Jaksen's Reviews > Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse (Wastelands #1)
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I don't get it, I used to love reading this stuff ...
Empty and soulless as most the stories seem to be, I give it this, these guys can write. Having said that...
I thoroughly enjoyed the first tale, by Stephen King. (Has he written anything I don't like? Maybe once.) Then we go on to Orson Scott Card and a story which would only make sense to the Mormons, and then on...
To story after story filled with made-up technological lingo, and huge info-dumps (at the start of most stories, which are mind-boggling and not in a good way.) Let's impress our readers with all that we know - about weaponry, computers, future scenarios, etc. - then make up some stuff, then make up some words to go with the made-up stuff, then set out on an adventure which we will only PARTIALLY explain to said reader...
Though of course the characters understand every bit of what is going on. But let's continue to keep the readers IN THE DARK...
This is my summation of a lot of current Sci-Fi fiction which was once my fav. genre. Tell a little, leave out a lot, and reveal it bit by bit. My thinking goes, if the MC's know something, we all need to know it, readers included. If the MC is in the dark, then leave us in the dark, too. This way everyone DISCOVERS stuff together and we feel PART of the story.
Horror and mystery writers often do this, too, and it drives me crazy. Unless - unless! - you have that rare feature, the unreliable narrator, then DO NOT DO THIS.
I am a mystery reader. I know how it works. You can't leave me in the dark because I'm going to find a flashlight that works - or an oil lantern, or those long-stemmed matches you use to light a fireplace - and shine it on you and if what I discover is blah, boring or just plain stupid, I am NOT reading anymore.
But of course if the MC is also in the dark, then I'm fine with it. I'll walk right alongside him, her, them or it, happily intrigued and possibly scared out of my mind.
So meh, bleh, these stories, except King's, did nothing for me.
Empty and soulless as most the stories seem to be, I give it this, these guys can write. Having said that...
I thoroughly enjoyed the first tale, by Stephen King. (Has he written anything I don't like? Maybe once.) Then we go on to Orson Scott Card and a story which would only make sense to the Mormons, and then on...
To story after story filled with made-up technological lingo, and huge info-dumps (at the start of most stories, which are mind-boggling and not in a good way.) Let's impress our readers with all that we know - about weaponry, computers, future scenarios, etc. - then make up some stuff, then make up some words to go with the made-up stuff, then set out on an adventure which we will only PARTIALLY explain to said reader...
Though of course the characters understand every bit of what is going on. But let's continue to keep the readers IN THE DARK...
This is my summation of a lot of current Sci-Fi fiction which was once my fav. genre. Tell a little, leave out a lot, and reveal it bit by bit. My thinking goes, if the MC's know something, we all need to know it, readers included. If the MC is in the dark, then leave us in the dark, too. This way everyone DISCOVERS stuff together and we feel PART of the story.
Horror and mystery writers often do this, too, and it drives me crazy. Unless - unless! - you have that rare feature, the unreliable narrator, then DO NOT DO THIS.
I am a mystery reader. I know how it works. You can't leave me in the dark because I'm going to find a flashlight that works - or an oil lantern, or those long-stemmed matches you use to light a fireplace - and shine it on you and if what I discover is blah, boring or just plain stupid, I am NOT reading anymore.
But of course if the MC is also in the dark, then I'm fine with it. I'll walk right alongside him, her, them or it, happily intrigued and possibly scared out of my mind.
So meh, bleh, these stories, except King's, did nothing for me.
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Reading Progress
November 8, 2015
– Shelved as:
to-read
November 8, 2015
– Shelved
Started Reading
November 16, 2015
–
Finished Reading
And I agree, you can't really go wrong with King.