Review: The Abominable

The Abominable by Dan Simmons
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was certainly not at all what I had expected. I admit to hoping, perhaps naively, for more of the on-the-edge-of-your-seat reading that was present in The Terror but was a bit underwhelmed by the suspense of this story. Almost half the book was spent in preparation for the group's trip to Everest, and they didn't get there until about 47% of the way in. By that point I was somewhere around 300 pages in, and felt the story hadn't even started yet. I was exhausted! He's usually much better at moving the plot forward, but this story lagged.

If you're going into The Abominable expecting a monster book or a horror book or even something science-fiction-y, you're going to be disappointed. It was none of those, really. And that's not a bad thing, but it certainly cut back a bit on my enjoyment.

Overall, this is a great novel. It's not my favorite, nor is it his best, but I'm not going to knock it for what it is. The only reason it's getting three instead of four stars is because I personally didn't find it as thrilling as other books of his that I've read.

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