Review of Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
30 Aug 2007 12:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
firecatI really loved Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff, which won the Tiptree Award, so I was looking forward to his next book, Bad Monkeys, which has just come out.
It's a quick read and fairly compelling. Throughout most of the book I find the protagonist really interesting. The writing is vivid throughout and although Ruff doesn't introduce a whole lot of really new ideas, he treats thriller/science fiction cliches with imagination. I'm sure this would make a fun movie, and I hope Ruff sells the movie rights for tons of money.
But I think Set This House in Order is quite a lot better—it treats many of the same themes but with more originality, sensitivity, and compassion, and it is a more compelling read.
Around 2/3-3/4 of the way in to Bad Monkeys, I began to lose interest. Ruff made me suspicious of the reliability of the character and the capabilities of the organization early on. He did that on purpose, but unfortunately it made the plot twists toward the end less thrilling, because I saw them coming.
There were some expository lumps at the end that annoyed me—if I'd had more time to get to know the characters expositing those lumps, I might have cared more, but the characters weren't well drawn or introduced.
Overall the book felt to me as if Ruff had enjoyed himself and taken his time writing the first 2/3 and then started to feel rushed to finish and cut corners.
It's a quick read and fairly compelling. Throughout most of the book I find the protagonist really interesting. The writing is vivid throughout and although Ruff doesn't introduce a whole lot of really new ideas, he treats thriller/science fiction cliches with imagination. I'm sure this would make a fun movie, and I hope Ruff sells the movie rights for tons of money.
But I think Set This House in Order is quite a lot better—it treats many of the same themes but with more originality, sensitivity, and compassion, and it is a more compelling read.
Around 2/3-3/4 of the way in to Bad Monkeys, I began to lose interest. Ruff made me suspicious of the reliability of the character and the capabilities of the organization early on. He did that on purpose, but unfortunately it made the plot twists toward the end less thrilling, because I saw them coming.
There were some expository lumps at the end that annoyed me—if I'd had more time to get to know the characters expositing those lumps, I might have cared more, but the characters weren't well drawn or introduced.
Overall the book felt to me as if Ruff had enjoyed himself and taken his time writing the first 2/3 and then started to feel rushed to finish and cut corners.
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Date: 30 Aug 2007 07:41 pm (UTC)also, i totally did not see the ending coming. unreliable narrators get me every time. i think what i said at the time was "aaaaagh!"
the comicbooky parts (with the v-drugs? x-drugs? some letter here-drugs?) made me want to carry it around by the corner like it was something i'd accidentally stepped in. um, mr. ruff? someone dreadful seems to have put something in one of your books? but i laughed when it turned out to be an ant farm.
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Date: 30 Aug 2007 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 30 Aug 2007 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 30 Aug 2007 09:20 pm (UTC)Also, Set This House in Order is my favourite of his books so far.
But I still quite enjoyed it.