Two and a half stars.
I don't have much to add here. Many many others have come before me so I'll just give a few personal opinions. Really isn't that what a review is all about anyway?
In my opinion the comparisons between Swan Song and The Stand are valid. The two stories do have much in common.
The "Big Baddie" in both books are similar to each other. They are both described as having a sense of humor (of sorts) and they seen to be shape shifters - more or less.
*Spoiler Alert* At the end of the story, as our hero is traveling home, he is awoken one night by somebody (or something) whistling. Very reminiscent to what Stu Redman experiences when he is traveling back to Boulder. *Spoiler Alert*
There is an escape from a dead New York City. In The Stand the characters get out through the Lincoln Tunnel and in Swan Song it's the Holland Tunnel. The Lincoln Tunnel sequence is creepier and more memorable, but it's more than just a coincidence.
Then there is the supernatural elements and the battle between Light and Dark and the fact that both novels are huge works.
Now that's as far as it goes though.Yes there are differences, but the similarities are there and are not a product of the reader's imagination. Ultimately the stories do branch off from each other and they vary wildly in their tones.
Swan Song is a big sprawling pulpy epic. In many respects it reads like one of those post apocalyptic "men's action novels" that were so popular in the eighties. > The Survivalist , The Guardians , Deathlands and The Last Ranger immediately come to mind. I devoured those serial novels when I was a tween and teenager so I recognize the genre. Only grimmer than those blood and thunder right wing adventure serials.
There are subversive twists to the cliches of the genre in Swan Song. The military action hero ends up being a psychotic monster. The United States government is evidently responsible for starting the nuclear apocalypse (or at least doesn't act to diffuse the situation). The adult female protagonist is not a beautiful Amazonian super model/athlete who has wild passionate sex with our leading man while wielding a sub-machine gun. Our leading man is a big strong man, but he's a man who is broken by life when the story begins. He is filled with doubt and fear as well. In other words he's Human.
In other respects McCammon is very faithful to the genre. There are many action sequences as well as several in your face horror moments.The story is very melodramatic. The story moves along rapidly and it isn't difficult to cover a few hundred pages in just a few hours. So while a very grim story it's also an edge of your seat thriller. A good way to kill time in an airport, on a plane or while waiting for one's wife to finish shopping.
So while Swan Song might lack the emotional depth of The Stand it makes up for it by providing thrills and chills. Think of it as the Anti-Stand.
A little personal note here. I first read this book back in 1988. I was twenty and a cadet in the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corp (R.O.T.C.) at Boise State University. I was a fierce Cold War warrior and didn't like how McCammon portrayed the military men. I never finished it. I tried again eleven years later. However at that point in my life I was in the middle of a weird anti-fiction mood that lasted several years. I don't know what was going on. Big surprise I didn't finish it then either.
However the third time was the charm. It's a fun (fun?) novel and it worked. I say that all lot about novels that entertain and take out out of yourself for a few hours. Well that and stories that also offer a little hope at the end.
It's not a bad pulp novel. It's a big, sweeping, fast moving epic. Don't try to over-think it and just sit back.
I don't have much to add here. Many many others have come before me so I'll just give a few personal opinions. Really isn't that what a review is all about anyway?
In my opinion the comparisons between Swan Song and The Stand are valid. The two stories do have much in common.
The "Big Baddie" in both books are similar to each other. They are both described as having a sense of humor (of sorts) and they seen to be shape shifters - more or less.
*Spoiler Alert* At the end of the story, as our hero is traveling home, he is awoken one night by somebody (or something) whistling. Very reminiscent to what Stu Redman experiences when he is traveling back to Boulder. *Spoiler Alert*
There is an escape from a dead New York City. In The Stand the characters get out through the Lincoln Tunnel and in Swan Song it's the Holland Tunnel. The Lincoln Tunnel sequence is creepier and more memorable, but it's more than just a coincidence.
Then there is the supernatural elements and the battle between Light and Dark and the fact that both novels are huge works.
Now that's as far as it goes though.Yes there are differences, but the similarities are there and are not a product of the reader's imagination. Ultimately the stories do branch off from each other and they vary wildly in their tones.
Swan Song is a big sprawling pulpy epic. In many respects it reads like one of those post apocalyptic "men's action novels" that were so popular in the eighties. > The Survivalist , The Guardians , Deathlands and The Last Ranger immediately come to mind. I devoured those serial novels when I was a tween and teenager so I recognize the genre. Only grimmer than those blood and thunder right wing adventure serials.
There are subversive twists to the cliches of the genre in Swan Song. The military action hero ends up being a psychotic monster. The United States government is evidently responsible for starting the nuclear apocalypse (or at least doesn't act to diffuse the situation). The adult female protagonist is not a beautiful Amazonian super model/athlete who has wild passionate sex with our leading man while wielding a sub-machine gun. Our leading man is a big strong man, but he's a man who is broken by life when the story begins. He is filled with doubt and fear as well. In other words he's Human.
In other respects McCammon is very faithful to the genre. There are many action sequences as well as several in your face horror moments.The story is very melodramatic. The story moves along rapidly and it isn't difficult to cover a few hundred pages in just a few hours. So while a very grim story it's also an edge of your seat thriller. A good way to kill time in an airport, on a plane or while waiting for one's wife to finish shopping.
So while Swan Song might lack the emotional depth of The Stand it makes up for it by providing thrills and chills. Think of it as the Anti-Stand.
A little personal note here. I first read this book back in 1988. I was twenty and a cadet in the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corp (R.O.T.C.) at Boise State University. I was a fierce Cold War warrior and didn't like how McCammon portrayed the military men. I never finished it. I tried again eleven years later. However at that point in my life I was in the middle of a weird anti-fiction mood that lasted several years. I don't know what was going on. Big surprise I didn't finish it then either.
However the third time was the charm. It's a fun (fun?) novel and it worked. I say that all lot about novels that entertain and take out out of yourself for a few hours. Well that and stories that also offer a little hope at the end.
It's not a bad pulp novel. It's a big, sweeping, fast moving epic. Don't try to over-think it and just sit back.
