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Blue Light Abridged

Blue Light Abridged

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Blue Light - either you see it, or you don't
Review: I prefer Mosely's departures from the predictable, and in taking the Chance on Blue Light, received something more profound: a spectral analysis of the colors of human nature, magnified by the simple but brilliant artifice of light itself. The writing in this novel is superbly imaginative; not an overbearing mountain of details but an evocation, a description of what matters, not of matter. Reading about the mind of Grey Man and his tormented host was a marvelously hideous exploration, at once repulsive and sympathetic, suggesting a portrait of schizophrenia. Winch Fargo was likewise a fascinating treatment on evil and identity, the danger of one who has superhuman will and strength but without purpose. I marvel at Mosely's use of language and idea to invent such an original work. The story has many switchbacks and some are drawbacks: as the light strikes many in different places, convergence takes some time to occur. This will not sit well with those who like continuous action and strict sequential progress. The characters, by dint of Blue Light, become outcasts, wanderers and drifters, and as such cannot be given the more substantial treatment that say a similar Socrates is given in Always Outnumbered. The beach scenes therein are recalled in the Blues leader Orde's enlightenment. Again this work is more poetic than prosaic, so be prepared. Mosely is not shy about sex (he borders on the voyeuristic) or violence either. The traditional sci-fi genre fans will be annoyed by the fact that the powers exhibited by the Blues are intangible, and that their discovery by the world at large is as difficult to pin down as an alien corpse. This is a tantalizing angle: that "the revolution will not be televised," and as others have said may be going on as we speak. The notion was entertaining in itself that while I was reading a meta-fantasy (in the mind of Chance all along, and Mosely of course). That's one of the chances you take when you take this on. Mosely makes you work for what you get out of this book. Take a transfusion of uncommon perspective and get an increased wonder at the broadband frequencies of human possibility as your receipt.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Can't believe no-one else liked this book!
Review: I started reading Mosley years (and years) ago, and wondered for a second when I saw Blue Light on the shelves if it was really by the same author. There is a great science fiction/fantasy story in here (if you hate sf viscerally, maybe you shouldn't read it: if you have an open mind and can risk it, you should) and what seemed to me a delightful wistful remembrance of times past in a hippy-freak california you'd have trouble finding these days... I get one of my favourite emotions from this novel: nostalgia for the future (the future the blue light heralds). Where did it go?

I hope another story in this sequence appears almost as much as I'd like another Socrates Fortlow book.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: hard to follow
Review: I was anxious to pick up a stirring science fiction novel, however several chapters into "Blue Light", things start to get confusing. I'm unable to keep track of the characters. I trudge on because I have bought the book, however the further I go, the more lost I feel. I read about 2/3rds into it and finally decided, there's no way any of this will make sense to me, so I gave up. The first time I ever gave up on a book more than halfway read.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It SUCKS!!!!
Review: I'm a big Mosley fan, but this book sucks!! I just cant get into it. The characters are boring and the whole story just doesn't make sense. There was nothing reedeming about the story line or the characters. I found it very hard to pay attention to what I was reading. I only finished the book (like the other reader said) to get rid of it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Big Mosley Fan, but this Didn't Work for Me
Review: I've loved all of Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries (with the possible exception of "Gone Fishin"), so I figured I'd give this new genre a shot. I couldn't wait to finish this one--so I could get rid of it! Admittedly, I'm not much of a supernatural fan, but much of this book just made no real sense to me. The plot really goes nowhere, and the violence and sex almost seem gratuitous. I wish Walter Mosley would stick to the mysteries and leave this stuff to the Stephen Kings of the world.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An important book
Review: I've never read Mosley's mysteries; I'm normally a science fiction reader. This book will probably annoy SF readers as much as it seems to annoy Mystery genre readers. There are lots of SF books that have dealt with some of the concerns in this book, but there's nothing quite like this one - a real orginal. It doesn't fit any categories. It has to be taken on its own terms. It's powerful, it's beautifully written, and it's so full of thought (if you're looking for it) that it will probably support an industry of students for years. But forget all that - I couldn't put it down. It's wonderful to read something like this. You might notice I'm not saying what it's about. You have to figure that out for yourself! Probably, like the way the blue light affects different people in different ways according to their natures, this will be a different book for anyone who reads it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sci-Fi, Supernatural, Thriller, Mystery....Maybe????!!!!
Review: I, too, like so many others, didn't know what to expect when I first started reading Blue Light, but I must be honest and admit that overall I wasn't disappointed.

It's definitely a different kind of read for me, but it had enough of the elements that I look for in a book to keep me reading, i.e. action, drama, suspense, chaos-confusion. I particularly liked the spin Mosley put on the ending. I found myself laughing at my attempt to make it all make sense when I didn't have to. Once you read Blue Light you will know what I mean.

At first this book was a stretch for me but I thoroughly enjoyed the journey in the end. Thanks Walter Mosley!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: letdown
Review: If you did like Walter Moseley, keep reading everything else but this book - a confusing, disjointed and infuriating work of science fiction without much to recommend it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: nice try, but incomplete
Review: It is very hard for an author to leave one genre which they are very good at and try another. Walter Mosley has done just that with Blue Light. It his attempt to write science fiction. As a whole, it is not a bad job. However, he does not finish what he starts.

The concept is that a group on Northern Californians have their lives changed when an extra-terrestrial blue light touches them. Even people that have not had been touched by the blue light are also changed. The narrarator is not touched by the light, but is transformed through a blood transfusion.

Mosley spends a great deal of time building his characters and the story line. His antagonist is also changed by the blue light, but not in a good way. He spends his time killing the transformed blues. Mosley mentions him, but does not flesh him out where he probally should have. Mosley writes a good and evil story, except that he does not do enough with the evil. His story builds to a climax that is very anticlimatic. What I found very frustrating was that his book ended very abruptly where he could have added 50 pages to flesh out the ending and bring in a more satisfying finish.

The book is an easy read that is a fast page turner. It will be interesting to see if he stays with the science fiction or goes back to his mysteries.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: nice try, but incomplete
Review: It is very hard for an author to leave one genre which they are very good at and try another. Walter Mosley has done just that with Blue Light. It his attempt to write science fiction. As a whole, it is not a bad job. However, he does not finish what he starts.

The concept is that a group on Northern Californians have their lives changed when an extra-terrestrial blue light touches them. Even people that have not had been touched by the blue light are also changed. The narrarator is not touched by the light, but is transformed through a blood transfusion.

Mosley spends a great deal of time building his characters and the story line. His antagonist is also changed by the blue light, but not in a good way. He spends his time killing the transformed blues. Mosley mentions him, but does not flesh him out where he probally should have. Mosley writes a good and evil story, except that he does not do enough with the evil. His story builds to a climax that is very anticlimatic. What I found very frustrating was that his book ended very abruptly where he could have added 50 pages to flesh out the ending and bring in a more satisfying finish.

The book is an easy read that is a fast page turner. It will be interesting to see if he stays with the science fiction or goes back to his mysteries.


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