite character; she’s very complex, and has great Character Development throughout the story.
Like The Stand, it has mystical elements woven through it, and not just The Man with the Scarlet Eye. The idea of the Job’s Mask is an interesting one, even if it’s also squicky at times. While the two books are often compared, the similarities don't detract from the story at all. Other than a quasi-supernatural Big Bad, the only real thing they have in common is they're both post-apocalyptic novels that start just prior to The End Of The World As We Know It. And in Swan Song, it's a pretty Crapsack World already.
While it’s a good book, I would not recommend it for the easily nauseated. It is gross in places, and I do mean gross. Science has marched on when it comes to the long-term effects of nuclear winter, but the radiation poisoning itself is at times a little too realistic for comfort. It’s the kind of story that can leave you completely exhausted once you’re done with it, but that’s not a bad thing.
Creepy and squicky, but quite good.
This is a Doorstopper of a book, but it’s a doorstopper well spent. Setting, characters, and plot are very well-detailed, and while at times the Squick factor is uncomfortably high, it’s rarely overdone or gratuitous. McCammon doesn’t pull any punches, with the setting or the characters. The bad guys are (almost) all complete monsters, but they’re unique monsters. Sister had to be my favorite character; she’s very complex, and has great Character Development throughout the story.
Like The Stand, it has mystical elements woven through it, and not just The Man with the Scarlet Eye. The idea of the Job’s Mask is an interesting one, even if it’s also squicky at times. While the two books are often compared, the similarities don't detract from the story at all. Other than a quasi-supernatural Big Bad, the only real thing they have in common is they're both post-apocalyptic novels that start just prior to The End Of The World As We Know It. And in Swan Song, it's a pretty Crapsack World already.
While it’s a good book, I would not recommend it for the easily nauseated. It is gross in places, and I do mean gross. Science has marched on when it comes to the long-term effects of nuclear winter, but the radiation poisoning itself is at times a little too realistic for comfort. It’s the kind of story that can leave you completely exhausted once you’re done with it, but that’s not a bad thing.