Customer Reviews

The Music of Razors

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not that it is particularly relevant for a fictional book to get historical detail perfect, but let's correct the Publishers Weekly's falsehoods before reviewing the beauty, uniqueness and brilliance of Rogers' writing.

First Publishers Weekly claim that it is an anachronism that 1840s Boston had gas-lighting. They're wrong:

"In 1820 Paris took up the problem of using gas for her public street lighting. As soon as the two leading cities of the old world, London and Paris, had discovered this method of lighting their publicc ways and bridges, we find that the City of Boston, in the new world, through some of its public-spirited citizens, carefully began the study of the subject. Boston was one of the pioneers in using gas in America... in 1822 the Boston Gas Light Company was formed."

Richards, J.L. Richards. (1908) 'The Boston Consolidated Gas Company: Its Relation to the Public, Its Employees and Investors' in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 31, Control of Municipal Public Service Corporations, pp. 59-65.

It is accurate to discuss gas lighting in Boston in 1840.

Now, let's discuss bacteria. Bacteria was discovered around 1700 by Antony van Leeuwenhoek. Since then it was known that little animals were visible under microscope and that it was likely that they had something to do with human health. It is reasonable that doctors of the 19th century discussed bacteria, regardless of exactly how much information they knew at the time.

So, The Publishers Weekly have got THEIR facts wrong. They have also decided that the only way to write a wondrous, fantastical Neil Gaiman-style plot is be Neil Gaiman. Thank goodness Rogers does not read like Gaiman.

I am awe-struck by this new writer's energy and unique voice. Read this book, it will change the way you think and open you to ideas you barely knew you were capable of. I eagerly await his next novel.

The best writing convinces you that what you have believed is totally wrong. Writers like Rogers take your neatly ordered world and reshuffle the deck til you're not sure of the values or reality.

In the case of "Music of Razors", the reason the monster under the bed is so fiercely ugly is to protect the child--and there is a place that's not Heaven or Hell--and far worse than anyone ever thought.

Rogers' writing is like good chocolate: strong, bitter, and dark. Especially fascinating is the counterpoint between the child Walter, stuck in his body and forced to combine with a former foe to save his sister, and Dorian, wanting to wield the power of immortality.

I deducted half a star from the book's review because I did get lost more than once in time and place and had to re-read to pick up the thread. Overall, this is a very good dark mystery that will leave you haunted and wondering for days.

Sadly, this GREAT piece of literature has not gotten the recognition it rightfully deserves. A lot of reviewers have compared "Music of Razors" by Cameron Rogers to the works of Neil Gaiman . . . there are, indeed, similarities in tone and style, but frankly this is better than anything Gaiman has ever written (and I really like Gaiman's novels). How can I spew such blasphemy? Well, try as I might, I could never fully immerse myself in Gaiman's books -- they read like modern day fairy tales and his protagonists are mildly annoying and only somewhat sympathetic. When something dreadful happens to one of them, I find it difficult to care. Conversely, I actually lost myself in "Music of Razors" . . . absolutely brilliant characterization and an amazing story. I genuinely felt for these characters -- even the "constructs" -- and actually wept over several scenes (that is a first for me -- only two other books, "Straydog" and "Blood Meridian" have brought me to tears: and only for one scene in each). The fate of the Closet Monster and the White Tiger are heartrending and profoundly moving.

"Music of Razors" by Cameron Rogers is the BEST novel ever written in the "Dark Urban Fantasy" genre. Deep, dark, literary, and profound. An obscure gem. Read it and weep.

A finely and convincingly crafted debut novel from Cameron Rogers, the world of The Music of Razors is alternately disturbing, dark, beautiful and familiar. It spans several centuries, and tells the story of Walter, a normal suburban kid, who at 4 made a choice that would affect him and his unborn sister and family, and involve him with Henry, a 150 year old man who made a demonic deal and lost, and now needs Walter or Hope, Walter's younger sister to extricate himself from the mess that he created. A great read, I highly recommend it to anyone who has ever believed in the closet monster.

I'm not a frequent reader of horror or fantasy, but I downloaded this while it was free on the Kindle and couldn't put it down. It's Edgar Allen Poe meets Stephen King. The writing is fluid, the story line is interesting and the characters grab your interest for the most part. Excellent for a first novel.

A student of medicine meets a group of "exceptional" youths, intent on contacting a certain spirit through their seances; a doctor, running from the law, meets a mutilated man and a friend from his youth; a young boy, consumed by his own childhood monster, becomes his sister's monster to save her from a shadowed man that wants her to take his place, living an eternal life and wielding magical tools made from the bones of an angel. In this debut novel, Rogers unites these three stories into one narrative that traces tools of extraordinary power down to a young boy and girl from our own era as they discover and create their identities. Delicately plotted, heavily atmospheric is a way that is both magical and haunting, this is a readable, richly conceived story. Music of Razors is not without its faults--the mythos is arbitrary, and the ending is rushed and lacks the art of the rest of the book--but on the whole this is a promising debut novel and I recommend it, if with some caveats.

The Music of Razors has two primary strengths: a delicate plot, and exceptional visuals. At first, the plot seems complex--too complex, certainly, for the book's length. But as it grows, it combines three stories, three timelines, into one coherent narrative. Rogers does this with skill, such as the independent introduction of each plotline naturally introduces all of the characters, making them both human and complete, and the combination of the plot lines is logical, uniting the storylines and simplifying the storytelling to manageable complexity without ever over-simplifying it. The plot shows careful planning and real artistry, and Rogers excels at both. The second strength are the images, and these are exceptional: exceptionally haunting, exceptionally pervasive, exceptionally conceived. The dim magical atmosphere and the unsettling, haunting images illustrate each aspect of the story but, to say it better, they do more: they draw the reader in and create the dense, mysterious landscape that he explores. Sometimes, these images are overdrawn or excessive, but on the whole they are the delight of the book. Fans of retold fairy tales, of authors such as Neil Gaiman, of dark fantasy will be drawn to and enjoy this text on the images, the atmosphere alone.

For these strengths, the novel has failing as well: an arbitrary mythos, and an increasingly rushed and incoherent conclusion. The mythos that the story is based on--the bones of an angel, murdered by another angel, which were turned into tools of semi-divine power--does not reference back to any real mythology, and only obliquely connects to Christianity. It is seems arbitrary because it indeed is, and this fact weakens the supposed instinctual connection between the "extraordinary" students that draw together and removes the story from the religious and mythological plain that it claims to inhabit. However, even if the angel bones mythos is accepted at face value, its role in the book plays out in strange ways--at the beginning, it gradually leads the characters together and directs the key points of the plot; at the end, it directs every moment of the plot in actions that are little more than plot twists, and so are unjustified and unexplored and even strip away all intent and free will. This, combined with the increasingly fragmented narration of the book's last chapters, makes for an ending that feels both arbitrary and rushed. The book suffers for it: The plotting falters, as does the pacing and the storytelling itself; the skill of the book dissolves into a conclusion that feels hasty, unexplored, unsatisfying.

(I should also note that the text could use some editing--both to remove the fragmentary passages at the conclusion, or at least to unify them with the rest of the text, and to correct a few accidental shifts from past into present tense.)

I enjoyed this book, on the whole. I picked it up because of the Neil Gaiman blurb/recommendation, and was pleased to find an equivalent atmosphere--not a copy, not by a long shot, but rather an atmosphere and rich scheme of images that is equally enticing, dark, and atmospheric, and also magical but within our own mundane realm. Between this well-conceived atmosphere and the careful plot, The Music of Razors is an enjoyable read and a very strong first novel. I wish that the mythos had some sort of historical connection, and more than that I wish that the end of the book had shown the same care in plotting and in storytelling as is present in the rest. As a result, I do consider this a faulted book, and so I recommend with caveats: this is an atmospheric and enjoyable read, but it is far from perfect and feels a bit unfinished. I look forward to more from Cameron Rogers--I believe he does show great promise as an author.

The Music of Razors starts off like an old oak with dense foliage hardly letting in any light. As you read, the darkness of winter comes and the leaves begin to fall away. You then sense a faint path gingerly leading you along the fine stems, followed by sturdier branches and so forth. You delve further into the roots and you feel that you are being lead somewhere deep and dark with an uncertain future. I have savoured every part of the journey, watching the leaves fall - one at a time.

It has been a great pleasure reading such a beautiful, imaginative, honest and true book. I very much look forward to reading more work by Cameron Rogers.

This book is intricate, complex and beautiful! I wonder why this author only wrote one book? such talent and imagination.

As a fan of Neil Gaiman and the Brothers Quay this book certainly resonated for me. I was entranced by its mythic qualities and sense of dark urban magic. It brings to life the things we always suspect are going on if we could just peek underneath the surface of reality.

In 19th-century Boston, a brilliant medical student falls in with a group of young spiritualists, only to see his hopes and plans go terribly awry as a result of their experimentations. A century and a half later, he walks the earth weary and immortal, wielding instruments made from the bones of a murdered angel, and seeking to discharge the task that he took upon himself at the height of his despair. Finally seeing a candidate worthy of becoming his successor, he enters the dreams of a boy named Walter. The young and frightened Walter learns that all he needs to do to banish his bad dreams is tell the monster in his closet to go away - only to learn too late that it was the monster who stood between him and a force banished from the universe at the beginning of time.

If the above summary sounds complicated, it doesn't even begin to represent the full depths of the mythology of The Music of Razors. This is a universe big enough for fallen angels, closet monsters, and a clockwork ballerina to coexist over several centuries and in the same 300 pages. The novel's pace and complexity are undeniably demanding, especially in the beginning chapters - Rogers does not patronize his reader's intelligence - but the reward is that every time the page is turned, you uncover a new secret of this strange mythology, and your mind constantly stretches to keep up with the narrative's wicked twists and hinted truths. All of these elements are satisfyingly and convincingly intertwined, and the ending of the novel delivers a volley of heavy emotional punches before leaving the reader with that perfect combination of feeling fulfilled, yet still wanting more.

Rogers' writing is briskly dark, his brief sentences filled with a subtle, glancing menace, capable of both brutality and a wistful, fairy-tale loveliness. He seems to write with a grim kind of exhilaration, as aware of the emotional and spiritual weight of the story and its characters as he is of the breathtaking leaps of imagination employed in fully animating it.

This is a novel that offers immediate, visceral pleasure and sorrow, as well as food for later thought - in particular, Rogers has fascinating things to say about the role of our fears in shaping our selves. The panoply of fantastical elements also means that there is something here for all tastes, from historical fantasy to horror. All in all, I could not recommend this novel more; this is the best and most memorable fantasy novel I have read in recent years, and I know that many of its denizens will be staying with me for the rest of my life.