Rating: Summary: An extremely dissapointing departure from the Pike we love! Review: After so much time, I realise there's been quite a bit of expectation within this novel, but I must say it's simply an extreme dissapointment.The Christopher Pike books I know and love have a coherent and trascendent storyline, the connections between people and places and things true to the story. The beginning of the story is a slipshod composition of a standard murder history and a halfway attempt to introduce an element of the supernatural. Near the end, "everything" comes "together" and basically the entirety of the plot and the reasons behind what happen just get thrown up in a few forced interactions between the main character(s) and the anatagonists. By this time one hardly cares because there's some innovative blurring of the character identities but ultimately the reader is given little compulsion to feel for anything in the book after the painfully detached and incoherent storyline. Most of Pike's books have a supernatural element to it and the ideas concieved here display a smatter of interest, but they're so hardly defined and forced together to fit the boring plot that they merely seem like something Mr. Pike thought was intriguing but didn't take the time to really consider the ideas. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Mr. Pike, and there are some glimpses of the his old writing style that I loved, with the inner story of Cleo, her old confidence and compassion like the Last Vampire old fans still love and remember. There's also what could've been a beautiful moment, that would really bring at least some true emotion and core to the story near the climax, but it's snuffed out for the purposes of the plot. Worst yet, I recognise some of these story elements in other Pike books which I loved- he's simply recycling many ideas with no discernable benefit. In the end the story was simply a plain-vanilla plot contrived for the purpose of forcing some halfway interesting supernatural ideas, some of which were already used in other novels. His writing style remains consistent, but there's definitely something missing; the humanity, the clarity of emotion that brought the reader to the core of his books is gone. All I can do is believe that this book was horrendously rushed due to publishing and financial demands on Mr. Pike because that's the only way I could see our author send out such a book after such a sabbatical to his hungry fans.
Rating: Summary: A sad dissapointment Review: After waiting forever, I was so excited to get this book, then halfway through it I decided it wasn't worth that long of a wait. Having read all, and I do mean all of Pike's books, this is by far the worst. It doesn't even rank near The Season of Passage or even his young adult books. I too had to stop and ponder just how absurd the end of the book was. He tries to give a medical justification to a way out there scenario. Then the end just - ends. It does close the story, but leaves you wondering a lot of things. It does contain a story within a story, but in reality, the plot of the inner story has nothing to do with the plot. It was just a way to introduce a sexual relationship (which there are waaay to many of). So my advice is to either wait for the paperback or borrow it from a friend. It isn't worth the price. Although I will be a fan till the end, I have to hope that his next novel is a WHOLE lot better.
Rating: Summary: Long-Awaited Novel Review: Christopher Pike has not written many adult books and this was his first one in years. I found it exciting and suspenseful. The characters and the plotline were fantastic. The ending was a complete surprise to me. I hope he will not wait as long for his next novel.
Rating: Summary: Classic Pike, A Great Read!!! Review: Dark. Best word to describe. Perhaps his darkest work yet. But it is classic Pike and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I savored this book when it came and finished it in 3 days, but could have easily read it on one if I was able to at one sitting. It catches hold of you just like his other books. I do hope that his next book comes out quicker. 5 years was too long to wait. He is perhaps my favorite writer. A must read for all Pike fans!
Rating: Summary: Welcome back Sir, uh so whats next? Review: First off, let me just say nobody has to convince me of the virtues of Pike. I have been an avid fan of his for many many years. With Blind Mirror however, I see no growth-no change from those very first paperbacks I started reading oh so many years ago, and that I find highly disappointing in an author I have regarded so highly. My biggest qualms lay with Pike's repetitive themes and cast of characters which he borrows from the brilliant vampire series, the listeners and several others. While I have always found allusions to his other works endearing-like an inside joke to his long time readers, the fact that the main plots in the story were so heavily rooted in his past writings frustrated me. For perhaps the first time in a Pike novel I found myself being able to guess the twists and turns before he revealed them. My second problem with the book was his writing style. While Pike has seemed to get his regressions (or in this case the slow unfolding of a fictional tale written by one of the characters) under control, his style has improved little. Not that this book wasn't a fast and entertaining read, but it does not live up to the standards I have set for Pike (come to think of it none of his books have since he started writing for Tor) I think Pike could benefit from taking his next hiatus to experiment with some new styles of writing-I think his fans have shown that good or bad we will still be there waiting to see what comes next. I know I will.
Rating: Summary: Welcome back Sir, uh so whats next? Review: First off, let me just say nobody has to convince me of the virtues of Pike. I have been an avid fan of his for many many years. With Blind Mirror however, I see no growth-no change from those very first paperbacks I started reading oh so many years ago, and that I find highly disappointing in an author I have regarded so highly. My biggest qualms lay with Pike's repetitive themes and cast of characters which he borrows from the brilliant vampire series, the listeners and several others. While I have always found allusions to his other works endearing-like an inside joke to his long time readers, the fact that the main plots in the story were so heavily rooted in his past writings frustrated me. For perhaps the first time in a Pike novel I found myself being able to guess the twists and turns before he revealed them. My second problem with the book was his writing style. While Pike has seemed to get his regressions (or in this case the slow unfolding of a fictional tale written by one of the characters) under control, his style has improved little. Not that this book wasn't a fast and entertaining read, but it does not live up to the standards I have set for Pike (come to think of it none of his books have since he started writing for Tor) I think Pike could benefit from taking his next hiatus to experiment with some new styles of writing-I think his fans have shown that good or bad we will still be there waiting to see what comes next. I know I will.
Rating: Summary: chills at a high level with this exhilarating story Review: Horror book cover artist David Lennon returns home to Lompoc, California to recover from his girlfriend Sienna Madden ending their relationship. Walking a nearby beach, he discovers a female corpse, apparently the victim of a ritual killing. The police lock David up on suspicion of murdering Sienna, who they claim is the corpse on the beach, but a lack of evidence frees him although he is still under a cloud of suspicion. David visits friends he has not seen in a while, but notices a pattern that his experiences with others reflect the subplots of a vampire novel of which he is commissioned to draw the cover. As the police watch David, he insists to them and the FBI that Sienna lives as she keeps leaving him phone messages. David slowly realizes his hometown is not what it once was, but what happened to make it the center of eerie still puzzles him. Though somewhat filled with unnecessary variety of fear generators, THE BLIND MIRROR is a fine horror tale that hooks the reader who wants to know what is going on. During the reading of the novel, fans will ponder several times over whether the story is a psychological suspense thriller starring a flipped out killer who murdered his girlfriend, a supernatural tale, or science going berserk. Christopher Pike keeps the chills at a high level with this exhilarating story. Harriet Klausner
Rating: Summary: WHERE IS PIKE? Review: How can BLIND MIRROR be out of print? As far as Pike's fans know, this book has never been published. I never saw it at the bookstore, or at the library. And the last I heard, Mr. Pike was still working on it. Anyway, where is Christopher Pike? He hasn't had a book out in over a year. (I see all these publishing dates for his SPOOKSVILLE series as 1999, I haven't seen those since 1997.) Everytime I go to the store, I look for a new book, but it's not there. So no review can be given.
Rating: Summary: where is he??? Review: I also have not actually read this book, but gave it 5 stars because i'm sure it will be worth it. I am from Australia and it must have been at least 2 years since anything came out over here on the shelves - the only way I was able to read "The Grave" was by ordering online from overseas. Where is he??? I miss him!
Rating: Summary: Could have been better Review: I am a big Pike fan, and I have been anxiously awaiting (five years!) for a new Pike novel. I read all the reviews before I bought "The Blind Mirror", and bought a copy anyway. I was totally convinced it was going to be a great read despite all the negative reviews, Pike has never let me down before! Well, needless to say, I was extrememly disapointed. It was a great book, all the way until the very end. Once I read the ending, it totally ruined the whole book for me. It's like Pike couldn't figure out how to end the book, so he just scribbled whatever he could. The story was very interesting, classic Pike, but who wrote the ending? It sucked!
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