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Tide of Stone
The Time-Ball Tower of Tempuston houses the worst criminals in history. Given the option of the death penalty or eternal life, they chose eternal life. They have a long time to regret that choice.
348 pages, Paperback
First published April 19, 2018
13 people are currently reading
349 people want to read
About the author
Kaaron Warren
153 books195 followersI wanted to be a writer from a very young age, and wrote my first proper short story at 14. I also wrote a novel that year, called “Skin Deep”‘, which I really need to type up.
I started sending stories out when I was about 23, and sold my first one, “White Bed”", in 1993. Since then I’ve sold about 150 short stories, seven short story collections and six novels.
I’m an avid and broad reader but I also like reality TV so don’t always expect intelligent conversation from me.
I started sending stories out when I was about 23, and sold my first one, “White Bed”", in 1993. Since then I’ve sold about 150 short stories, seven short story collections and six novels.
I’m an avid and broad reader but I also like reality TV so don’t always expect intelligent conversation from me.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
September 25, 2018
Tide of Stone follows a year in the career of Phillipa Muskett, who has been selected as the 2014 Keeper of the Time Ball Tower. The prestigious job comes with a list of duties, not least the upkeep of prisoners who live in the tower. Why, you might ask, would convicts be kept inside a building constructed to measure time? The question goes to the very heart of this strange and provocative novel by Kaaron Warren. The inescapable answer is: to remind those condemned to serve life sentences that time never stops passing and that, for them, time is meaningless.
In a fictional society matching reality in many ways except a few, crucial ones the most awful criminals, the ones who have committed acts beyond the understanding of ‘decent’ citizens, are allowed to choose the death penalty or eternal life. ‘Eternity’ doesn’t mean forever here, only an exceptional lifespan guaranteed to bring misery since the method of extending life does not stop the physical aging process. Bodies break down, wear away, fall apart, and still the prisoners are unable to die.
It’s a hell of a concept and it would be enough for a substantial novel. Warren goes beyond this, taking the story to ever more complex and disturbing levels.
Phillipa is ambitious and eager to begin her year of service. She’s proud of her family’s contribution to the care of the Time Ball Tower, and undaunted by the prospect of being solely responsible for the prisoners housed there. She meets with previous Keepers and accepts a batch of notes recorded during their tenure.
The notes of the Keepers offer a glimpse of the past and allow us to consider how they managed their charges. Inevitably we compare their insights (or lack of insight) to Phillipa’s experience. What she goes through can be viewed as an extraordinary and extraordinarily dark adventure. Over the course of the year she explores the hideous histories of the prisoners and examines both her own morality and the morality of the society she represents.
Written with verve and wit, Tide of Stone flips inside out some of our cherished ideas about crime and punishment. In order to assure her successful future, Phillipa is willing to do the harshest and most horrifying work available. Over time she comes to question the value of that success. While the Time Ball drops again, and again, she begins to understand why she was chosen for the job and what it says about the world at large that this would be considered an excellent opportunity.
Highly recommended.
In a fictional society matching reality in many ways except a few, crucial ones the most awful criminals, the ones who have committed acts beyond the understanding of ‘decent’ citizens, are allowed to choose the death penalty or eternal life. ‘Eternity’ doesn’t mean forever here, only an exceptional lifespan guaranteed to bring misery since the method of extending life does not stop the physical aging process. Bodies break down, wear away, fall apart, and still the prisoners are unable to die.
It’s a hell of a concept and it would be enough for a substantial novel. Warren goes beyond this, taking the story to ever more complex and disturbing levels.
Phillipa is ambitious and eager to begin her year of service. She’s proud of her family’s contribution to the care of the Time Ball Tower, and undaunted by the prospect of being solely responsible for the prisoners housed there. She meets with previous Keepers and accepts a batch of notes recorded during their tenure.
The notes of the Keepers offer a glimpse of the past and allow us to consider how they managed their charges. Inevitably we compare their insights (or lack of insight) to Phillipa’s experience. What she goes through can be viewed as an extraordinary and extraordinarily dark adventure. Over the course of the year she explores the hideous histories of the prisoners and examines both her own morality and the morality of the society she represents.
Written with verve and wit, Tide of Stone flips inside out some of our cherished ideas about crime and punishment. In order to assure her successful future, Phillipa is willing to do the harshest and most horrifying work available. Over time she comes to question the value of that success. While the Time Ball drops again, and again, she begins to understand why she was chosen for the job and what it says about the world at large that this would be considered an excellent opportunity.
Highly recommended.
June 17, 2020
3.5 rounded up. This is a chilling, cinematic story that gets a little bogged down under trivialities. Especially in the first 1/2 the book. But when it gets cooking, it becomes an evil thing that will twist inside your brain.
June 2, 2018
I guarantee you’ll have never read anything quite like this before. Unique ideas and one of the most harrowing scenes I’ve ever read!
January 5, 2020
I was overall quite disappointed with the book. It is an easy read and I cannot exactly say that I regret finishing it (though early on I considered putting it down).
What this novel has is a strong premise: there's an island-prison where the worst criminals you can imagine (mass/serial killers, mostly) are made nearly immortal (though in a way that makes them physically decrepit) and kept confined. Our protagonist is the keeper of the prison.
There are many questions that naturally arise with such a premise: could anyone deserve such punishment? could such punishment serve any purpose? what is it about us such that we can endorse/tolerate/perpetrate this punishment? what does it do to a person to punished in this way? what does it require of or do to the perpetrator of such a punishment?
These aren't not the concerns of the book, but it doesn't really deal with them in any satisfying or complex way. Instead of approaching its premise in a way that's concerned with its thematic possibilities, it's more concerned with narrative. My disappointment here is partly idiosyncratic (I would prefer something more fabular, less conventional), but I also don't think it executes on a straightforward narrative particularly well.
In general, not much happens here. I would be completely fine with that if the not-much-happening were more compelling. The book has three natural parts to it. There's the introduction, before the protagonist, Phillipa, gets on the island, an interlude where we get the accounts of all the other keepers, and then the main body of her stay on the island. The first part was quite boring and unimpactful, consisting of exposition and character interaction.
The problem here, which is a problem I had throughout, is that there are no compelling characters here. The protagonist is neither intense nor complex. She is believable enough; her behavior and her choice to become a keeper make sense given what is revealed about her (keepers are usually very successful, which she wants to be, much of her family were keepers before her, she buys into the idea that these people are so evil as to deserve any punishment), but she is not so motivated or so conflicted for these choices to be really interesting. She's the first-person narrator for most of the book and she just doesn't have a compelling voice: she feels and sounds like a very ordinary person, but again not so much as to feel fully real and present. Likewise none of the other characters she interacts with (her friend, her family, the other keeprs) are that sharply drawn or have much interesting contact with her. So the first part is barely strung by with the slight interest of the worldbuilding. It's tolerable, but you could be forgiven for stopping here.
The most interesting section of the book is when our protagonist reads all the accounts the previous keepers have made of their stays. I found most of the prose serviceable but bland, though here it tries to branch out and try on different voices (though it never gets to the point of being experimental; it's still played pretty safe). The problem is that (1) there are way too many accounts here to read one after another, given (2) most of them are short and there's a lot of common ground that keeps getting retread. One of the main problems here that carries over into the final sections is that the dynamic between the keepers and prisoners is just not strong enough. We get told, in overly straightforward news-headline sort of way, the crimes of the prisoners, though not enough to sustain even a lurid interest, the prisoners are visibly evil enough to be unsympathetic but not enough to be horrifying (similarly their physical deterioration is enough to be unpleasant but not really sickening); they attempt to play on and manipulate the keepers, but there's no charisma, no charm, not even enough repulsiveness to carry the interest here. Similarly the keepers are cruel or they're slightly indulgent, but they're never viscerally, mortifyingly cruel (or not presented strongly enough to pull a reaction) or genuinely kind. I might briefly mention here that there's a lot of weird psycho-sexual and some power dynamic stuff that could have gone somewhere but just does not at all. I think had these accounts been pared down (to maybe ten rather than over a hundred) and better integrated into the narrative, something like this could have worked by grounding us in the reality of the position but also the ideology and downright lies the keepers tell each other.
These problems mostly carry over into the final part, though at least we have just a single character we can invest in and get more actual details from. None of the routine of her interacting with the prisoners, fulfilling her duties, pulls much interest. There's some change in power dynamic as she establishes some rapport with these weird creatures, but there's not really much by way of character development (we see her waver in her commitment to seeing through the full year's commitment, but that's just whether she wants to keep doing this thing that sucks but pays well; you could get the same story concerning a night-shift security guard). The only substantial plot development comes with a couple of last minute plot twists. These disappoint not because the twists don't make sense (they're reasonably well set up), but because they just drive home that otherwise there's so little agency and conflict in the story by trying to paper over that fact with revelations (about characters we did not care about).
To sum up, one could write a good book with this premise. This is not that book. Despite my complaining, it's competently enough put together and easy to get through, but I don't think it is worth your time.
What this novel has is a strong premise: there's an island-prison where the worst criminals you can imagine (mass/serial killers, mostly) are made nearly immortal (though in a way that makes them physically decrepit) and kept confined. Our protagonist is the keeper of the prison.
There are many questions that naturally arise with such a premise: could anyone deserve such punishment? could such punishment serve any purpose? what is it about us such that we can endorse/tolerate/perpetrate this punishment? what does it do to a person to punished in this way? what does it require of or do to the perpetrator of such a punishment?
These aren't not the concerns of the book, but it doesn't really deal with them in any satisfying or complex way. Instead of approaching its premise in a way that's concerned with its thematic possibilities, it's more concerned with narrative. My disappointment here is partly idiosyncratic (I would prefer something more fabular, less conventional), but I also don't think it executes on a straightforward narrative particularly well.
In general, not much happens here. I would be completely fine with that if the not-much-happening were more compelling. The book has three natural parts to it. There's the introduction, before the protagonist, Phillipa, gets on the island, an interlude where we get the accounts of all the other keepers, and then the main body of her stay on the island. The first part was quite boring and unimpactful, consisting of exposition and character interaction.
The problem here, which is a problem I had throughout, is that there are no compelling characters here. The protagonist is neither intense nor complex. She is believable enough; her behavior and her choice to become a keeper make sense given what is revealed about her (keepers are usually very successful, which she wants to be, much of her family were keepers before her, she buys into the idea that these people are so evil as to deserve any punishment), but she is not so motivated or so conflicted for these choices to be really interesting. She's the first-person narrator for most of the book and she just doesn't have a compelling voice: she feels and sounds like a very ordinary person, but again not so much as to feel fully real and present. Likewise none of the other characters she interacts with (her friend, her family, the other keeprs) are that sharply drawn or have much interesting contact with her. So the first part is barely strung by with the slight interest of the worldbuilding. It's tolerable, but you could be forgiven for stopping here.
The most interesting section of the book is when our protagonist reads all the accounts the previous keepers have made of their stays. I found most of the prose serviceable but bland, though here it tries to branch out and try on different voices (though it never gets to the point of being experimental; it's still played pretty safe). The problem is that (1) there are way too many accounts here to read one after another, given (2) most of them are short and there's a lot of common ground that keeps getting retread. One of the main problems here that carries over into the final sections is that the dynamic between the keepers and prisoners is just not strong enough. We get told, in overly straightforward news-headline sort of way, the crimes of the prisoners, though not enough to sustain even a lurid interest, the prisoners are visibly evil enough to be unsympathetic but not enough to be horrifying (similarly their physical deterioration is enough to be unpleasant but not really sickening); they attempt to play on and manipulate the keepers, but there's no charisma, no charm, not even enough repulsiveness to carry the interest here. Similarly the keepers are cruel or they're slightly indulgent, but they're never viscerally, mortifyingly cruel (or not presented strongly enough to pull a reaction) or genuinely kind. I might briefly mention here that there's a lot of weird psycho-sexual and some power dynamic stuff that could have gone somewhere but just does not at all. I think had these accounts been pared down (to maybe ten rather than over a hundred) and better integrated into the narrative, something like this could have worked by grounding us in the reality of the position but also the ideology and downright lies the keepers tell each other.
These problems mostly carry over into the final part, though at least we have just a single character we can invest in and get more actual details from. None of the routine of her interacting with the prisoners, fulfilling her duties, pulls much interest. There's some change in power dynamic as she establishes some rapport with these weird creatures, but there's not really much by way of character development (we see her waver in her commitment to seeing through the full year's commitment, but that's just whether she wants to keep doing this thing that sucks but pays well; you could get the same story concerning a night-shift security guard). The only substantial plot development comes with a couple of last minute plot twists. These disappoint not because the twists don't make sense (they're reasonably well set up), but because they just drive home that otherwise there's so little agency and conflict in the story by trying to paper over that fact with revelations (about characters we did not care about).
To sum up, one could write a good book with this premise. This is not that book. Despite my complaining, it's competently enough put together and easy to get through, but I don't think it is worth your time.
March 4, 2020
DNF.
Tide of Stone? Tied to a stone...and thrown into the deepest part of a lake would be more fitting for this mess of a book. Drivel.
Tide of Stone? Tied to a stone...and thrown into the deepest part of a lake would be more fitting for this mess of a book. Drivel.
October 11, 2019
Finished: 11.10.2019
Genre: speculative fiction (horror)
Rating: D
#RIPXIV
#AWW2019
Conclusion:
Winner Aurealis Award 2018 Best Horror novel
....no prize from me!
Here is why...
My Thoughts
Genre: speculative fiction (horror)
Rating: D
#RIPXIV
#AWW2019
Conclusion:
Winner Aurealis Award 2018 Best Horror novel
....no prize from me!
Here is why...
My Thoughts
September 29, 2018
I was very impressed by Warren's story The Human Moth and have been looking forward to her novels since I read it. Tide of Stone did not disappoint. It is one of those books clearly kindred to the "weird" genre but completely unrelated to its cosmic horror "mainstream." It most resembles Kafka I think, both in the character of its fantasy and the intimate anonymity of its narration. But is somehow more approachable, even casual, about its protagonist, a spin I enjoyed.
Overall, I thought it was really well done and makes a lot of cool choices but somehow never managed to cross the hump from admiration to love. Part of that has to do with the odd narrative structure, which diverges for the middle third into a complete annal (as in year-by-year account) of over a century of history. More of it, though, I think was that the first and last thirds were too short to build as much investment and drama as the ending maybe deserves. That fits with the general ethos of the book, which is kind of this "life goes on" detachment, but I can't help feel like there was a more powerful dynamic to be reached between the banal exposure to evil in the tower and the revelations at the end. Or maybe it's just as simple as I'm missing Philippa's immediate emotional responses to those revelations. Still, I liked her character and the worldbuilding, especially in the way it bridged into its mythic-time backstory.
Overall, I thought it was really well done and makes a lot of cool choices but somehow never managed to cross the hump from admiration to love. Part of that has to do with the odd narrative structure, which diverges for the middle third into a complete annal (as in year-by-year account) of over a century of history. More of it, though, I think was that the first and last thirds were too short to build as much investment and drama as the ending maybe deserves. That fits with the general ethos of the book, which is kind of this "life goes on" detachment, but I can't help feel like there was a more powerful dynamic to be reached between the banal exposure to evil in the tower and the revelations at the end. Or maybe it's just as simple as I'm missing Philippa's immediate emotional responses to those revelations. Still, I liked her character and the worldbuilding, especially in the way it bridged into its mythic-time backstory.
July 17, 2020
“There's one thing out there... you'll need to look for it. You'll know it when you find it.”
“Don't let boredom eat away at you.”
“Be careful. Look after yourself. Think of the future. Don't be too curious. Don't think you need to explore everything. Don't go too far down.”
Phillipa Muskett, appointed as Keeper for 2014, receives all sorts of advice. She herself has been preparing her whole life, in various ways, for the year she will spend in the Time Ball Tower, tending to those imprisoned there. The experience either makes a person or breaks them irrecoverably, and she is determined to be among those who succeed.
Part personal horror, part Stanford prison experiment, part sheer poetry, Tide of Stone is a masterpiece. Never afraid to ask the big questions or to place evil under her literary microscope, in this, her fifth novel, Warren opens with the question of what is normal and abnormal, and what depends on the segregation of the two. Normal prisoners are not kept in the Tower; this is a fate reserved for “The heinous, the unrepentant, the undeniably guilty.” Those for whom no amount of suffering could possibly be enough. Since the institution of the Tower and the Treatment in 1869, there have been those who have disagreed with the consensus, but in Tempustown, they are never many. "We're keeping society safe, Phillipa," her grandmother tells her. "Don't ever forget the importance of what you're doing."
Since 1869. The reader will glimpse every single year.
The reports left by previous Keepers introduce the Tower, its grand mission and the inmates. But although Phillipa is told they are the truest things she will ever read, they are far from transparent. One goes to the trouble of explaining that his predecessor didn't actually write his report, others that the Keeper before them was hallucinating or insane. What is clear is that such things were never meant to become common knowledge, and that nothing can truly prepare someone for what lies in the tower.
The two worlds of Tempustown (three hours drive from Perth) and the Tower are evoked vividly, , with competing textures of salt, skin and spice -- rust, stone and unthinkable stench. Differing qualities of sunlight. Phillipa has a whole life to leave behind, that dovetails with life in contemporary Australia in ways both subtle and not-so. But beyond this, Warren has created a book in which the actual process of reading becomes unnerving. The ball drops. Dates accrue. Six words on an otherwise blank page. The ball drops. The tiniest details become potentially significant to the reader, just as they have to the inmates. The ball drops. The length of Phillipa's report, when compared to that of her predecessors, inspires alarm and mistrust. The dread of what might happen wars with the fear that nothing will, that just as the founders imagined, this is the worst horror possible. And yet, it is insanely hard to put this book down. The ball drops.
This book contains so many conflicts. Society's view of the elderly, as repositories of wisdom andas disposal problems. Institutional cruelty versus that of the individual. But for me, the overriding theme became that of duty. The duty to maintain tradition, to uphold received morality, as opposed to the duty of each generation to examine those things and decide for themselves.
Of course, the normal defines itself by the abnormal.
Of course, the data is skewed.
The ball drops.
“Don't let boredom eat away at you.”
“Be careful. Look after yourself. Think of the future. Don't be too curious. Don't think you need to explore everything. Don't go too far down.”
Phillipa Muskett, appointed as Keeper for 2014, receives all sorts of advice. She herself has been preparing her whole life, in various ways, for the year she will spend in the Time Ball Tower, tending to those imprisoned there. The experience either makes a person or breaks them irrecoverably, and she is determined to be among those who succeed.
Part personal horror, part Stanford prison experiment, part sheer poetry, Tide of Stone is a masterpiece. Never afraid to ask the big questions or to place evil under her literary microscope, in this, her fifth novel, Warren opens with the question of what is normal and abnormal, and what depends on the segregation of the two. Normal prisoners are not kept in the Tower; this is a fate reserved for “The heinous, the unrepentant, the undeniably guilty.” Those for whom no amount of suffering could possibly be enough. Since the institution of the Tower and the Treatment in 1869, there have been those who have disagreed with the consensus, but in Tempustown, they are never many. "We're keeping society safe, Phillipa," her grandmother tells her. "Don't ever forget the importance of what you're doing."
Since 1869. The reader will glimpse every single year.
The reports left by previous Keepers introduce the Tower, its grand mission and the inmates. But although Phillipa is told they are the truest things she will ever read, they are far from transparent. One goes to the trouble of explaining that his predecessor didn't actually write his report, others that the Keeper before them was hallucinating or insane. What is clear is that such things were never meant to become common knowledge, and that nothing can truly prepare someone for what lies in the tower.
The two worlds of Tempustown (three hours drive from Perth) and the Tower are evoked vividly, , with competing textures of salt, skin and spice -- rust, stone and unthinkable stench. Differing qualities of sunlight. Phillipa has a whole life to leave behind, that dovetails with life in contemporary Australia in ways both subtle and not-so. But beyond this, Warren has created a book in which the actual process of reading becomes unnerving. The ball drops. Dates accrue. Six words on an otherwise blank page. The ball drops. The tiniest details become potentially significant to the reader, just as they have to the inmates. The ball drops. The length of Phillipa's report, when compared to that of her predecessors, inspires alarm and mistrust. The dread of what might happen wars with the fear that nothing will, that just as the founders imagined, this is the worst horror possible. And yet, it is insanely hard to put this book down. The ball drops.
This book contains so many conflicts. Society's view of the elderly, as repositories of wisdom andas disposal problems. Institutional cruelty versus that of the individual. But for me, the overriding theme became that of duty. The duty to maintain tradition, to uphold received morality, as opposed to the duty of each generation to examine those things and decide for themselves.
Of course, the normal defines itself by the abnormal.
Of course, the data is skewed.
The ball drops.
May 3, 2019
Amazing exploration of tradition and humanity. Bone chillingly horrifying. Full of sadness and regret and in the end, hope.
February 2, 2021
Tide of Stone is an admirably ambitious work. The novel is told through a series of Keepers' reports - Keepers being the Wardens of a prison for immortals - that detail the mundanity and sadism of imprisoning the undying. With over a hundred narrators, the book is sweeping in it's scope and effective in conveying the depravity and agony of the slow torture that is aging without end. The central premise is creepy and the setting of the isolated, prison tower evocative. I enjoyed Warren's exploration of justice and punishment.
The work does, however, suffer from a meandering middle. There is little variation between the writing style of the Keepers' reports. With more than a hundred different men and women writing over the span of a near century and a half, there needed to be more individuality to their voices, to better convey their personalities and to provide more variation for the reader. There are some memorable exceptions to this, but I wish Warren had gone further in individualizing each of the Keepers and their writing.
Still, the book is excellent, and deserves to have been read more than the number of reviews here suggests that it has been.
The work does, however, suffer from a meandering middle. There is little variation between the writing style of the Keepers' reports. With more than a hundred different men and women writing over the span of a near century and a half, there needed to be more individuality to their voices, to better convey their personalities and to provide more variation for the reader. There are some memorable exceptions to this, but I wish Warren had gone further in individualizing each of the Keepers and their writing.
Still, the book is excellent, and deserves to have been read more than the number of reviews here suggests that it has been.
October 22, 2018
Very few books can be genuinely described as both original and unique, but Kaaron Warren’s Tide of Stone is exactly that. At turns haunting and grotesque, Warren threads the reader through a history of bizarre punishment as the novel winds up, like a clockwork alarm, towards the final, macabre sucker-punch. Warren promises and delivers her usual mastery of exquisite prose and brutal narrative in this exploration of humanity’s hunger for justice, whatever the cost. Highly recommended.
March 19, 2019
I love dystopian fiction. The concept was ingriguiging; life in prison isn’t a long enough punishment for the most heinous crimes. In this story, eternity as a helpless sentinent being was a reality.
I have to admit that I’m often a lazy reader. This book stimulates thinking.
I have to admit that I’m often a lazy reader. This book stimulates thinking.
August 16, 2020
Hola, chicos.
Ayer escuché un podcast de Jordi Wild en el que raja bastante de lo último de Starwars, así que se me han quedado algunas expresiones que suelta este yputuber, que es de mis favoritos junto con auron play, y voy a usarlas para decir que el final de este libro me pareció una "puta mierda". xD
Lo siento, pero es así. Creo que esta autora es conocida en España, ya que por medio de una página española conocí esta novela. Leí la sinopsis y me dio ganas de comprarla. La ordené. Llegó hace mucho tiempo pero la dejé en la pila hasta ayer.
Se lee rápido, y empieza lento pero bien. La historia es muy buena. El camino está bien y los mysterios que se van descubriendo hacen que quieras seguir adelante, pese a que la manera en que está escrita con frases muy cortas no Termina de cuadrarme. Creo que el cincuenta por ciento del libro son reportes de los guardianes de la prisión que aparece en la portada... y tienes que ir hilando lo que dicen, aunque cuando llega el último reporte, el de la Protagonista, empiezan a Armar la historia.
Como dije... el final es muy malo, pero el camino está bien. Además el secreto que está bien guardado es de lo mejor del libro, pero después... cuando queremos ver una historia cerrada... una historia bien cerrada que me hubiera hecho ponerla entre las mejores historias de terror que he leído, tiene que aparecer Kaaron Warren para cagarla con un deus ex machina que te cagas.
Hace poco escuché a otro you Tuber que era más calmado que jordi para comentar ciertas historias, y por ejemplo, valoraba mucho el camino (como en el caso de Lost). Está bien. Por eso no voy a decir que el libro es malo. No es malo. De hecho lo recomiendo, pero quedáis advertidos con ese final. En fin... nuevamente queda demostrado que el final es una de las cosas más imposantes de una historia.
A todo esto: de qué trata Tide of Stone? (Marea de piedra).
Es una novela epistolar (en realidad no son Cartas, sino reportes de guardiantes de una prisión de kriminales que excogieron la eternidad en vez de la muerte). La prisión se encuentra en una pequeña isla que pertenece a Australia, y los reportes van desde el año mil ochocientos y algo hasta el dos mil catorce. Empieza con el reporte de la guardiana actual, seguida del reporte del primer guardian. Este sujeto te cuenta su historia, la historia de la prisión y del arte de cómo preservar a las personas. Básicamente beben un jarabe (después se sabe de qué está hecho) que te "preserva". El que lo bebe pasa por un proceso de momificación automático que dura por siempre. Después de viejo pierde los órganos, su viel se vuelve dura y empieza descascararse. No recuerdo si pierden los ojos, pero por lo que escribe la prota, parece que los prisioneros ven. También hablan, pero lento... El punto es que llegan a un estado en que no pueden ni moverse. (Ahora que lo pienso para que diablos necesitan un guardián si van a estar en un estado en el que ni pueden escapar?) Demonios... mientras escribo esto me hace pensar que hasta la historia no está bien planteada....
En fin... todos los años va un Guardian para cuidar a los prisioneros y después de que se va... cambia... algunos se matan... a otro les va bien y se hacen famosos... Y bueno... el elemento que hizo que pillara el libro fue precisamente el de los prisioneros inmortales. Creo que no ha sido muy visto, aunque lo conozco bastante bien. 😉 Y en General me gusta. Creo que en la novela El ansia (de vampiros) hay algo parecido, aunque esta vez está muy bien ejecutado.
En Tide os Stone el fallo es el cierre. Una pena! Porque una cosa es que no te gusta, pero otra cosa es que esté mal hecho (mala idea lo de usar solo reportes de la guardiana para lo del final...). Otro fallo es el elemento de los corazones de piedra. No voy a decir nada más de esto. Ojo que en este caso puede ser que se me haya pasado algo, pero no lo creo, ya que regresé varias páginas de los reportes para ver si algo se me había quedado por ahí... aunque nada. Cuando aparece este elemento, use cara de WTF, ya que todos los elementos de la historia, en ese momento, debían de estar sobre la Mesa.
Cosas buenas: la originalidad, la ambientación, el personaje (no es de mis favoritos pero su cambio se nota), la historia que hay detrás (toda la construcción de la prisión y el Drama familiar), otra cosa que olvidaba es que es una novela generacional, ya que la prota es descendiente de los que construyeron la Torre, y los guardianes están vinculados con sangre, y por último, el secreto que le da una vuelta te tuerca a la historia. Como ven Tide of Stone tiene más elementos positivos que negativos, aunque los negativos pesan bastante.
Creo que hubiese quedado mejor un libro más grueso, escrito de otra manera, pero con la misma historia. Si algún día hacen una serie o una película, va quedar bastante bien.
Tide of stone se lleva una calificación de bien y 7.5 corazonesde piedra (aunque pudo tener 9 de no haber sido por ese final).
Saludos!
Ayer escuché un podcast de Jordi Wild en el que raja bastante de lo último de Starwars, así que se me han quedado algunas expresiones que suelta este yputuber, que es de mis favoritos junto con auron play, y voy a usarlas para decir que el final de este libro me pareció una "puta mierda". xD
Lo siento, pero es así. Creo que esta autora es conocida en España, ya que por medio de una página española conocí esta novela. Leí la sinopsis y me dio ganas de comprarla. La ordené. Llegó hace mucho tiempo pero la dejé en la pila hasta ayer.
Se lee rápido, y empieza lento pero bien. La historia es muy buena. El camino está bien y los mysterios que se van descubriendo hacen que quieras seguir adelante, pese a que la manera en que está escrita con frases muy cortas no Termina de cuadrarme. Creo que el cincuenta por ciento del libro son reportes de los guardianes de la prisión que aparece en la portada... y tienes que ir hilando lo que dicen, aunque cuando llega el último reporte, el de la Protagonista, empiezan a Armar la historia.
Como dije... el final es muy malo, pero el camino está bien. Además el secreto que está bien guardado es de lo mejor del libro, pero después... cuando queremos ver una historia cerrada... una historia bien cerrada que me hubiera hecho ponerla entre las mejores historias de terror que he leído, tiene que aparecer Kaaron Warren para cagarla con un deus ex machina que te cagas.
Hace poco escuché a otro you Tuber que era más calmado que jordi para comentar ciertas historias, y por ejemplo, valoraba mucho el camino (como en el caso de Lost). Está bien. Por eso no voy a decir que el libro es malo. No es malo. De hecho lo recomiendo, pero quedáis advertidos con ese final. En fin... nuevamente queda demostrado que el final es una de las cosas más imposantes de una historia.
A todo esto: de qué trata Tide of Stone? (Marea de piedra).
Es una novela epistolar (en realidad no son Cartas, sino reportes de guardiantes de una prisión de kriminales que excogieron la eternidad en vez de la muerte). La prisión se encuentra en una pequeña isla que pertenece a Australia, y los reportes van desde el año mil ochocientos y algo hasta el dos mil catorce. Empieza con el reporte de la guardiana actual, seguida del reporte del primer guardian. Este sujeto te cuenta su historia, la historia de la prisión y del arte de cómo preservar a las personas. Básicamente beben un jarabe (después se sabe de qué está hecho) que te "preserva". El que lo bebe pasa por un proceso de momificación automático que dura por siempre. Después de viejo pierde los órganos, su viel se vuelve dura y empieza descascararse. No recuerdo si pierden los ojos, pero por lo que escribe la prota, parece que los prisioneros ven. También hablan, pero lento... El punto es que llegan a un estado en que no pueden ni moverse. (Ahora que lo pienso para que diablos necesitan un guardián si van a estar en un estado en el que ni pueden escapar?) Demonios... mientras escribo esto me hace pensar que hasta la historia no está bien planteada....
En fin... todos los años va un Guardian para cuidar a los prisioneros y después de que se va... cambia... algunos se matan... a otro les va bien y se hacen famosos... Y bueno... el elemento que hizo que pillara el libro fue precisamente el de los prisioneros inmortales. Creo que no ha sido muy visto, aunque lo conozco bastante bien. 😉 Y en General me gusta. Creo que en la novela El ansia (de vampiros) hay algo parecido, aunque esta vez está muy bien ejecutado.
En Tide os Stone el fallo es el cierre. Una pena! Porque una cosa es que no te gusta, pero otra cosa es que esté mal hecho (mala idea lo de usar solo reportes de la guardiana para lo del final...). Otro fallo es el elemento de los corazones de piedra. No voy a decir nada más de esto. Ojo que en este caso puede ser que se me haya pasado algo, pero no lo creo, ya que regresé varias páginas de los reportes para ver si algo se me había quedado por ahí... aunque nada. Cuando aparece este elemento, use cara de WTF, ya que todos los elementos de la historia, en ese momento, debían de estar sobre la Mesa.
Cosas buenas: la originalidad, la ambientación, el personaje (no es de mis favoritos pero su cambio se nota), la historia que hay detrás (toda la construcción de la prisión y el Drama familiar), otra cosa que olvidaba es que es una novela generacional, ya que la prota es descendiente de los que construyeron la Torre, y los guardianes están vinculados con sangre, y por último, el secreto que le da una vuelta te tuerca a la historia. Como ven Tide of Stone tiene más elementos positivos que negativos, aunque los negativos pesan bastante.
Creo que hubiese quedado mejor un libro más grueso, escrito de otra manera, pero con la misma historia. Si algún día hacen una serie o una película, va quedar bastante bien.
Tide of stone se lleva una calificación de bien y 7.5 corazonesde piedra (aunque pudo tener 9 de no haber sido por ese final).
Saludos!
February 28, 2020
This was the whole point of it. The justification, the reason. The guilt he felt. Every day, for eternity, because anything else wasn't enough.
Setting:
This book takes place in modern day Australian, though that matters little. There are two major settings. A generic, modern, coastal town and the Time Ball tower prison on a small island just off shore.
Character:
Philippa: Our lead is a bland young woman of no particular character traits whatsoever.
Plot:
The worst criminals imaginable are given a choice: death or eternity in prison. Those who select the latter option find themselves "preserved" and shipped out to the Time Ball tower. Each year a new warden comes to the tower to watch over the inmates. This year that warden will be Philippa.
My Thoughts:
It’s an interesting premise surely, but the execution falls a bit short.
The book is divided into three major sections. The first 20% of the novel follows Philippa on shore, getting ready for her year long sojourn in the tower as the next keeper. While this section does serve as an introduction, it also feels overlong with needless filler thrown in. Philippa, preserving, and the tower are all easy concepts to understand and don’t require this much time before the main part of the story.
Except we don’t get the main part of the story next. Following the intro, the next 40% of the book is reports of previous tower keepers going back some 150 years or so with one for almost every year. Most of these are extremely short, less than a page, often just a couple sentences, and entirely needless. Before long the reports become repetitive with the same three things coming up over and over; mean keeper who tries to make the prisoners’ lives worse, ambivalent or uninterested keeper who does the job and nothing more, and the rare nice keeper who wants to help. This section really could have done with being redesigned. Take most of the years out entirely and instead spend the time focusing on 6-10 specific keepers
Finally at the last 40% of the novel we get Philippa in the tower as the keeper and… it’s just not that interesting. She goes to the tower and starts snooping around, encouraged by the prisoners and some things from the reports. The tower holds secrets of course but the secrets are of mild interest at best and the reveals are not shocking or amazing.
Philippa has no character growth, but she didn't really have a character in the first place so the fact that nothing didn't grow isn't terribly surprising.
Throughout the novel there is an unnecessary recurring sexual element as it’s mentioned that all of the inmates, despite being essentially withered husks not even really considerable as human anymore, are extremely horny all the time.
Ultimately it's a good idea but the story winds up being over long, repetitive, and dull.
Setting:
This book takes place in modern day Australian, though that matters little. There are two major settings. A generic, modern, coastal town and the Time Ball tower prison on a small island just off shore.
Character:
Philippa: Our lead is a bland young woman of no particular character traits whatsoever.
Plot:
The worst criminals imaginable are given a choice: death or eternity in prison. Those who select the latter option find themselves "preserved" and shipped out to the Time Ball tower. Each year a new warden comes to the tower to watch over the inmates. This year that warden will be Philippa.
My Thoughts:
It’s an interesting premise surely, but the execution falls a bit short.
The book is divided into three major sections. The first 20% of the novel follows Philippa on shore, getting ready for her year long sojourn in the tower as the next keeper. While this section does serve as an introduction, it also feels overlong with needless filler thrown in. Philippa, preserving, and the tower are all easy concepts to understand and don’t require this much time before the main part of the story.
Except we don’t get the main part of the story next. Following the intro, the next 40% of the book is reports of previous tower keepers going back some 150 years or so with one for almost every year. Most of these are extremely short, less than a page, often just a couple sentences, and entirely needless. Before long the reports become repetitive with the same three things coming up over and over; mean keeper who tries to make the prisoners’ lives worse, ambivalent or uninterested keeper who does the job and nothing more, and the rare nice keeper who wants to help. This section really could have done with being redesigned. Take most of the years out entirely and instead spend the time focusing on 6-10 specific keepers
Finally at the last 40% of the novel we get Philippa in the tower as the keeper and… it’s just not that interesting. She goes to the tower and starts snooping around, encouraged by the prisoners and some things from the reports. The tower holds secrets of course but the secrets are of mild interest at best and the reveals are not shocking or amazing.
Philippa has no character growth, but she didn't really have a character in the first place so the fact that nothing didn't grow isn't terribly surprising.
Throughout the novel there is an unnecessary recurring sexual element as it’s mentioned that all of the inmates, despite being essentially withered husks not even really considerable as human anymore, are extremely horny all the time.
Ultimately it's a good idea but the story winds up being over long, repetitive, and dull.
March 27, 2021
This is the kind of book that starts to haunt you once you begin reading. I wasn't sure what to make of it when I started, and I'm still not sure what to make of it now that I'm done. But you won't forget it in a hurry.
It's hard to pin down a genre. Spec-fic for sure, but also touches of horror and of mystery. Kaaron Warren takes you on a journey through through the best and worst of human hearts, of greed and desire, hate and revenge, leaving readers to flick back and forth between pages trying to determine who is lying or misunderstood, who is right and wrong. When does justice become revenge? At what points do jailers have too much compassion, or not enough?
Not an easy read by any means. These are dark subjects/themes that the author is exploring. But even beyond that there's a fair amount of torture porn and a heavy reliance on rape/sexual punishment (or even just the threat of) in a way that a HBO tv series would adore but this reader tires of seeing every time a book or series wants to prove it's 'dark' and 'adult'. There are still enough terrible things happening even if you removed the constant rape of female prisoners by male guards, and the constant threats of rape to the female guards from the male prisoners -_-
Rating: Technically 3.5 stars, but for once I'm rounding up simply because I know this novel will have more of a lasting impression than other novels I've recently rated 3.5 and rounded down to 3. (May change this in the future, who knows.)
It's hard to pin down a genre. Spec-fic for sure, but also touches of horror and of mystery. Kaaron Warren takes you on a journey through through the best and worst of human hearts, of greed and desire, hate and revenge, leaving readers to flick back and forth between pages trying to determine who is lying or misunderstood, who is right and wrong. When does justice become revenge? At what points do jailers have too much compassion, or not enough?
Not an easy read by any means. These are dark subjects/themes that the author is exploring. But even beyond that there's a fair amount of torture porn and a heavy reliance on rape/sexual punishment (or even just the threat of) in a way that a HBO tv series would adore but this reader tires of seeing every time a book or series wants to prove it's 'dark' and 'adult'. There are still enough terrible things happening even if you removed the constant rape of female prisoners by male guards, and the constant threats of rape to the female guards from the male prisoners -_-
Rating: Technically 3.5 stars, but for once I'm rounding up simply because I know this novel will have more of a lasting impression than other novels I've recently rated 3.5 and rounded down to 3. (May change this in the future, who knows.)
May 7, 2023
Phillipa prepares for her stint as the Keeper of a prison for the worst criminals, who have been 'preserved' so they will suffer for centuries.
I started this book thinking it was science fiction rather than horror based on the cover description. It was different from anything I've read. We get an introduction to Phillipa, who works in a nursing home. Then there are 100 pages of (very short) entries from Keepers from 1869 to 2013 that Phillipa reads to get a sense of the history of the place. The remaining pages are Phillipa's where she slowly realizes that perhaps there are secrets hidden here that even the Keepers don't talk about. It was eerie rather than out and out horrific and I liked the ending. It doesn't make me want to track down another book by the author but I enjoyed this one as I read.
I started this book thinking it was science fiction rather than horror based on the cover description. It was different from anything I've read. We get an introduction to Phillipa, who works in a nursing home. Then there are 100 pages of (very short) entries from Keepers from 1869 to 2013 that Phillipa reads to get a sense of the history of the place. The remaining pages are Phillipa's where she slowly realizes that perhaps there are secrets hidden here that even the Keepers don't talk about. It was eerie rather than out and out horrific and I liked the ending. It doesn't make me want to track down another book by the author but I enjoyed this one as I read.
August 15, 2020
A truly compelling and thoroughly original concept in this new Australian weird-horror. A town with an ominous Time Ball Tower which is used to house the worst of the worst criminals. Those criminals were faced with a choice; execution at the hands of the state, or eternal life within the walls of the tower where they slowly decay. The town also provides the "keepers" and a one year contract minding the tower and its prisoners will set a young person up financially for life. This is the story of Phillipa Musket; descendant of the town's population and set on getting in and out of her shift unscathed. What she doesn't bank on though is the slow warping of her mind - the isolation, the noises in the dark, the manipulative prisoners - things get weird. A great read with layers of dread.
May 13, 2020
This is the first time I’ve read Kaaron Warren and I am now a huge fan (and just picked up Grief Hole by her based on the quality of Tide of Stone).
This entire read was an immersive experience. Warren’s vision of an alternate Australia and Tempuston, with its Time Ball Tower is dark and cynical, although not without a few glimmers of light.
I don’t want to go into any details and ruin your time in the Time Ball Tower, but please do attend closely to the journal entries of the previous Keepers. You will be rewarded for your attention to detail (and this is where a print version would be superior to a Kindle edition).
I highly recommend this novel.
This entire read was an immersive experience. Warren’s vision of an alternate Australia and Tempuston, with its Time Ball Tower is dark and cynical, although not without a few glimmers of light.
I don’t want to go into any details and ruin your time in the Time Ball Tower, but please do attend closely to the journal entries of the previous Keepers. You will be rewarded for your attention to detail (and this is where a print version would be superior to a Kindle edition).
I highly recommend this novel.
June 10, 2019
Tide of Stone is a book pregnant with darkness, death and the undeath. It is gruesome in its murders, ruthless in its eternal punishments of the perpetrators—caged in a tower black with decay, the wind’s howl leaving them broken.
There is beauty in the writing, where tears are ‘opaque drops’ in the corners of a prisoner’s eyes, it is ‘like watching a memory of crying’.
If you do not know what constitutes horror, read Kaaron Warren—she makes Stephen King a lullaby. Her skilful pen so personifies evil, nothing else will ever shock or mesmerise you all at once like this.
There is beauty in the writing, where tears are ‘opaque drops’ in the corners of a prisoner’s eyes, it is ‘like watching a memory of crying’.
If you do not know what constitutes horror, read Kaaron Warren—she makes Stephen King a lullaby. Her skilful pen so personifies evil, nothing else will ever shock or mesmerise you all at once like this.
July 3, 2019
One of the most bizarre and unsettling novels I've read, Tide of Stone is like nothing else - weird, suffocating, hopeful and cruel all at the same time. And oddly delightful as well? The plot defies description, but suffice to say it's about the latest keeper of a tower where the immortal decaying remains of the worst people in recent history are kept in perpetual torment and boredom. Yeah, I loved it.
July 16, 2019
Loved this. The tension, reading those Time Ball Tower keepers' reports wondering what they were building up to and what the experiences of the keepers meant. Then finding out! The book was cleverly constructed and very creepy.
December 30, 2021
Weird. Dark. Weirdly dark. Made me have a fitful night of sleep.
November 23, 2022
This books hands over an interesting concept when it comes to punishment; beware is not for the faint of heart. I found the concept of the story interesting but disgusting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 9, 2023
** I received an ARC for an honest review **
The protagonist of Tide of Stone is a young woman, Phillipa who has lived her entire life in the town which hosts the Time Ball Tower off-shore – a prison for the worst killers and depraved criminals who death was judged too easy to pay for their crimes. Instead, they are granted eternal life and imprisoned in the Time Ball Tower.
The town supplies the keepers (those who attend the prisoners in the Tower for one year) and has produced some of the wealthiest, famous, talented and influential ex-keepers in the history. Phillipa longs to be famous and remembered but is she willingly to do what it takes to join those keepers who have obtained glory? The dark truth of Tempuston and the Time Ball Tower might be too much for her.
Review
Tide of Stone combines first-person narrative and journal entires that work extremely well with Warren’s skilful crafting of a horrifying tale, the naivety of the protagonist for what awaits her as keeper in the Time Ball Tower is pure storytelling magic. The potential for darkness in the hearts of all is laid bare – and the prisoners might not be the worst of them. Warren’s envisaging of the town of Tempuston and all that depend on the evil in humanity locked away in the Time Ball Tower is a morally challenging and thought-provoking read.
Conclusion
A must-read for fans of psychological horror, dark fiction and alternate history. Highly recommend!
** This is my personal opinion and does not reflect any judging decisions **
The protagonist of Tide of Stone is a young woman, Phillipa who has lived her entire life in the town which hosts the Time Ball Tower off-shore – a prison for the worst killers and depraved criminals who death was judged too easy to pay for their crimes. Instead, they are granted eternal life and imprisoned in the Time Ball Tower.
The town supplies the keepers (those who attend the prisoners in the Tower for one year) and has produced some of the wealthiest, famous, talented and influential ex-keepers in the history. Phillipa longs to be famous and remembered but is she willingly to do what it takes to join those keepers who have obtained glory? The dark truth of Tempuston and the Time Ball Tower might be too much for her.
Review
Tide of Stone combines first-person narrative and journal entires that work extremely well with Warren’s skilful crafting of a horrifying tale, the naivety of the protagonist for what awaits her as keeper in the Time Ball Tower is pure storytelling magic. The potential for darkness in the hearts of all is laid bare – and the prisoners might not be the worst of them. Warren’s envisaging of the town of Tempuston and all that depend on the evil in humanity locked away in the Time Ball Tower is a morally challenging and thought-provoking read.
Conclusion
A must-read for fans of psychological horror, dark fiction and alternate history. Highly recommend!
** This is my personal opinion and does not reflect any judging decisions **
May 12, 2024
There is much to like about this novel. It takes chances with style by including the Keeper’s reports leading up to the point the main character Philippa takes over. It takes chances with content, too, by confronting our own assumptions and moral principles around justice and punishment of the most violent criminals. As a horror novel, it does have that creeping sense of dread from the beginning (we know Philippa will never be the same again after her twelve-month stint in the tower as the Keeper), disturbing imagery (one poor woman had some unusual objects pushed up her vagina by the criminals), and above all, a creepy atmosphere from the setting. This tower is a time ball. Every hour the stone ball drops. It’s an effective symbol. Time is always on the Keeper’s minds, as it is the criminals who have chosen eternal life over the death penalty.
In 2019, Tide of Stone was a finalist for a Locus Award for a Horror Novel.
This is one of those novels that have more impact after you’ve finished reading it because of the ending, the theme of compassion, and the vivid and subtle imagery. I will be reading more by Kaaron Warren, probably Slights next, which depicts madness. 3.5 stars.
In 2019, Tide of Stone was a finalist for a Locus Award for a Horror Novel.
This is one of those novels that have more impact after you’ve finished reading it because of the ending, the theme of compassion, and the vivid and subtle imagery. I will be reading more by Kaaron Warren, probably Slights next, which depicts madness. 3.5 stars.
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