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Dead Boys
“If China Miéville, Neil Gaiman and Hunter S. Thompson had a ménage à trois, Dead Boys would be the lovechild. A cracking book.”
—Jay Kristoff, author of Stormdancer
A decade dead, Jacob Campbell is a preservationist, providing a kind of taxidermy to keep his clients looking lifelike for as long as the forces of entropy will allow. But in the Land of the Dead, where the currency is time itself and there is little for corpses to do but drink, thieve, and gamble eternity away, Jacob abandons his home and his fortune for an opportunity to meet the man who cheated the rules of life and death entirely.
According to legend, the Living Man is the only adventurer to ever cross into the underworld without dying first. It’s rumored he met his end somewhere in the labyrinth of pubs beneath Dead City’s streets, disappearing without a trace. Now Jacob’s vow to find the Living Man and follow him back to the land of the living sends him on a perilous journey through an underworld where the only certainty is decay.
Accompanying him are the boy Remington, an innocent with mysterious powers over the bones of the dead, and the hanged man Leopold l’Eclair, a flamboyant rogue whose criminal ambitions spark the undesired attention of the shadowy ruler known as the Magnate.
An ambitious debut that mingles the fantastic with the philosophical, Dead Boys twists the well-worn epic quest into a compelling, one-of-a-kind work of weird fiction that transcends genre, recalling the novels of China Miéville and Neil Gaiman.
—Jay Kristoff, author of Stormdancer
A decade dead, Jacob Campbell is a preservationist, providing a kind of taxidermy to keep his clients looking lifelike for as long as the forces of entropy will allow. But in the Land of the Dead, where the currency is time itself and there is little for corpses to do but drink, thieve, and gamble eternity away, Jacob abandons his home and his fortune for an opportunity to meet the man who cheated the rules of life and death entirely.
According to legend, the Living Man is the only adventurer to ever cross into the underworld without dying first. It’s rumored he met his end somewhere in the labyrinth of pubs beneath Dead City’s streets, disappearing without a trace. Now Jacob’s vow to find the Living Man and follow him back to the land of the living sends him on a perilous journey through an underworld where the only certainty is decay.
Accompanying him are the boy Remington, an innocent with mysterious powers over the bones of the dead, and the hanged man Leopold l’Eclair, a flamboyant rogue whose criminal ambitions spark the undesired attention of the shadowy ruler known as the Magnate.
An ambitious debut that mingles the fantastic with the philosophical, Dead Boys twists the well-worn epic quest into a compelling, one-of-a-kind work of weird fiction that transcends genre, recalling the novels of China Miéville and Neil Gaiman.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 3, 2015
80 people are currently reading
3293 people want to read
About the author
Gabrielle Squailia
3 books140 followersGabriel Squailia is an author and professional DJ from Rochester, New York. An alum of the Friends World Program, she studied storytelling and literature in India, Europe, and the Middle East before settling in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts with her partner and daughter. Squailia's first novel, Dead Boys, was published by Talos Press in 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
November 11, 2016
I found this book to be incredibly disappointing. The premise was really interesting - a city where the dead go to live out eternity, where time is currency, and war is still a thing - but it just failed to meet my expectations. It reads like a fever dream, oscillating between coherency and deliriousness much too often for my liking.
February 8, 2018
See my other reviews at Never Enough Books
Dead Boys tells the tale of Jacob Campbell, who is dead. Jacob is a preservationist, an individual who provides his clients a kind of taxidermy – staving off the effects of entropy and keeping them looking as lifelike as possible for as long as possible. However when the chance to meet the Living Man; a man who supposedly cheated death and crossed over in to the Land of the Dead without actually dying; arises, Jacob leaves his home and his fortune behind.
Legend says the Living Man met his end somewhere beneath the streets of Dead City and Jacob is on a mission to find the man and the truth. Along the way Jacob is joined by Remington; an innocent with unique powers over the bones of the dead, a pair of headless corpses named Adam and Eve, and Leopold L’Eclair; a hanged rogue with criminal ambitions that draw the wrong kind of attention. The three travel from the labyrinth beneath Dead City to the Plains of War and beyond to White City in their quest for the Living Man and the truth behind the legend.
On both Amazon and Good Reads, Dead Boys gets mixed reviews. Some truly enjoyed it and give it high praise while others were unable to get in to the story and therefore gave it low marks. I find myself somewhere in the middle. While the premise itself was very interesting, and is what drew me to reading this in the first place, the execution (pardon the pun) was less than stellar – in my opinion. The world of the dead was well fleshed out (again, pardon the pun) but I thought more effort could have been given to the characters themselves.
We, the reader, are swept along in the journey of Jacob et al and are with them as they change and grow; but the question of ‘Why?’ is never really answered. Why did Jacob want to find the Living Man in the first place? Why did Remington commit suicide and where exactly did his powers come from? Who were Adam and Eve originally? We are given brief glimpses of answers and are left to our own devices to answer the rest. Personally, I would have liked something a little more concrete.
For a first book, Dead Boys shows a lot of promise. Squailia has a talent for creating a new world from an old one and introducing new characters to bring us along on the ride. Should he continue in this vein and continue to grow better with subsequent novels, I believe he has the potential to be something great. He is a new author to keep ones eyes on.
Dead Boys tells the tale of Jacob Campbell, who is dead. Jacob is a preservationist, an individual who provides his clients a kind of taxidermy – staving off the effects of entropy and keeping them looking as lifelike as possible for as long as possible. However when the chance to meet the Living Man; a man who supposedly cheated death and crossed over in to the Land of the Dead without actually dying; arises, Jacob leaves his home and his fortune behind.
Legend says the Living Man met his end somewhere beneath the streets of Dead City and Jacob is on a mission to find the man and the truth. Along the way Jacob is joined by Remington; an innocent with unique powers over the bones of the dead, a pair of headless corpses named Adam and Eve, and Leopold L’Eclair; a hanged rogue with criminal ambitions that draw the wrong kind of attention. The three travel from the labyrinth beneath Dead City to the Plains of War and beyond to White City in their quest for the Living Man and the truth behind the legend.
On both Amazon and Good Reads, Dead Boys gets mixed reviews. Some truly enjoyed it and give it high praise while others were unable to get in to the story and therefore gave it low marks. I find myself somewhere in the middle. While the premise itself was very interesting, and is what drew me to reading this in the first place, the execution (pardon the pun) was less than stellar – in my opinion. The world of the dead was well fleshed out (again, pardon the pun) but I thought more effort could have been given to the characters themselves.
We, the reader, are swept along in the journey of Jacob et al and are with them as they change and grow; but the question of ‘Why?’ is never really answered. Why did Jacob want to find the Living Man in the first place? Why did Remington commit suicide and where exactly did his powers come from? Who were Adam and Eve originally? We are given brief glimpses of answers and are left to our own devices to answer the rest. Personally, I would have liked something a little more concrete.
For a first book, Dead Boys shows a lot of promise. Squailia has a talent for creating a new world from an old one and introducing new characters to bring us along on the ride. Should he continue in this vein and continue to grow better with subsequent novels, I believe he has the potential to be something great. He is a new author to keep ones eyes on.
December 6, 2014
I was lucky enough to get my hands on an early copy of Dead Boys and now I can't wait to re-read it. Gabriel had created such a rich and engaging world. I feel like I could wander for hours in Dead City. This is like no "Land of the Dead" you've seen before. It's kind of hard to compare it to anything because the imagery and the style is so fresh, but if I had to I'd say it's a little Neil Gaiman-ish with a bit of Terry Pratchett. The characters are so well fleshed out (..err) and loveable in kind of a gross way. I'll never get tired of Leopold's elaborate lies or the accidental physical comedy of Adam & Eve. I want sequels!
March 18, 2016
So I love this book. I have a huge author crush on Gabriel (and a real crush too 'cause let's face it, they're pretty cute) and I can't can't can't wait for their second book to come out. But anyways, that's all besides the point. You wanna know why I like this book and I really want to tell you.
I was given a previous version of this novel years ago and though I really liked it then as well, I will admit I got a bit lost in places, such as the Plains of War.
That wasn't the case this time. I was sucked into this world and only left it with great reluctance. Everything that I wanted an explanation for got explained in a fantastic way. I loved the characters even as I yelled at them from this side of the page. I am still positively smitten with Siham but I really loved Leopold this time around.
There is a darkness to this world but the little bits of hope and humor throughout make this far from some of the heavy grimdark stuff that I've come across. This book is such an interesting take on The Quest and Hero's Journey. Also, I'm a total sucker for anything that takes myth and storytelling in unique directions.
I love books, I love this book, you should read it so you can love it too, ok?
I was given a previous version of this novel years ago and though I really liked it then as well, I will admit I got a bit lost in places, such as the Plains of War.
That wasn't the case this time. I was sucked into this world and only left it with great reluctance. Everything that I wanted an explanation for got explained in a fantastic way. I loved the characters even as I yelled at them from this side of the page. I am still positively smitten with Siham but I really loved Leopold this time around.
There is a darkness to this world but the little bits of hope and humor throughout make this far from some of the heavy grimdark stuff that I've come across. This book is such an interesting take on The Quest and Hero's Journey. Also, I'm a total sucker for anything that takes myth and storytelling in unique directions.
I love books, I love this book, you should read it so you can love it too, ok?
October 7, 2015
I almost DNFed this book right in the middle. The beginning was engaging and the world building was so neat. I started this fairly closely after having read the Ghost Bride, which had a really interesting interpretation of the afterlife. This story had a really neat rendition as well--making it more of an after world, and it was really neat...
Until I got to the middle when the troupe was in the never ending battlefield of the Last Man Standing. I almost totally lost interest until Joseph found the Bonemaiden and they finally got to the White City. After that it sped up again but that middle section bored me to tears and I was so lost in the geography of the world that I had no idea where we were compared to any of the other places we'd heard about.
Until I got to the middle when the troupe was in the never ending battlefield of the Last Man Standing. I almost totally lost interest until Joseph found the Bonemaiden and they finally got to the White City. After that it sped up again but that middle section bored me to tears and I was so lost in the geography of the world that I had no idea where we were compared to any of the other places we'd heard about.
July 25, 2015
Wanna hear something funny?
Everyone dies! HA!
Wait that didn't come out right hold on hold on.
Let me try again: Everything you love is impermanent and will someday be gone! HAHAHA!
Oh shit wait wait.
This is hard.
So how did he do it? How Did Squailia make an engaging an honest story about death that was actually and genuinely funny? I mean really? What a magic trick!
That was his first trick. His second being creating a cast of characters who are utterly ridiculous, but who, once you get to know them, seem like people you used to know. By the time you finish this Stygian road-tripper, you'll have made a couple new friends.
His third magic trick was in creating a cosmology that made sense both within itself and within the themes of the story and then not drowning us in the details of it. If you know anything about fantasy, or writers in general, you know that such restraint is pretty rare.
Mostly, a writer coming up with an intelligent idea will pretty much punch you in the face with it to make sure you see it.Here, Squailia caressed and tickled from the shadows and the spaces in between instead. (And it's a really fun cosmology!!! I pretty much want to punch you in the face with it right now and yell about how cool it is!)
The final element I want to mention isn't even magic, really. It's just thoughtful craftsmanship. Squailia made this story totally simple and clear. The goal of the characters- to find the Living Man and a way back from the underworld to our world was totally clear and he never let go of that. All of the obstacles they faced made sense in a character or thematic way, but also just made sense in a superficial story way.
This is a book you could enjoy on the shallowest of levels too. Oh it was cool when such and such happened! Oh dude when so and so did this and that to whatsizname!
But there's depth here if you want it. Lots of it. I mean, you can just think it's cool that the character named Remington was so named because he blew his brains out so he hardly remembers anything- and it IS cool, don't get me wrong!
But if you wanted to, and I wouldn't make you (and neither does Squailia), you could look at how Remington fits in with the central theme of finding yourself through letting go. The main character, Jacob, who is in many ways the least powerful and well adjusted character has an actual job of preservationist- pretty much a taxidermist for the dead who keeps his customers in lifelike appearance.
Compare that to Remington, who becomes among the most powerful and well adjusted characters because he doesn't even have a brain or memories to hold him back. Get it? But anyway, if you don't, it was just cool that there's a character named Remington missing the back of his skull. It's fun.
There's a lot in here worth looking at and one of the characters' backstory is one of the saddest things I ever read. Well written. Sticky.
Dead Boys: Come for the dick jokes stay for the skeleton warriors.
I don't know man, in the culture of the underworld in Dead Boys the only currency is time. This is essentially the truth of our world too, only more so- the dead have literally forever. But I can guarantee this book is a worthwhile way to spend a few of those precious hours you will never get back before disappearing eternally.
Oh jeez, thought I could sneak in a death joke at the end there. Oh well. Squailia could've made it funny. He has light hands for the heaviest of subjects.
Everyone dies! HA!
Wait that didn't come out right hold on hold on.
Let me try again: Everything you love is impermanent and will someday be gone! HAHAHA!
Oh shit wait wait.
This is hard.
So how did he do it? How Did Squailia make an engaging an honest story about death that was actually and genuinely funny? I mean really? What a magic trick!
That was his first trick. His second being creating a cast of characters who are utterly ridiculous, but who, once you get to know them, seem like people you used to know. By the time you finish this Stygian road-tripper, you'll have made a couple new friends.
His third magic trick was in creating a cosmology that made sense both within itself and within the themes of the story and then not drowning us in the details of it. If you know anything about fantasy, or writers in general, you know that such restraint is pretty rare.
Mostly, a writer coming up with an intelligent idea will pretty much punch you in the face with it to make sure you see it.Here, Squailia caressed and tickled from the shadows and the spaces in between instead. (And it's a really fun cosmology!!! I pretty much want to punch you in the face with it right now and yell about how cool it is!)
The final element I want to mention isn't even magic, really. It's just thoughtful craftsmanship. Squailia made this story totally simple and clear. The goal of the characters- to find the Living Man and a way back from the underworld to our world was totally clear and he never let go of that. All of the obstacles they faced made sense in a character or thematic way, but also just made sense in a superficial story way.
This is a book you could enjoy on the shallowest of levels too. Oh it was cool when such and such happened! Oh dude when so and so did this and that to whatsizname!
But there's depth here if you want it. Lots of it. I mean, you can just think it's cool that the character named Remington was so named because he blew his brains out so he hardly remembers anything- and it IS cool, don't get me wrong!
But if you wanted to, and I wouldn't make you (and neither does Squailia), you could look at how Remington fits in with the central theme of finding yourself through letting go. The main character, Jacob, who is in many ways the least powerful and well adjusted character has an actual job of preservationist- pretty much a taxidermist for the dead who keeps his customers in lifelike appearance.
Compare that to Remington, who becomes among the most powerful and well adjusted characters because he doesn't even have a brain or memories to hold him back. Get it? But anyway, if you don't, it was just cool that there's a character named Remington missing the back of his skull. It's fun.
There's a lot in here worth looking at and one of the characters' backstory is one of the saddest things I ever read. Well written. Sticky.
Dead Boys: Come for the dick jokes stay for the skeleton warriors.
I don't know man, in the culture of the underworld in Dead Boys the only currency is time. This is essentially the truth of our world too, only more so- the dead have literally forever. But I can guarantee this book is a worthwhile way to spend a few of those precious hours you will never get back before disappearing eternally.
Oh jeez, thought I could sneak in a death joke at the end there. Oh well. Squailia could've made it funny. He has light hands for the heaviest of subjects.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2022
I was lucky enough to receive a paperback copy of Dead Boys through First Reads here on Goodreads. As per usual, my review is 100% my honest opinion.
I was originally interested in reading this book because it was described as a being like the lovechild of China Mièville, Neil Gaiman and Hunter S. Thompson. I don't know about everyone, but that definitely sounds like something that would be perfect me for me. Many times claims like this are just hype, but in this case it was a very apt description.
I found it to be a perfect blend of fantasy and the macabre, which is one of my favorite things. Whether it is in stories or art. Being about a group of corpses, one might think it a horror story, but it is more of a fantasy adventure with horror elements. It really sucked me in to the world and I really didn't want to leave it!
I was so surprised to find out this is the author's first book. It has characters I really cared about, vivid descriptions of wondrous locales, humor, intelligence and heart. About halfway through I really felt like I knew the characters and their voices. They were all dimensional and though not the norm, they still felt very real. I just loved how the story and situations were very fantastical with literary writing. I hate when authors try to dumb things down because of the genre.
Usually in my reviews this is where I give my opinion on things I didn't like so much, but there really wasn't anything. I simply loved it as is and wouldn't change a thing. The only time I felt disappointment was when I had no more to read! Heh. i highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, macabre, journeys, adventure or fiction in general. I can't wait to read more from Gabriel Squailia!
I was originally interested in reading this book because it was described as a being like the lovechild of China Mièville, Neil Gaiman and Hunter S. Thompson. I don't know about everyone, but that definitely sounds like something that would be perfect me for me. Many times claims like this are just hype, but in this case it was a very apt description.
I found it to be a perfect blend of fantasy and the macabre, which is one of my favorite things. Whether it is in stories or art. Being about a group of corpses, one might think it a horror story, but it is more of a fantasy adventure with horror elements. It really sucked me in to the world and I really didn't want to leave it!
I was so surprised to find out this is the author's first book. It has characters I really cared about, vivid descriptions of wondrous locales, humor, intelligence and heart. About halfway through I really felt like I knew the characters and their voices. They were all dimensional and though not the norm, they still felt very real. I just loved how the story and situations were very fantastical with literary writing. I hate when authors try to dumb things down because of the genre.
Usually in my reviews this is where I give my opinion on things I didn't like so much, but there really wasn't anything. I simply loved it as is and wouldn't change a thing. The only time I felt disappointment was when I had no more to read! Heh. i highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, macabre, journeys, adventure or fiction in general. I can't wait to read more from Gabriel Squailia!
October 16, 2018
Gabriel Squailia's Dead Boys is an urban fantasy all about the journey. There is so much to love about this, but my favorite aspect hands down is the atmospheric world building along with the author's brilliant descriptions. While I enjoyed following the main character Jacob, Remington is the true stand out scene stealer. My only real issue, though, I wish I felt like the characters made it to destination. In the mood for the movie Coco as told by Neil Gaiman, then you totally need this fantasy novel.
March 27, 2015
An excellent read and one of the most fully realized worlds I've had the pleasure of exploring in years. From the architecture of the world to their own internal languages to the fleshed out lives of even minor players the characters journeys contribute to a rich realm whose boundaries extend beyond what we witness in a way I haven't experienced since reading Neil Gaiman's Stardust.
Easily the best Novel I've picked up in years.
Easily the best Novel I've picked up in years.
October 28, 2020
I bought this book when it came out in 2015 and somehow I didn't vibe with it then. A couple of weeks ago I compiled a book pile to give away and it was in that pile. Of course, that pile sat a while and will sit a while longer until I decide where it goes. After reading "Imaginary Friend" I was so frustrated because I so loved the first part of "Imaginary Friend" and then everything fell apart after page 350 that I looked over to the pile and grabbed "Dead Boys" just for the heck of it.
Boy, I am so glad I did. This is a weird book and I can see why it is so polarizing. To me, this book reads like Mondy Python in the underworld. It is kind of stupid-funny with some meaning behind it. I am leaning more toward 3.5 stars but rounded up to 4. I did thoroughly enjoy it though and I am glad I gave it a shot before it went out the door (which is probably still a couple of weeks away, let's be honest here).
I don't think you should buy this per my rating, because I can also understand the people who gave it 1 star.
Boy, I am so glad I did. This is a weird book and I can see why it is so polarizing. To me, this book reads like Mondy Python in the underworld. It is kind of stupid-funny with some meaning behind it. I am leaning more toward 3.5 stars but rounded up to 4. I did thoroughly enjoy it though and I am glad I gave it a shot before it went out the door (which is probably still a couple of weeks away, let's be honest here).
I don't think you should buy this per my rating, because I can also understand the people who gave it 1 star.
March 6, 2015
The nitty-gritty: A folktale-like story with an odd cast of dead characters, lots of humorous moments, but not enough of a plot to keep me interested.
While reading Dead Boys, I realized after only a couple of chapters that I wasn’t going to agree with most of the glowing reviews I’ve seen for this book. And I’m not sure why. It’s got all the elements for a successful story: a fantastical setting, interesting characters, and writing that (while not my favorite style) is well done. Perhaps it was the silliness of the set-up—a dead man named Jacob is a “preservationist” in the underworld, stitching up and fixing the decaying bodies of the dead. Or it could have been the language itself, a very formal style that often felt like something right out of a Shakespearean play:
“Thy doom drops from above, body-robbers!” cried the head, bouncing past Remington’s feet. “Draw near, that I might gnaw thy hated ankles.”
(Seriously, the entire book was written this way.)
But mostly, it was the absurd humor and a plot that I quickly began to lose interest in, that had me skimming chapters near the end. Dead Boys is the story of a journey, and yet it felt as if the characters were never getting anywhere. And I’m disappointed because I really thought I was going to love this book.
Imagine this, if you will: Jacob Campbell is a corpse who lives in Dead City and patches up the decomposing dead, corpses that wash up on the banks of the Lethe river. But as much as he’s more or less happy being dead, he’s heard tell of a “Living Man” who was still alive when he crossed into Dead City, and Jacob is anxious to find him, in the hopes of someday reaching the land of the living himself.
He’s joined on his journey by a boy named Remington, who has a bird nesting in his skull, and a dubious character named Leopold who may or may not be trustworthy. Together they navigate a strange and decrepit landscape, full of armies of attacking corpses and huge, shifting piles of debris. Not to mention plenty of dead body parts falling off or getting hacked off and put back on again. Yep, this is one crazy book, people!
Now, I did enjoy parts of Dead Boys, especially the way Squailia describes the world of Dead City. The river Lethe runs through the city, washing up bodies of the newly deceased. Everywhere are piles of garbage and detritus, mostly composed of bones and decomposing flesh. Jacob’s vocation is interesting, although disgusting and ridiculous! His job is to try to make the dead appear more alive, by fixing their parts that are coming off, a sort of taxidermist for the dead. I found the idea both hilarious and disturbing at the same time, and believe me, it just kept getting weirder the further into the story I got.
My favorite character was young Remington, so named because he shot out the back of his skull with a gun (OK, I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but I think it went like that!) Remington has a little black bird that has taken up residence in his empty skull and acts as Remington’s eyes when he flies. As strange as that sounds, I adored Remington and his little bird companion.
Most of the characters are missing body parts, like a headless couple dubbed “Adam and Eve.” And then there’s Etienne, the Living Man of legend, who is now no more than a head tacked to the wall of a tavern. And in the middle of it all, Jacob is there to help the dead regain some of their dignity by repairing their broken parts. There are a lot of body parts being lost, and then reattached, and then lost again. One particularly disturbing scene deals with a penis swap (yes, you read that correctly!). Why the dead still have penises is anybody’s guess, but I think you have to appreciate a special brand of humor in order to laugh at things like this. (And I know those readers are out there, in fact, I’ll bet some of them are reading this review right now!)
And so the characters trudge through a dangerous land that could resemble a Bosch painting. Somewhere among all the heads and limbs and penises flying around, is a story. But for me, it was buried too far under all the bones of the dead to make sense. I know one thing for sure: when I die, I certainly hope I don’t wind up here. The dead in Dead Boys are a sorry lot indeed, roaming through a dismal landscape and barely getting anywhere. For those readers who appreciate absurdity, gross humor and an author who delights in playing with language, this may be just the book for you.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy. Above quote is taken from an uncorrected proof and may differ in the final version of the book.
This review originally appeared on Books, Bones & Buffy.
While reading Dead Boys, I realized after only a couple of chapters that I wasn’t going to agree with most of the glowing reviews I’ve seen for this book. And I’m not sure why. It’s got all the elements for a successful story: a fantastical setting, interesting characters, and writing that (while not my favorite style) is well done. Perhaps it was the silliness of the set-up—a dead man named Jacob is a “preservationist” in the underworld, stitching up and fixing the decaying bodies of the dead. Or it could have been the language itself, a very formal style that often felt like something right out of a Shakespearean play:
“Thy doom drops from above, body-robbers!” cried the head, bouncing past Remington’s feet. “Draw near, that I might gnaw thy hated ankles.”
(Seriously, the entire book was written this way.)
But mostly, it was the absurd humor and a plot that I quickly began to lose interest in, that had me skimming chapters near the end. Dead Boys is the story of a journey, and yet it felt as if the characters were never getting anywhere. And I’m disappointed because I really thought I was going to love this book.
Imagine this, if you will: Jacob Campbell is a corpse who lives in Dead City and patches up the decomposing dead, corpses that wash up on the banks of the Lethe river. But as much as he’s more or less happy being dead, he’s heard tell of a “Living Man” who was still alive when he crossed into Dead City, and Jacob is anxious to find him, in the hopes of someday reaching the land of the living himself.
He’s joined on his journey by a boy named Remington, who has a bird nesting in his skull, and a dubious character named Leopold who may or may not be trustworthy. Together they navigate a strange and decrepit landscape, full of armies of attacking corpses and huge, shifting piles of debris. Not to mention plenty of dead body parts falling off or getting hacked off and put back on again. Yep, this is one crazy book, people!
Now, I did enjoy parts of Dead Boys, especially the way Squailia describes the world of Dead City. The river Lethe runs through the city, washing up bodies of the newly deceased. Everywhere are piles of garbage and detritus, mostly composed of bones and decomposing flesh. Jacob’s vocation is interesting, although disgusting and ridiculous! His job is to try to make the dead appear more alive, by fixing their parts that are coming off, a sort of taxidermist for the dead. I found the idea both hilarious and disturbing at the same time, and believe me, it just kept getting weirder the further into the story I got.
My favorite character was young Remington, so named because he shot out the back of his skull with a gun (OK, I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but I think it went like that!) Remington has a little black bird that has taken up residence in his empty skull and acts as Remington’s eyes when he flies. As strange as that sounds, I adored Remington and his little bird companion.
Most of the characters are missing body parts, like a headless couple dubbed “Adam and Eve.” And then there’s Etienne, the Living Man of legend, who is now no more than a head tacked to the wall of a tavern. And in the middle of it all, Jacob is there to help the dead regain some of their dignity by repairing their broken parts. There are a lot of body parts being lost, and then reattached, and then lost again. One particularly disturbing scene deals with a penis swap (yes, you read that correctly!). Why the dead still have penises is anybody’s guess, but I think you have to appreciate a special brand of humor in order to laugh at things like this. (And I know those readers are out there, in fact, I’ll bet some of them are reading this review right now!)
And so the characters trudge through a dangerous land that could resemble a Bosch painting. Somewhere among all the heads and limbs and penises flying around, is a story. But for me, it was buried too far under all the bones of the dead to make sense. I know one thing for sure: when I die, I certainly hope I don’t wind up here. The dead in Dead Boys are a sorry lot indeed, roaming through a dismal landscape and barely getting anywhere. For those readers who appreciate absurdity, gross humor and an author who delights in playing with language, this may be just the book for you.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy. Above quote is taken from an uncorrected proof and may differ in the final version of the book.
This review originally appeared on Books, Bones & Buffy.
March 6, 2015
It's rare that I describe a prose book as poetry, but that's what Dead Boys felt like to me. It's poetry at it's essence; an attempt to encapsulate feelings and emotions for which prose often feels ill suited. Yet, Dead Boys is prose. And what a strange tale this prose conveys. Take a hero's journey story like Lord of the Rings, yet with rakes and rogues. Mix in a ghoulishly well described bit of body horror and then a level of transcendent mysticism. Dead Boys is set in the land of the dead, yet the inhabitants are aggressively alive. They are rife with passions, regrets and urges, completely at odds with the monotony and decay that's the biggest peril of their undead lives. Your main protagonist is Jacob, a preservationist. An in demand specialist at the fine art of preserving the appearance of enfleshed life, a symbol of high status in Dead City. Jacob becomes enamored of a mythology passed among the dead, the myth of the sole man to arrive in the land of the dead alive and whole. The tale of Jacob's quest with the odd set of companions fate attaches to him is a tale of regrets, loss, violence, compassion and enlightenment. It's at times stomach wrenching (they are quite dead and as such, do things to their bodies that make us fleshy things a bit nauseated), magical and capable of making you think and feel as deep as the end of the Lethe river. I simply cannot recommend this book enough to the thinking reader of fiction.
March 22, 2015
The main reason I didn't give this the full five was the occasional passages of speechifying in one variety of brogue or another, which wasn't to my taste - but that was more of an "I wouldn't have done that if it were me writing this " complaint, and not a criticism of the book itself. But the book itself is Dante's Inferno with production design by the Brothers Quay, and Guillermo del Toro in the director's chair.
December 8, 2019
Gabriel Squailia's Dead Boys is an adventure story about a group of dead people trying to get back to the land of the living. I was super excited to read this one, mostly because this quote from the cover:
Mieville and Gaiman are two of my all-time favorite authors and I've read just about everything they have published. (Oh, if you were wondering... I had never heard of Hunter S. Thompson, but Google told me he was a journalist. I'm not sure how that fits into this book, but whatev.)
To be honest, I've been looking for New Weird books similar to China Mieville's ever since I discovered him about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, I have not found anything that comes even close to Mieville's work, and that includes Squailia's Dead Boys.
So what was wrong with Dead Boys? Well, let me talk about the good things first.
I loved the world in this book. One of the main protagonists is a dead guy named Jacob, who is pretty much a taxidermist for the dead. In this world, you return to consciousness after death, but your body continues to rot and become damaged over time. So, to preserve the body you have, you go see a man like Jacob. What a cool, weird idea, right?!
The dead people living in this world barter with time instead of money. There is this weird indentured servitude program for the people who don't pay their debts that is really unsettling. There are all these seedy bars where everyone drinks til they drop. I liked how creepy it all was.
The characters are fun and interesting. The first person to join Jacob's quest to find the land of the living is a boy named Remington who was named after the rifle he used to shoot the back of his head out. Remington is easily the best character in the book. He is this naive 21-year-old with this magical powers and a crow that nesting in the back of his empty skull. He also befriends a pair of headless bodies named Adam and Eve, who he can communicate with despite the fact that they don't have heads. On their journey, Jacob and Remington meet a host of weird, crazy people and I enjoyed most of them.
If you look at world and characters alone, this book would be a 5-star read. It is incredibly unique, interesting, and weird.
So, back to the question, what went wrong??
First of all, the writing is jacked. It took me a while to figure it out, but Squailia's prose is the literary equivalent of Swiss cheese. It is very disjointed and odd, which makes it feel like it is full of holes. As I read, I kept thinking I was missing something, so I would go back and re-read paragraphs only to discover that I hadn't missed anything because it was never there in the first place. Incoherent is a good word to describe Squailia's prose.
The feeling of something missing haunted me for the entire length of the book. I can't even tell you exactly what was missing, only that it was important.
And the tone! This book tried very hard to be funny. It succeeded occasionally, but most of the time, I was left either confused or irritated and annoyed. Like, there is this plot thread about a character, Leopold, who paid Jacob to preserve his fully erect penis. Gross. But also, in this land of the dead, people don't have sex. So Leopold wants to preserve his penis because... narcissism?? So this guy is just walking around with an erection for the entire book UNTIL some body parts get chopped off and his penis ends up getting reattached on the wrong person. WHAT THE FUCK?! It really wasn't funny.
Most of the attempts at humor just didn't work for me. Not only did the jokes fall flat most of the time, but they also made the already flimsy plot feel like a joke. I couldn't take anything seriously, so I didn't really care about what was happening.
My next big problem with Dead Boys is that Squailia uses a 3rd person omniscient point of view. This means that the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the book and we jump randomly from character perspective to character perspective. It is done in such a way that felt disjointed and jarring. I wish Squailia had used chapter breaks to shift perspectives or had just transitioned the shifts better.
The uneven perspective shifts plus the incoherent, Swiss cheese prose left me utterly confused at times while reading this book. It was kind of like being in a fever dream.
The last thing that went wrong with Dead Boys is the narrative.
The plot of Squailia's Dead Boys reminded me of the plot of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. Both books feature a group of quirky misfits trying to get back home which results in an adventure across a vast distance. While traveling that distance, our protagonists run into creatures they must battle, characters who tell them stories, people who help or hinder their progress, and other literal and figurative road blocks.
I couldn't stop thinking about The Wizard of Oz while I read Dead Boys. The problem with that is that The Wizard of Oz is a 120-year-old children's novel and should have nothing in common with a weird, dark fantasy about dead people written by a New York DJ in 2015. But at the end of the day, I think Dead Boys reminded me so much of The Wizard of Oz because it felt very juvenile. Instead of trying to be funny, I think I would liked Dead Boys better if it had taken itself seriously.
I actually cared about the characters in Dead Boys, but the plot was so thin that I really couldn't bring myself to care about their journey.
The events that happen while our misfits are on their journey are forgettable and boring. There is a good chunk of this book (about 70 pages out of the books total 278) that is just battle scene after battle scene after battle scene. It was so boring that I ended up just flipping to the end of it where I found all of the characters basically unharmed. Well, except for that penis swap I mentioned previously *rolls eyes*. So what was the point of all these battles?? TO SET UP FOR A PENIS SWAP?? GET TF OUT!!
And then it just goes on and on and on... I skimmed a lot of the end of this book because I just didn't care.
Also, I'm ready to slap whoever Jay Kristoff is because he is an idiot. Squailia is to Mieville what Stephanie Meyer is to Bram Stoker. Yeah, Meyer and Stoker both write about vampires (like how Mieville and Squailia both write things that are weird), but one is beautiful and brilliant and the other is childish and silly.
Regardless, I am still interested in reading more from Squailia. I know that this is his first book, so I really hope he grows as an author.
In the end, I rated Gabriel Squailia's Dead Boys 2 out of 5 stars. I wanted so badly to like the book, but it is a mess.
Would I recommend it?? No. Grab whatever Meiville or Gaiman books you haven't read and read those. If you have read them all, then you can join me in the hunt for authors that are as good as those two. I'm sad to say it, but Squailia didn't make the cut.
"If China Mieville, Neil Gaiman, and Hunter S. Thompson had a menage a trois, Dead Boys would be the love child. A cracking book." -Jay Kristoff
Mieville and Gaiman are two of my all-time favorite authors and I've read just about everything they have published. (Oh, if you were wondering... I had never heard of Hunter S. Thompson, but Google told me he was a journalist. I'm not sure how that fits into this book, but whatev.)
To be honest, I've been looking for New Weird books similar to China Mieville's ever since I discovered him about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, I have not found anything that comes even close to Mieville's work, and that includes Squailia's Dead Boys.
So what was wrong with Dead Boys? Well, let me talk about the good things first.
I loved the world in this book. One of the main protagonists is a dead guy named Jacob, who is pretty much a taxidermist for the dead. In this world, you return to consciousness after death, but your body continues to rot and become damaged over time. So, to preserve the body you have, you go see a man like Jacob. What a cool, weird idea, right?!
The dead people living in this world barter with time instead of money. There is this weird indentured servitude program for the people who don't pay their debts that is really unsettling. There are all these seedy bars where everyone drinks til they drop. I liked how creepy it all was.
The characters are fun and interesting. The first person to join Jacob's quest to find the land of the living is a boy named Remington who was named after the rifle he used to shoot the back of his head out. Remington is easily the best character in the book. He is this naive 21-year-old with this magical powers and a crow that nesting in the back of his empty skull. He also befriends a pair of headless bodies named Adam and Eve, who he can communicate with despite the fact that they don't have heads. On their journey, Jacob and Remington meet a host of weird, crazy people and I enjoyed most of them.
If you look at world and characters alone, this book would be a 5-star read. It is incredibly unique, interesting, and weird.
So, back to the question, what went wrong??
First of all, the writing is jacked. It took me a while to figure it out, but Squailia's prose is the literary equivalent of Swiss cheese. It is very disjointed and odd, which makes it feel like it is full of holes. As I read, I kept thinking I was missing something, so I would go back and re-read paragraphs only to discover that I hadn't missed anything because it was never there in the first place. Incoherent is a good word to describe Squailia's prose.
The feeling of something missing haunted me for the entire length of the book. I can't even tell you exactly what was missing, only that it was important.
And the tone! This book tried very hard to be funny. It succeeded occasionally, but most of the time, I was left either confused or irritated and annoyed. Like, there is this plot thread about a character, Leopold, who paid Jacob to preserve his fully erect penis. Gross. But also, in this land of the dead, people don't have sex. So Leopold wants to preserve his penis because... narcissism?? So this guy is just walking around with an erection for the entire book UNTIL some body parts get chopped off and his penis ends up getting reattached on the wrong person. WHAT THE FUCK?! It really wasn't funny.
Most of the attempts at humor just didn't work for me. Not only did the jokes fall flat most of the time, but they also made the already flimsy plot feel like a joke. I couldn't take anything seriously, so I didn't really care about what was happening.
My next big problem with Dead Boys is that Squailia uses a 3rd person omniscient point of view. This means that the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the book and we jump randomly from character perspective to character perspective. It is done in such a way that felt disjointed and jarring. I wish Squailia had used chapter breaks to shift perspectives or had just transitioned the shifts better.
The uneven perspective shifts plus the incoherent, Swiss cheese prose left me utterly confused at times while reading this book. It was kind of like being in a fever dream.
The last thing that went wrong with Dead Boys is the narrative.
The plot of Squailia's Dead Boys reminded me of the plot of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. Both books feature a group of quirky misfits trying to get back home which results in an adventure across a vast distance. While traveling that distance, our protagonists run into creatures they must battle, characters who tell them stories, people who help or hinder their progress, and other literal and figurative road blocks.
I couldn't stop thinking about The Wizard of Oz while I read Dead Boys. The problem with that is that The Wizard of Oz is a 120-year-old children's novel and should have nothing in common with a weird, dark fantasy about dead people written by a New York DJ in 2015. But at the end of the day, I think Dead Boys reminded me so much of The Wizard of Oz because it felt very juvenile. Instead of trying to be funny, I think I would liked Dead Boys better if it had taken itself seriously.
I actually cared about the characters in Dead Boys, but the plot was so thin that I really couldn't bring myself to care about their journey.
The events that happen while our misfits are on their journey are forgettable and boring. There is a good chunk of this book (about 70 pages out of the books total 278) that is just battle scene after battle scene after battle scene. It was so boring that I ended up just flipping to the end of it where I found all of the characters basically unharmed. Well, except for that penis swap I mentioned previously *rolls eyes*. So what was the point of all these battles?? TO SET UP FOR A PENIS SWAP?? GET TF OUT!!
And then it just goes on and on and on... I skimmed a lot of the end of this book because I just didn't care.
Also, I'm ready to slap whoever Jay Kristoff is because he is an idiot. Squailia is to Mieville what Stephanie Meyer is to Bram Stoker. Yeah, Meyer and Stoker both write about vampires (like how Mieville and Squailia both write things that are weird), but one is beautiful and brilliant and the other is childish and silly.
Regardless, I am still interested in reading more from Squailia. I know that this is his first book, so I really hope he grows as an author.
In the end, I rated Gabriel Squailia's Dead Boys 2 out of 5 stars. I wanted so badly to like the book, but it is a mess.
Would I recommend it?? No. Grab whatever Meiville or Gaiman books you haven't read and read those. If you have read them all, then you can join me in the hunt for authors that are as good as those two. I'm sad to say it, but Squailia didn't make the cut.
May 30, 2017
Completely and absolutely loved this book, from the characters, to the writing, to the philosophy and themes. The first sentence had me hooked and the writing was fresh, witty, and funny throughout. I never thought I would be so concerned for the wellbeing of skeletons, but boy did I care! Remington was charming, Leopold had such a great arc, and I totally have a crush on Jacob. :p
As for the world, so wonderfully deep and unique it is hard to compare to anything. Distinct locations and traditions built the story and the groundwork for the philosophy. Perhaps almost a Lord of the Rings style quest (but character not world centered) with Tolkeins flair for large casts of characters and deep worldbuilding, with some mix of Ray Harryhausen meets Tim Burton style visuals, but told almost like Shakespeare in its siloloqy and creative phrasing. It was stunningly vivid.
The plot itself was very thoughtful and things tied together well. The book was, despite its page count, dense, and took me way longer than usual to read (which was great, it felt like I was savoring it). That in mind, it was a very much "blink and you'll miss it" with the more specific details (which just made me savor it all the more)
Overall, a moving piece on what it means to be alive or dead, and the importance of change. Loved the theme. Ngl, it brought a tear to my eye.
As for the world, so wonderfully deep and unique it is hard to compare to anything. Distinct locations and traditions built the story and the groundwork for the philosophy. Perhaps almost a Lord of the Rings style quest (but character not world centered) with Tolkeins flair for large casts of characters and deep worldbuilding, with some mix of Ray Harryhausen meets Tim Burton style visuals, but told almost like Shakespeare in its siloloqy and creative phrasing. It was stunningly vivid.
The plot itself was very thoughtful and things tied together well. The book was, despite its page count, dense, and took me way longer than usual to read (which was great, it felt like I was savoring it). That in mind, it was a very much "blink and you'll miss it" with the more specific details (which just made me savor it all the more)
Overall, a moving piece on what it means to be alive or dead, and the importance of change. Loved the theme. Ngl, it brought a tear to my eye.
April 16, 2023
I really enjoyed the book from the beginning but felt as the book progressed. It became more of a classic in terms of tone and writing style which didn't fit with the setting of the book. The story itself I was on board with at the beginning and again I felt as the story progressed. It got lost in translation somewhere. I enjoyed the concept of a world after we die where corpses continue to thrive and the theories around will and soul. However, the character Jacob who was interesting and the character of Remington who is also interesting weaned. I got confused around what the characters were trying to achieve and their intentions. I also got very confused about the role of each of the characters in the story. I think this could have been a fantastic book and many will probably enjoy the story, but with its classical style I felt the language and speech didn't sit comfortably with the period of the setting. A great concept but unfortunately not for me.
June 14, 2015
I can't believe this is a debut novel. It's sophisticated, whimsical, and richly imagined, with an original story and phenomenal setting. It's easy to get carried away in the land of the dead. Intuitively, the reader understands the rules of this world, gets a sense of its distinct culture and oddities, and accepts this strange land as a reality. The characters and setting fit perfectly, and it's fun to watch them interact throughout their journey. I especially enjoyed that the members of the quest didn't actually like each other that much, and that they progressed with sort of a wary respect for their need of each other but weren't eager to build friendships. Leopold is hilarious, such a fun character against Jacob, and each character manages to be distinct and unique, while still fitting into the overall theme of things.
It's hard to find books that are so unexpected and fun, especially with so much originality and whimsy. Squailia succeeds in building a fantastical world full of fantastical elements without losing the sense of importance. It has an element of the classic about it, definitely some literary merit. The loss of one star is because at times, it gets a little rambling, and the action slows in a few spots while the world and plot are being built. There's a lot going on in Dead Boys, and it's totally worth a read.
It's hard to find books that are so unexpected and fun, especially with so much originality and whimsy. Squailia succeeds in building a fantastical world full of fantastical elements without losing the sense of importance. It has an element of the classic about it, definitely some literary merit. The loss of one star is because at times, it gets a little rambling, and the action slows in a few spots while the world and plot are being built. There's a lot going on in Dead Boys, and it's totally worth a read.
March 16, 2015
A fascinating after-life adventure! I've read many post death tales, but this was a unique story: corpses who embark on a journey. They are witty and dramatic, without the encumbrance of physical pain. Beautifully written, this book is a genuine pleasure to read! One of those rare stories where I was sad to part with the characters.
March 2, 2015
Absolutely loved it. I received this book from a good reads giveaway and once I started I couldn't put it down! Interested quest through the afterlife done in a very unique way. Since I don't want to spoil the read, I'll merely say that for those who enjoy a good fantasy quest you should not miss this book.
March 27, 2015
Fantastic story, a wonderful trip into the underworld. A dark, but strangely uplifting tale of the afterlife. Plenty of good humour mixed with a solemn tone that helps to transport the reader to another world. A brilliant read for anyone looking to delve into a book and away from everyday humdrummery.
March 2, 2015
Lovely atmospheric story that creeps up on you. If Neil Gaiman wrote an episode of Deadwood without the swearing and all the characters were already dead, it might read a little like this. I was utterly charmed.
August 10, 2023
What a lovely find in Audible's plus catalog!
And what a wonderful performance!
Bizarre so my kind of read.
I would say that I got Tim Burton vibes.
Not for everyone but I do recommend it, so give it a chance.
And what a wonderful performance!
Bizarre so my kind of read.
I would say that I got Tim Burton vibes.
Not for everyone but I do recommend it, so give it a chance.
May 1, 2018
Original take on the afterlife. Author's first novel, so one could see where the talent has yet to be honed. Philosophical study on: life, death, existence, attachment to the body, Zen Buddhism
August 21, 2025
An unexpected gem. A fresh and interestingly faceted imagining of the world of the dead. An abstract intriguing tale,that I sometimes struggled to visualise.
December 22, 2022
I love books that make you wonder "how on earth did the author conceive of this...and I'm damn glad they did!" Dead Boys is gory, mordant, and wildly imaginative. Fans of Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb cycle will feel right at home here, and I'm eager for more of Gabrielle Squaillia's writing.
February 22, 2016
The only good part about being stuck on the sofa with a horrible flu-like illness is not having anything to drag you away from a good book, hence my very fast reading of "Dead Boys". Though I'm not sure how to describe it. Our main character is...well, let's call him "post-living". We're in the land of the dead, where everyone goes when they die, whereupon they wake up as a corpse in whatever condition in which they died. As corpses, they can't die further, but they can be damaged and they of course don't heal, so there's a lot of concern for how to preserve and take care of one's corpse. Jacob, a skilled preservationist, sets himself on a quest to find the legendary Living Man, the sole living person said to have made his way to the land of the dead. His quest is populated by numerous eccentric characters, and the milieu created in the book is fascinating and well-constructed. The settings, the mythology, and the characters are terrific. The style is purposely overwrought, just slightly, giving the book a bit of an old-style feel that suits it, though I could see if it's not to some readers' tastes. It does sometimes get gory, but never out of hand, I thought. While as a quest the plot is very step-by-step, what-happens-next, the author's imagination gave it plenty of happy surprises. I stumbled on this accidentally in a book store and decided to take a chance, and I'm glad I did -- check it out if it sounds intriguing to you.
March 17, 2015
I won this book in the Goodreads giveaway, and going in, it sounded like a book I would enjoy but I wasn't sure.
Well, I have to admit that I think the book is fantastic.
In order to get into the right frame of mind for this book (which is really a truly gruesome book by nature), I found it very fitting to picture the entire thing happening as a Burtonesque claymation feature à la Corpse Bride (or Nightmare Before Christmas). In fact, maybe someone should tip Burton off to that fact if he isn't already aware.
The characters and settings in this book are written in a way that makes them easy to picture and easy to relate to, as much as a living person can relate to a living corpse. Even the minor characters (I'm looking at you, Elspeth and Oxnard) are endearing and memorable. The entire motley crew have depth and I found myself rooting for them and caring about where their journey would take them. In that regard, the author has dreamed up an underworld that is not altogether dissimilar from those described by other authors throughout history, but he definitely makes it his own through setting and how his characters travel through it.
The story itself feels very natural; nothing that happens seems to be thrown in for the sake of convenience. It made for a very easy reading experience.
The only question now is what happens next to our beloved party of misfits?
Well, I have to admit that I think the book is fantastic.
In order to get into the right frame of mind for this book (which is really a truly gruesome book by nature), I found it very fitting to picture the entire thing happening as a Burtonesque claymation feature à la Corpse Bride (or Nightmare Before Christmas). In fact, maybe someone should tip Burton off to that fact if he isn't already aware.
The characters and settings in this book are written in a way that makes them easy to picture and easy to relate to, as much as a living person can relate to a living corpse. Even the minor characters (I'm looking at you, Elspeth and Oxnard) are endearing and memorable. The entire motley crew have depth and I found myself rooting for them and caring about where their journey would take them. In that regard, the author has dreamed up an underworld that is not altogether dissimilar from those described by other authors throughout history, but he definitely makes it his own through setting and how his characters travel through it.
The story itself feels very natural; nothing that happens seems to be thrown in for the sake of convenience. It made for a very easy reading experience.
The only question now is what happens next to our beloved party of misfits?
October 20, 2015
I quite enjoyed this book although, given that I checked it out from the library and was reading several things at a time, I'm sure I didn't give it the full attention that it deserves. The end worked well to tie everything together, but the whole time I felt I was missing the "a-ha" moment to really grasp the gist of the book. I do have to admit that towards the middle (when they're traveling through the Plains) the book almost completely lost my attention. It was oddly obtuse and there didn't seem to be enough reward to push through, but I did and am glad of it.
The entirety of the book is about identity and consciousness, and overall I would recommend it as a unique study of these subjects, rather than the action packed adventure I was anticipating. The action is there, the adventure is there, it just all seems rather flat, buried under the weight of too much academia. Perhaps, though, given that this is the land of the dead and everyone in it faces an eternity of making their own adventure, that the flatness is disturbingly realistic and deliberate.
The entirety of the book is about identity and consciousness, and overall I would recommend it as a unique study of these subjects, rather than the action packed adventure I was anticipating. The action is there, the adventure is there, it just all seems rather flat, buried under the weight of too much academia. Perhaps, though, given that this is the land of the dead and everyone in it faces an eternity of making their own adventure, that the flatness is disturbingly realistic and deliberate.
June 16, 2015
This was a very impressive effort in world-building which I suspect to be a rather complicated process. The entire book takes place in the world of the dead but it is a very different world than what I have typically seen portrayed. In this world, the dead are very anxious to hold on to any appearance of being a living being as being a skeleton without flesh has a certain shame associated with it. Thus the denizens of Dead City to seek the services of other dead known as "Preservationists" who do their best to disguise bodily decay. The bulk of this story is about a journey that a group of the dead go on to find the Living Man, the only being to ever cross from the Lands Above to the underworld without actually dying. The characters are well constructed and generally likeable and at times, funny. The journey ends up being interestingly philisophical and thought provoking. I agree that there's a Gaiman/Burton type feel to this and I look forward to the author's future efforts.
January 8, 2020
There is no worse feeling than having to mark a book as DNF! I always feel like I'm insulting the author after they have put all their time and effort into writing something! But Dead Boys and I just didn't click, from the first few pages I could tell but I wanted to push through and give it a shot. It was an interesting premise, very interesting actually and sounded right up my alley, but the writing style just didn't grab me and I just felt separated right from the get go with no real desire or want to continue reading.
So unfortunately it's the dreaded one star from me, I have no doubt Squailia has talent and I may look at her other works to see if anything else grabs my attention and give it a go. I like to give authors a second chance if I can, I just won't be in a rush based on this one unfortunately!
So unfortunately it's the dreaded one star from me, I have no doubt Squailia has talent and I may look at her other works to see if anything else grabs my attention and give it a go. I like to give authors a second chance if I can, I just won't be in a rush based on this one unfortunately!
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