Floating Dragon Book

In my video review (which you can find here: ) I give this book three stars. After much rumination, I've decided to drop it another star. Many thanks to my buddy Brandon for reading this one with me. I likely never would have finished it otherwise.

I saw Straub tell someone on Twitter that he wrote this book to get it out of his system. Whether that's a good or bad thing, I'll let each individual decide for themselves. Me? I barely enjoyed myself. There's some fantastic stuff in here, sprinkled like breadcrumbs along a path populated by ravenous ravens. Unfortunately, Hansel and Gretel never make it back home. Those little motherfucker's got lost. The witch ate them.

That's a metaphor for the meandering mess this book (mostly) is. Mostly.

Floating Dragon feels like Straub took every horror idea he had sitting stored in his brain meat and stuffed them into this purple-and-stinking turkey, like a ball of salmonella-laced tragedy dipped in food-borne fuckery. Parts of the book are rancid, while others are cooked perfectly. Thing is, you're gonna have to eat every ounce before you'll be able to tell what's moist and delicious, and what's gonna have your buttcheeks plastered to a toilet seat for the next two weeks, mainlining Pedialyte and freebasing fresh bananas.

I read this book because several friends said there was inspiration for Stephen King's It hidden between its covers, and I see it, I truly do, but I still think Phantoms feels like the better contender for inspiring King's masterpiece. Oddly enough, with everyone saying this one inspired that one, there's sections of this book that seem taken directly from Carrie, The Shining, and The Stand. Especially The Stand. But all of these books stand on their own two feet as original properties of their respective owners. I do not claim, nor do I believe, that any thievery occurred. More like gentle borrowing and subtle nodding. Ideas shared between authors like condoms among dude-friends.

My favorite part of the book has to do with Richard Allbee walking down the street and coming across something he doesn't want to look at. It's the best part of the book, and one of the most dread-inducing scenes I've had the pleasure to read. That page alone almost made these 596 pages worthwhile. Almost. The scene is reminiscent of a part in Joe Hill's HEART-SHAPED BOX where Judas Coyne comes across someone sitting in a chair in the darkened hallway of his home. Both scenes are simple yet effective; disconcerting the reader on a god-tier level. Dig it.

The biggest problem with this and really any of Straub's work (aside from his first novel and sophomore outing) is that his stories don't really get going until page 200+. He wonders and wanders, padding the tale's tail-end until the stuffing shows and the reader becomes drowsier than one of Bill Cosby's dates, circa 1978. But once the story finds its legs, it runs right up to an admittedly explosive ending.

I'll be the first to admit that Straub has always been better than King at wrapping up a long-fuck of a book. That being said, King is better at almost everything else: story, characters, humor, dressing badly. You know, the basics.

Finally, there are numerous ideas that were reused/repurposed for his second collaboration with King, Black House. Why this is so is anyone's guess, but I found it jarringly strange. Especially the massive doggo. It comes out of nowhere in both books, and both times I couldn't help but put down the book and ask, "Why?"

In summation: If you're new to Straub, I don't suggest you start here. In fact, I don't recommend this book at all. If you want a great Straub read, pick up Ghost Story or Shadowland. Hell, even Julia is better than this one. Then again, Floating Dragon is a favorite among Straub fans, so if you like the guy's work and haven't read this one, maybe give it a shot? I don't fucking know. You're likely an adult who can decide what to read next on their own, so do that. Go with God, my child.

Final Judgment: This dragon don't fly.