Reviews for Water and life

The average rating for Water and life based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-06-07 00:00:00 Kinga Kazai DNF @ page 159. I normally do not give ratings and in-depth reviews to titles I do not wish to finish, but this one is remarkable in so many ways that I could not ignore placing a detailed warning up on Goodreads. If you're not well-versed in Dean Koontz, you might actually finish this book. If you can get past the rambling pretension of the prose, you might even have fun. My problem begins with the writing, though. This is the most overwritten Koontz book I've read. Page after page of author intrusion, which Koontz doesn't even bother to disguise as character thought. He's in your face with the I-think-this-way-and-so-should-you-because-reasons approach. This wouldn't be so bad if he didn't do it every other chapter. But he does. And I grew tired of it at about Chapter 10. Which brings me to my next issue. The book jumps back and forth between past tense and present tense. Done well, this wouldn't have been an issue. But here it is clunky and jarring, like running a garbage truck into a brick wall, reversing, and doing it all over again. Chapter after chapter, we bounce from Mickey's past tense to the boy's present tense, and there's no discernable reason for the tense changes. Which brings me to... ...the characters. Holy shit on a bed of fuckery, Batman, this book is filled with every overused Koontz character known to science. Let's list them: the precocious youth, the woman with abuse in her past, the super smart dog, the sweet and charming old woman, the Down's syndrome character, and blondes; blondes every-fucking-where. Blondes in the morning, blondes in the evening, even for suppertime! At last count, I found four. Maybe you can find more. Make a drinking game out of it. Or don't. I don't fucking care. In my review of Ashley Bell, I explain how I couldn't be bothered reading anymore after Koontz mentioned a golden retriever on page two. I caught some flack from certain individuals because I didn't give the book a chance. Well, motherfuckers, this is why. This one author has used the same tired tropes and characters to write a bajillion books about the same old shit. I can't even fully enjoy rereading the books of his that I once loved because I keep noticing how he reused the same concept in five other stories. I have a buddy re-read of WATCHERS coming up toward the end of this month and I'm frightened I'm going to ruin my memories of that book. But I will reread it because I have to know, was my hero-worship of this author justified? In summation: I'm sorry to those who think that I am too hard on this once great author, but I cannot keep doing this. If you like reading the same shit time and time again, that's on you. More power to you. But there are far better concepts and stories out there. And, while there's nothing new under the sun, there's absolutely no fucking reason to stare at the same tree all goddamn day. Final judgment: An overwritten, overused mess of a book.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-04-08 00:00:00 John Higgins The one about the little boy alien and the dangerous young mutant. I like this book it's one of my favorite Koontz books. I'll say this, you won't find this exact plot elsewhere. It draws you in and gets you involved with the "participants". It's between a 4 and a 5...but I figure it tipped the scales and went on to a 5. As I said a favorite among Koontz's work for me...I've read it several times. What else can I say? Not much without spoilers. There's a bit of laughter here, a dose of tears and some great lines in the mouths of some great characters. I mean what other book offers shape changing aliens, a dangerous young mutant, a psychopathic serial killer, an insane drug addict, someone who can't tell the difference in their own memories and the old movies they've seen, a P.I., alien bounty hunters, a hoarder,....and Amazons? Oh yeah and possibly Gabby Hays, though in all honesty it turns out to be a lookalike. Hope that isn't too much of a spoiler. Buckle up join in. The book has laughter, pathos, action, and storytelling, not to mention an actual plot and the above mentioned fully formed characters. 5 stars. Highly recommended, enjoy.