Rate this book

Land Across, The (2014)

by Gene Wolfe(Favorite Author)

3.44 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1491546492 (ISBN13: 9781491546499)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Brilliance Audio

review 1: A little strange. Part mystery, part horror story, and part political. The fictional country depicted was interesting with interesting characters speaking a broken English that was effective. The story was a little drawn out in places so the reading was a little slow. The author had kind of a fun way of presenting the story with some sly humor thrown in on occasion. The country depicted could be part any one of a number from former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria or Romania although it was not meant to any particular one.
review 2: This is a somewhat strange novel that is a little bit like Kafka's The Trial. A travel writer (very colloquial and talky....you just know him as "I") travels to a strange little country tucked in a back corner of some eastern European or Soviet... more empire. As he crosses the border, his passport is confiscated for reasons he never understands and then he is imprisoned, first in a man's home (where he sleeps with his wife) and then by a terrorist type group who forces him to make broadcasts in English, and then in a real prison, where things start to get strange (ie, fantastic). Wolfe does a good job of keeping the tone one of confusion while you appreciate the Western way the hero has of adapting to conditions and eventually trying to track down the leader of an evil cult, with the help of a ghost hand. But as a reader, I personally don't like that feeling of constantly being in the dark, so, while Wolfe does it well, I didn't find it particularly enjoyable. Intriguing, but not enjoyable. less

Download links for: Land Across, The

Advertising