Customer Reviews

Crow: Temple of Night

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

American culture often protects us from the realities that occur all over the world. We live in a cookie-cutter sitcom world and it takes a prolific and informed source to bring us out of our illusions. S.P. Somtow does just that. The Crow has never been better in this atmospheric and careening dive into the underworld of modern Bangkok. You can't help but smell the sin and feel the pain around you while S.P. Somtow takes you on a tour of humanity's scarred underbelly. Our character, an unlikely hero. Our villan, a frightening reminder that evil lives inside man as part of us, his madness convincing and as far removed from the earlier, more contrived Crow villians as can be. Without giving anything away, this story is original, true to the Crow legacy, but a masterpiece all it's own and in it's own right. A must read, not for the faint of heart, or the closed minded. Somtow knows the subject matter and presents it beautifully.

The original comics that started the Crow franchise were well done, an excellent work even if it was cathartic in nature. The first movie was a wonderful adaptation, but every thing that has come out since is garbage. With one exception. Temple of Night actually succeeds where every other "sequel" has failed. It touches your soul. The entire point of the Crow is not about getting revenge, it's about moving beyond the fetters that your anger forces upon you, that chain you to your past life. Somtow takes his familiarity of Egyptian, Native American and Thai mythologies/religions and turns them all inside out while still pointing out the similarities. This book is a perfect example of how and why creativity can overcome the stigma of the usual sequel; and while this is not Somtow's strongest work, it is still pure Somtow.

This should have been the sequel for The Crow series! Its awesome in all ways... great plot! A must get for any Crow fan collector!

Being a die hard "Crow" fan I may be biased . However, after reading this book I intend to find and read all of "The Crow " books I can find . This book in particular reaches out and sucks you in . It goes back to that angst avenged that the original had so masterfully put out . It does have certain points ( super powers? ) that may turn off fans of the first movie . But if you can separate the first Crow story from the rest I assure you you will love this book and others in the Crow series.

What was I on with my last review for this book? Anyways, being the 4th book so far in the series, it did manage to add some different elements, like past lives and supernatural forces. I liked the fact that Stephen Lelliot could call upon crows to help him in his journey. What I didn't like though was that the action didn't start until 3/4 of the story. That and the end battle was very confusing and what I could understand, there wasn't enough happening. Also, the villian,"Dirk Temple" seemed like a cousin to the bad guy,"Joseph Lethe" in Lazarus Heart. Too many times for that type of character in my honest opinion. Out of all these books so far, Clash By Night is the best one(in my honest opinion).

The Crow: Temple of Night was great. I felt I was a third person in the story, watching things as they unfold. I really liked the main character who was uncertain about what he felt towards a person he never met in his life. He becomes positivetly spooky towards the end of the book. I recommend this book to anybody who wants something interesting to read.

As a fan of the "Dark Fiction" (alright, horror!) genre I have enjoyed the various entries into the Crow universe. I must point out that I truly loved both Poppy Brite's and David Bischoff's entries into the field. Sometow leaves me flat. Flat is the best word to decribe the entire work. I've not read much written by the man, but the reader is left with a distinct sense of distance throughout the thje piece. Perhaps this is an embodiment of the often stated Bhuddist notion that life is illusion, so we should not be overly concerened with what goes on on earth. Unfortunately, this philosophy acrries over in the book and one doesn't really care about the characters, the events, or the settings. Its a great deal of beautiful fluff waiting for plot and characterization to save it.

I've read four of these fan fiction novels based on the Crow, and of those four this one was the worst. Author S.P. Somtow paints a very realistic picture of Thailand's lurid, teeming sex industry, and gives us characters that are just barely deep enough to care about. However, his telling of this story using the character and spiritual concepts created by J. O'Barr falls way short of the mark. This book starts out good, but slowly disintegrates until, toward the end, it's impossible to tell just exactly what plane of reality (if any) the characters are on, what physical or spiritual form they've taken, what level of transcendence they've attained, or even what's going on in relation to the storyline. The main character who eventually becomes the vengeful spirit returning from the dead doesn't even die until 3/4ths of the way through the book, and when he finally dies it's still completely unclear, even to him, who it is he must exact revenge upon. All the 'bad guys' are on different levels of involvement with the main character which makes their importance nebulous, and some of the story seems to serve no purpose other than to further describe the unbridled carnal indulgence that is Bangkok's sex industry. But the main thing that really annoyed me about this book is the author's use of big words like 'obsequiousness,' 'superannuated,' and other literary gems of pretention that I'm willing to bet did not come from his personal vocabulary . . . especially since English isn't even his native tongue. The author needs to learn that knowing how to use a Thesaurus doesn't make you a better writer. I find it especially comical that these $50 words stand out on the page, easily discernible from the plain, everyday-use language which makes up 98% of the book. The author also makes a genuine effort to write in a dreamy, wistful, neo-gothic style . . . and again fails miserably. He ends up sounding like a nodding heroin addict trying to recount a fading memory and stay awake at the same time. My advice: avoid this book like you would the diseased Thai prostitutes which are central to its failed plot.

I am a big fan of The Crow, so naturally I had to check it out. All in all, it was a good book. Some parts a little grotesque and the ending a little to short, but all in all a good book. It had me intrested in to try out another Crow series book.

this to me did not seem like a crow book. it was to magical and the crow is only in the book himself for about 15 pages its a alright book but dont read it expecting to see the crow.