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Title: Risen by J. Knight ISBN: 0-7860-1612-4 Publisher: Pinnacle Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (44 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: The devil is in the details.
Comment: J. Knight, Risen (2001, Warner/iPublish)
Fifty pages into Risen, I was ready to throw it to the dustbunnies. But I kept going, and I'm glad I did. I think.
There's nothing overly original here-- the inhabitants of a small town in the middle of nowhere find, one morning, that the recently deceased are, in the words of a now-famous newscaster, returning to life. (No eating of the living this time, however.) The recently-deceased have one goal, to convert their still-living friends and neighbors to their own state of Risen-hood (thus the book's title), thus making the town one big happy recently deceased family.
It's a beautiful metaphor, and one that is simple enough to be used for any mindless process of conversion. Knight gives a number of strong implications she's looking at organized religion, but it doesn't take much stretching to put it into other contexts. There is a good deal to be said for the zombie-as-metaphor line, and all of it can be said about this book. There's also enough scenes of sheer gross-out to keep the horror reader happy, especially once the ball gets rolling (which happens about seventy pages in). Knight also has a deft enough hand at plot twists, especially the wonderful ones where the reader knows more than the characters in the novel.
Where Risen falters is in Knight's writing style. The book has been rather aggressively marketed (via email) as "if you like Stephen King..." Every avid reader knows that "if you like..." is second only to "in the tradition of..." for setting off warning bells. In this case, blatant comparisons to Stephen King only serve to highlight the differences (some subtle, some not so) that put King firmly in the pantheon of genre fiction writers. Most of them can be encapsulated in the statement that King regularly transcends genre with his writing ability, while Knight does not. This is not a bad thing in and of itself; genre writing is certainly capable of being good work, and it is (for the most part) in this case. Just don't let the marketing campaign get to you.
In any case, I have digressed. There are a number of places where Knight's style jars, small errors in judgment which add up over time. The one that sticks with me (I finished the book about a week ago) is Kngiht's inability to gauge where to stop in drawing a simile for maximum effectiveness. If you say something's like a diamond, let the reader draw the proper conclusions; no need to write out the ways in which the simile works. It's not a big thing if it happens once or twice in the span of a novel, especially one that runs four hundred pages, but the repetition drives the point home. A good editor would be able to fix such problems with minimal effort.
It's a good read if you're a hardcore fan of the horror genre. Others should probably approach with caution. ** 1/2
Rating: 5
Summary: Horror at its best
Comment: Once in a blue moon a horror novel comes along and frightens me enough to keep me awake at night. Risen did just that. I tossed and turned as all the events replayed themselves in my head and every shadow in the room looked menacing. Reading Risen was like watching a horror movie when I was a child. I wanted to find a way to read it between my fingers while clutching a blanket to throw over my head during the scary parts. Unfortunately, that is impossible to do while reading, so I kept reading, as the hair on the back of neck stood straight up. Risen is set in a small town called Anderson, but it could be small town Anywhere. This sleepy town was filled with interesting characters, bored teen-agers, and something very, very frightening. Without giving any of the story away, you truly don't know if you can trust anyone. The pace is suspenseful and relentless. The mystery of what is happening unfolds meticulously, and the end left me gasping for air. If you devour good horror, then this book will grab you on page one and not let you go until the final chapter. No, it won't let you go even then, because I'm still thinking about it. I highly recommend Risen.
Rating: 4
Summary: SFReader.com Review - Risen
Comment: Risen, by J. Knight, is an ebook that did so well and generated enough buzz that it caught the attention of a traditional publisher and is now being released in mass market paperback. It starts with a simple enough premise: the dead coming back to life. Not as zombies al la Day of the Dead, but as seemingly-normal, except that are all now in thrall to a being they refer to as Seth.
It starts slowly enough, a person here and there, but like any epidemic, it rapidly gains momentum, as those brought back by Seth become his recruiters. And the only way to recruit for Seth is to kill.... All the residents of the small town of Anderson are threatened, and if Anderson falls to Seth, what's next? Caught up in the middle of this are Brant Kettering, editor and publisher of the local newspaper, Tom Culler, a high-school senior, and his mother Peg, a waitress at the town's diner. Will they be able to find out who'd at the source of these resurrections, or will they too become soldiers in Seth's army? There are a host of very well done minor characters as well that add a great deal to the 'thickness' of the story.
Knight writes with the assurance and confidence of a seasoned pro. As I read, I was reminded of some of my previous favorites: Boy's Life, Stinger, and The Wolf's Hour (by Robert McCammon) and Salem's Lot and The Stand by Stephen King. What distinguished these stories for me, and what distinguishes Knight's Risen, is the attention paid to the characters, major and minor both.
Some books are almost magic in their ability to enthrall. They aren't stories; they are the lives of people. We don't read to see where the story goes, we read to see what happens to the people the author has created. Knight's characters are as well-realized as any you will find in the genre. They distinguish themselves by their actions, motivations and goals. We can sympathize with them. We know people like them. We root for some, feel sorry for others, and wish some would die. That's the true appeal of Knight's book--a chance to read a tale that makes you care about the people in it, that makes you feel as though you know them.
It's not perfect, however. There are a few writing gaffs that poked me in the eye from time to time, though less that one might expect in a first book. Ending some verbs in 'ing' for example, that results in some simultaneous actions that can't be simultaneous (I've remarked in this in other reviews). In some places, I thought it a little wordy. Not enough to completely stop the story, but enough to bog it down. Overall, lest I sound too critical of Knight's craft, let me say that the writing here is equal to any you'll find in the genre.
There are also a few problems with plot. In his efforts to keep a major plot point hidden, Knight might keep it a bit too hidden. When finally revealed it wasn't with the virtually smacking of the hand on the forehead and the exclamation 'That makes perfect sense! I should have seen it coming!' It was more like 'Hmmm. That never occurred to me....' The misdirection in relation to said plot point was such that I had already recognized it for what it was. So that part of the tale didn't work as well as it should. The ending, while a logical extension of events, was somewhat nihilistic.
If you're a fan of King's older stories, or have read and enjoyed McCammon, King, Saul, or some of Koontz's older (but not tool old!) stuff, I can heartily recommend Risen. When you turn the final page, you're going to be disappointed, but only because the story has ended.
Read more reviews, as well as articles, interviews and more, at www.SFReader.com.
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Title: The Rising by Brian Keene ISBN: 0843952016 Publisher: Leisure Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Deep in the Darkness by Michael Laimo ISBN: 0843953144 Publisher: Leisure Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: House of Bones by Dale Bailey ISBN: 0451210794 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 02 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Darkfall by Stephen Laws ISBN: 0843952180 Publisher: Leisure Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Harvest by Scott Nicholson ISBN: 0786015799 Publisher: Pinnacle Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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