Tuesday, May 10, 2011

I Don't Want To Kill You

I looked forward to this, the newest book from Dan Wells, with great anticipation.  And while it was an enjoyable read, sadly it wasn't as good as the first two.  I felt that the main character was too different in this third and final book and I wanted him to be the same dark and terrifying teen we had glimpsed and gotten intimate with in the first two.  The story and the twists and turns it took were very interesting and exciting enough to keep me reading but the character of John and the inconsistencies left me wanting.  What happened to the guy who obsessed so much about killing that he had to resort to starting fires in Mr. Monster with all his rules to keep him from behaving like the sociopath he really is?  He's completely gone and if you hadn't read the first two books you could almost miss the fact that he IS a killer, not just some good guy who has to do bad things occasionally to save the people in his community.  Most of the time he comes across as just an awkward teen, barely noticing that he's gotten himself a girlfriend, rather than the chillingly creepy sociopath walking a thin line and fighting his inner demons constantly.  It was clumsy character development at best.  While the story came to an exciting conclusion with more action and more demons, I just didn't feel emotionally attached anymore to the main character so it left me feeling flat.  I wanted to love this book and while I still will highly recommend the series, this was not my favorite installment. 

I'm really so sad... but can't wait to discuss it with all my reading and writing buddies who have been waiting somewhat impatiently for me to "get done with it already!"  Kudos to all of them who kept their opinions to themselves and let me read with unbiased eyes - I don't know if I could have done the same for them! 

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