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Summary: Gah! Spyder(s)!
Review: If you're looking for an escape from the often trite themes of "modern" horror (e.g. - Koontz, King, Saul etc.) I HIGHLY recommend you seek out this book...seek it out and prepare ye: it WILL get under your skin. Kiernan has an incredible voice that, I'm convinced, will get bolder and more refined as she continues down the dark corridors most tend to avoid (I have been left with a few visuals permanently burned into my retinas -GAH!). This is not straight up "horror": There are no good guys. There are no bad guys. There's simply shades of grey. What you've experienced in life will surely color the characters for you...Hell, you may even see yourself in some of them. And that, my dears, is part of the horror of it all! I will give nothing away, but simply say, read the book...and see what Spyderspiders you may have lurking about...
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Summary: Sheer magic
Review: Silk is the sort of book that draws you in from the very first page and never lets go, leaving you delightfully dizzy at the end of its blur of nightmares and shadows. Gritty and smart, Kiernan's ability to mold words into art is nothing short of spectacular and she may be one of the most important new authors working in any genre (or even non-genre fiction) today. Not since the appearance of Kathe Koja in the early 90s have I been so taken by an author. I also recommend her short story collection, Tales of pain and Wonder. Silk is as sexy as the title implies, though its allure is something you probably wouldn't expect.
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Summary: Not disappointed!
Review: This is such an amazing book. Caitlin R. Kiernan may be the H. P. Lovecraft for the 21st century! Silk is that good. Kiernan's superb imagination is balanced by the perfectly-realized reality of her landscape. Though filled with shudders and suspense, the book is not filled with the sort of absurd gore and splatter that ruins so many scary books these days. Kiernan knows there are scarier things than blood and guts. This is an absolute must read.
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Summary: Kiernan at her finest
Review: If you aren't already familiar with Caitlin R. Kiernan from her fabulous short fiction, I strongly recommend SILK. This is definately NOT your mother's horror novel! I was completely blown away by the book. Kiernan's voice is distinct and powerful, and not for the squeamish. Five stars.
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Summary: No end of spooky and cool!
Review: From the first page to the last, Silk is a beautiful, black pearl of a book. Caitlin Kiernan's character's will break your heart and her way with words will leave breathless - this book is that good. Smart, sexy, and scary, this is the best dark fantasy novel I've read in years.
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Summary: every word is splendid
Review: i haven't read a lot of books that made me feel as though every single word mattered, as if the novel would be diminished by the subtraction of any of them. that's the sort of book that silk is - i hung on every beautiful, perfectly-placed word. like a delicious meal, silk leaves you satisfied, but still wanting more. so now i will go read it again.
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Summary: Grim and delightful
Review: This is the only book that's made me have to sleep with the lights on since the first time I read The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. But I think the author is trying to do a lot more than frighten us and Silk is a book filled with tragic and wonderful characters. Better than Stephen King.
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Summary: Loved it!
Review: Silk is splendid. The genius of this book is its careful balance - it's oblique enough that the author's intentions remain a mystery, but not so frustratingly subtle and elusive that you give up and toss it aside. It puts me in mind of the puzzle boxes in those Clive Barker (a fan of Kiernan's) movies. Keep at it long enough, and a few cut fingers aside, dark and terrible things await you!
Rating:
Summary: Kiernan rocks!
Review: This book is fantastic, especially if you're into writers like William Burroughs, Thomas Tessier, Kathe Koja, Poppy Z. Brite, Thomas Ligotti, Katherine Dunn, Douglas Coupland, or Jonathan Carroll. Silk hits you in the head and the gut like a chunk of concrete wrapped in velveteen. It's smart, brutal, and beautiful. From start to finish, Kiernan draws us into a surreal (or hyperreal) world, and if the ending seems inconclusive, you probably weren't paying close enough attention - Kiernan is one of the powerful voices of her generation!
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Summary: Things from the basement!
Review: Caitlin Kiernan's Silk is a book about the darknes and corruption that exists just below the surface, perhaps just below all surfaces, just out of sight. The basement of a dilapidated old house, the skin of our bodies, trapdoors that have been nailed shut, repressed memories, the subconcious mind - all these are merely a mask drawn over a terrifying, half-suspected reality. No doubt, Kiernan has one of the strongest, most distinct voices in weird and horror fiction today and, more importantly, she has the skill to back it up. Silk is a deliciously-written book, an absolute word-storm. I'm not used to discovering fantasy and horror authors who are willing to go beyond telling the same old, scary stories, the same safe, predicatble rubbish of vampires and murderous psychos, and chart new territories of the bizarre. But that's what Silk does. This is not a book to miss. Five stars!!
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