Customer Reviews

Carrion Comfort

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

What if you could control the minds of others. And not just simply control their minds, but make them physically do anything you wanted them to. What type of person would you be? Well Mr. Simmons tells us in breathtaking detail.

The story revolves around Sal Laski, a Jew who survived the Nazi death camps of WWII. He came into contact with one of these Mind Vampires (as we come to know them) that he nick-names 'The Oberst.' Having his mind touched and his body controlled is worse than being 'raped.' And Mr. Simmons shows us exactly how that would feel. Chillingly! Mr. Laski becomes fanatical about finding his Oberst and giving him back what Sal had felt all those many years ago during the War.

Mrs. Melanie Fuller is a Mind Vampire also, and she and a few of the others with the Ability meet every year to discuss their scores (i.e. how many people they controlled and killed and how much publicity it got). They are so nonchalant about their controls and killings that it is almost maddening to the reader. They have absolutely no empathy for anyone or anything which makes them all the more horrific. Amazingly, the reader eventually becomes comfortable with these characters and wants to know if they will survive their own failings in humanity. Terrific stuff!

Mr. Harod is a slime-bag producer of B-movies Hollywood who also has the Ability. He uses it to control women specifically and solely (because he feels that touching a man's mind would be to homophobic for him).

Mr. C. Barent is a billionaire with the Ability who owns a mythical Island off the coast of Florida. Once a year 'The Island Club' meets and plays a game: they bring lost souls to the island and Use them to kill one another. The last Mind Vampire with a player still alive at the end of the week wins. (spoiler)

Incredible as it may seem, Mr. Simmons has the ability to write in many different genres...and capably so. He received a Hugo award for Science Fiction for his Hyperion novel. And received the Bram Stoker Award for Horror for this one. Truly fantastic.

An incredible novel and quite lengthy. At almost 900 pages, it kept me interested the entire time and rarely, if ever, lagged. Highly recommended reading for those who enjoy the written word and not just bland novels with mindless killing.

Normally when people see a book this size, they think to themselves, "Wow what a great paperweight" but that shouldn't be the case here. Dan Simmons continues to prove that horror fiction is just as much his plaything as science fiction, crafting a big, ambitious novel that succeeds in just about every aspect. It's scary, it's intimidating, it's complex, it's funny, it's full of characters that you're going to either or love but will be unable to ignore. Simmons takes the basic concept of vampires and goes in a slightly different direction here, instead of the typical bloodsucking stuff, here we've got psychic vampires who can infilrate the mind and do many unpleasant things. For the most part the vampires are utterly amoral, using and abusing people with no other impulse other than instant gratification. Until some people try to get revenge. Here we've got Saul, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust who makes it a near obsession to find the monster that invaded his mind in a concentration camp during World War II. Or Natalie, who is motivated by a tragedy touches her personal life by way of vampires who see people as only pawns in a game. And then there's Sheriff Rob Gentry, trying to solve a mystery involving a bunch of dead people who apparently went crazy for no apparent reason, murders that seem to be part of a subtle, but disturbing pattern. These are the building blocks that make up the foundation of the rest of the epic . . . needless to say there are more than enough other characters, and subplots and surprises and intrigue and even horror to keep the reader occupied for many an hour. To even add to the excitement, a bunch of sections are told from the point of view of one of the vampires and her utterly amoral useage of the people she encounters all the while justifying it with no problem for her own twisted pleasure has to be one of the most horrific aspects to the book, the gap between the reality she perceives and the reality that exists is frightening indeed. Not that the book is perfect, it probably is a little too long, if you read it in small chunks you're okay but Simmons is very meticulous in his detail, something long time readers are probably used to. Some things aren't really explained either, one of the vampires is apparently ridiculously more powerful than the others but no one ever says why (but I guess that's horror for you, plus no one really gets the time sit down and discuss it), the concept of "Feeding" he never really goes into even though everyone talks about it, but those are minor complaints indeed. Where it's supposed to work it does, the action is thrilling, the emotional payoffs are staggering, the truimphs are earned even as the defeats will keep you on the edge of the chair. If you've got anything more than a passing interest in Dan Simmons or horror, you owe it to yourself to set a week aside and devour this book. You'll be glad you did.

I am amazed to find that there is such a schism regarding CARRION COMFORT. It seems to be a real love/hate book. Which surprises me because it's one of the most compulsively readable novels I've ever read. I would prefer not to give away anything to the first time reader (other reviewers have not been so considerate) but I will say that Simmons takes a fabulous premise and works it until your eyes pop. I really can't see how anyone decided that this story was boring -- unless they simply didn't have the patience for a long novel. But if you're waffling on reading it as a result of these mixed reviews I strongly encourage you to pick it up.

Other folks have detailed the plot of Carrion Comfort here so I'll cut to the chase. This story was so predictable that I had to check the cover to ensure that I was, indeed, reading work by the same Dan Simmons who wrote Hyperion and Ilium. Ok... so halfway through the parade of somewhat overweight descriptions of hollywood action trailers and firefights, I gave up on my expectations for the plot. Nobody's perfect. I decided instead, to focus on the characters; something for which Mr. Simmons is justly famous and again he let me down. I won't play the spoiler, but I will say that after reading a little over half the book I could durn near predict how many pages would elapse before the characters in which I was developing some sympathy would just sort of hop into the tree chipper. To be as fair as I can, there are some very well-drawn characters in this story. But this is the only 'pro' in my assessment and it does not come near to justifying the length of this book. It seems forced, perfunctory, and ridden with cliche's to me. Mr. Simmons is a great writer; one dear to my heart, but he missed the bus to immortality with this one.

The only reason you should ever read a book that is more than 800 pages long is to exercise your brain. This book is a grand endeavor that I gladly indulged in for weeks.

It's hard to wrap your mind around this book, but Simmons paints wonderful settings, complex characters and a great plot that weaves in supernatural theories on violence and control.

Another reason the book stands out among other hulking, 800+ page novels is Simmons' narrative style, which switches between the first-person observations of Melanie Fuller, a key player in the book, to a dozen third-person perspectives from equally interesting characters.

The book is exceptional because Melanie Fuller is a classic naiive narrator. That is, she is so self-deluded that her perspective cannot be taken at face value. Rather, they must be interpreted by the reader with analysis and reading on to see how the third-person accounts decode those same events.

In short, this book is wonderfully imaginative. In dusting off this book, you'll also be dusting some cobwebs out of your head and getting those rusty cogs turning again.

I haven't read anything by Dan Simmons since The Rise of Endymion, over 6 months ago. I decided to read Carrion Comfort in an impulse - I was curious as to how good his horror will be.

in the first 300 pages I was enchanted, and I asked myself frenzily "How come I haven't read anything by Simmons for so long?"

by page 400 I knew the answer. Because it's sooo loooong.

Now don't get me wrong, Simmons is a hell of a writer. Many scenes in this book are really tense. The characters are vary between ok to great (most of them),and no stickers. The action is often exciting...

But there is so much of it! around page 350, Simmons starts a huge sub plot about a gang war and a haunted house(kind of). The subplot doesn't really go anywhere, except that it kills a bunch of people, and substitutes them with some other people.

Simmons is the writer most need of an editor that I know of. This could have been a Thriller masterpiece. Had it been 700 pages long, it would have stood there next to 'Red Dragon' and 'The Silence of the Lambs' by Thomas Harris.

Rather it is 992 pages long( british mass market paperback), it's a really good book, and a one that you would enjoy reading. It has some minor flaws other than the length, but it is really well done. It has the spookiest chess scene I've ever read, and quiet enough original ideas to keep this a truly original Thriller.

Dan Simmons wrote a Science Fiction masterwork with Hyperion, and now he came very close to writing a thriller masterwork. That's quite an achievement.

If you're looking for a good horror-thriller, with some mind candy and lots of action and obscenitites and sex, this is a great choice.

The story is fine and plenty of people have left good reviews of it. My comments are in regards to the kindle edition, specifically the formatting and readability. It is terrible!

The text has obviously been translated from another format, and someone didn't pay attention. Every few pages you will come across words that have spacing in the middle of words were they would be hyphenated, but no hyphens. For example, "It simi lar to this sen tence." It can become maddening, like the drip of a water facet.

The story is good, but I would not have purchased the book, if I had known of the formatting problems. This is the first Kindle book I have read with these issues.

Carrion Comfort is an amazingly complex and thorough story about "mind vampires". The mind vampires really share very little in common with what most people would think of in terms of vampires -- they don't turn into bats, suck people's blood, or need a stake through the heart to kill them. The sole defining criteria of a mind vampire is that they have the ability to control people's behavior. The book concerns itself with about a half dozen powerful mind vampires. These vampires range from those who use their "ability" for wealth and power, to complete psychopaths who kill innocent people simply because they are bored. The book gets started with a power struggle between the mind vampires, which engulfs a trio of human protagonists: a former concentration camp survivor, the daughter of one of the mind vampire's victims, and a small town sheriff. This book's strength is in the development of the characters. They all seem very real and lifelike, and a lot of effort is made to explore each of the mind vampire's psyches and understand their dark motivations. The one fault I had with the book is just that it's so darn long -- almost 900 pages. You'd better clear a week of your schedule just to read the thing! I've read several of Dan Simmons' books, and I have to say this is one of his best . I enjoyed it more than Summer of Night and A Winter Haunting because I felt the story seemed somehow more realistic.

This is the best SciFi or Horror book I've ever read. And I've read many over the last 25 years. King, McCammon, Barker, Cussler, Asimov, Heinlen, etc. The book has a horror tone, but the "abilities" of the characters seems more in line with SciFi and "mental mutants." The amount of detail, combined with the fast pace of this book and total depravity of the characters make it nearly impossible to place down once you get past the first 15 pages. It just pulls you in. Interestingly, this is one of only two books by Simmons that I've been able to finish -- but this one I couldn't stop reading. Most writers can't seem to develop characters without the story really slowing down. But in Carrion Comfort, these sections of the story are especially captivating. I've read this 4 times over the last 10 years -- more than any book other than a couple by Niven.

You don't see a lot of "epic horror" books. Epic sci-fi, epic historical fiction, epic fantasy, yes. But epic horror is a rare beast. Simmons produces a wonderfully horrific novel on an epic scale in _Carrion Comfort_ and I heartily recommend this book to horror fans or to fans of Simmons' sci-fi and recent suspense books.

The novel spans more than 100 years and moves effortlessly from first to third person, present to past, and is told by multiple narrators. Usually, this technique fails to hold my attention, either because all of the characters sounds the same, or because one or more the characters have nothing to say. Not so here. Simmons imbues each narrative with vitality and purpose...the overall effect is that you reading multiple short stories that are linked by a common ending and sometimes feature the same characters.

The story itself is a horror take on the concept of how absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is just enough of the supernatural element to give the book that creepy feel but not so much that one thinks "this couldn't possibly happen." Buy this book, sit back in your favorite reading place, and enjoy.