Demons

Rating:
Summary: Slow going for me
Review: Ira, an artist, has just had his world ripped apart. Demons have invaded and are gleefully ripping humans to shreds one by one.

I listened to this as an Audible downloand and, apparently, this book is two books in one. Book 1 tells Ira's story and his battle with the Demons. This story began with a rip-roaring start but petered out somewhere mid-way when Ira, the woman he's in love with and a group of men who belong to a secret society attempt to figure out how to defeat the demons and reclaim their world. I lost interest midway as the story got bogged down in a lot of metaphysical talk and seemed to skip around too much for my liking. It also wasn't as "horrific" as I'd anticipated considering the plot. The ideas are all there (and are indeed frightening) but the telling of the story just didn't do it for me.

Unfortunately, Book 2 wasn't any better of a read for me. It takes place some nine years later and this time a group of greedy, power hungry folks foolishly thinking they're gods bring the demons back to life but not before the book goes into horrifying details about the evils these people are doing the environment. Ewww, for me it was a thoroughly unpleasant (and often boring) story. Not helping matters out any is the overblown reading by one of the male narrators who gets so worked up and gasps for breath so many times during his reading I thought he was surely going to expire from the effort.

I much preferred John Shirley's book "New Noir" over this one.

Rating:
Summary: Starts out well, then falls a little short
Review: John Shirley has, in his novel Demons, concocted an enticing, genre-bending blend of science fiction and horror. This book really contains a novel in two parts, or a short novel and its sequel. Both make for intriguing reads.

Approximately the first third of the book contains the short novel Demons. Told from the viewpoint of Ira, an artist with a penchant for the occult, Demons takes place in the not-too-distant future, in 2011. One random day akin to any other in San Francisco, Ira goes to visit his girlfriend Melissa, who, unbeknownst to Ira, harbors the "Gold in the Urn," and her father Dr. Paymenz. However, unlike any other day, demon-like creatures begin to fall from the sky and wreak havoc on the unsuspecting general public. Combining forces with several occultists and scientists who make up a secret society, Ira, Melissa, and Paymenz aid in the attempt to discover the source of the demon attacks and aim to put them to an end.

The second and longer book, Undercurrent, was a much more tedious read. It wasn't that the story or writing were poor, I just found this portion of the book to be much slower-paced. Furthermore, the "horror" element is lacking in this portion and Shirley spends more time divulging the science fiction aspect of his tale giving excruciating details of out of body experiences and other psychic phenomena. In Undercurrent, which takes place nine years after the attacks, we are introduced to Stephen Isquerat. Stephen works for a large company called West Wind. Once the company becomes aware that Stephen has some psychic ability, they put him to work in their psychonomics sector, whose purpose remains fairly elusive, even to Stephen himself. What Stephen does know is that the company's CEO will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if it means killing hundreds of animals and people with a supposed pesticide called Dirvane 17.

We also learn in this sequel that the government, or someone, has tried to cover up the horrific events of nine years ago. Tapes have been erased and people have begun to believe that the events were the result of a terrorist attack. Some hallucinogen was released that caused mass hysteria, primal rage, and large-scale hallucinations. Still, the Conscious Circle attempts to unravel the mystery and thwart the maliciousness of those with a penchant towards ill will. During this second book, Melissa is in Turkmenistan with her and Ira's son, Marcus, on an obscure mission. Meanwhile, Ira is in Portland, Oregon apprenticing under Yanan, a member of the Conscious Circle. All of them have important roles to play in the saving of humankind.

While the first book was fast-paced and a fun, easy read, I felt that some plot elements were somewhat underdeveloped. The second book, on the other hand, was an extremely slow, tedious read, though slightly more developed than the first book. This isn't to say, however, that the second book was well-developed. Like the first book, it seems as though Shirley could have gone slightly more in-depth with explanations of actual plot elements, while he probably could have pared down some of the OBE explanations. It would have been nice to have seen the seven clans of demons developed a bit more, and possibly the plane from which they came as well. Nonetheless, this was still a worthwhile read. The concept is excellent as is Shirley's writing, I just felt that emphasis could have been placed elsewhere in order to make Demons slightly more entertaining and a little less irksome.

Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic and Vivid Tale of Demons
Review: The book Demons is a story of the seven clans of demons and the people who fought against them, or at least tried.... John Shirley describes everything in his book vividly, and at times he does it too well and he does it magnificently at times when you wish he hadn't painted a picture of that particular scene. Each demons has its own often hilrious name, from a bugsy to a tailpipe, but although the names sound cute and all, in 'reality' the demons are far from that description. Overall the book is magnificently written, but I should warn everyone, this book is not for anyone, there should be a level of maturity and readiness in the reader before they should ever read this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic and Vivid Tale of Demons
Review: The book Demons is a story of the seven clans of demons and the people who fought against them, or at least tried.... John Shirley describes everything in his book vividly, and at times he does it too well and he does it magnificently at times when you wish he hadn't painted a picture of that particular scene. Each demons has its own often hilrious name, from a bugsy to a tailpipe, but although the names sound cute and all, in 'reality' the demons are far from that description. Overall the book is magnificently written, but I should warn everyone, this book is not for anyone, there should be a level of maturity and readiness in the reader before they should ever read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, yet--
Review: This is the first John Shirley book that I have read, so I didn't have any expectations whatsover when I plunked down fifteen bucks for it at B & N. What I got from it was, in my opinion, worth it. Shirley presents a great outlook on the world in book one - it is from a first-person perspective - the narrator is Ira, an artist. Ira details how, after the initial mass panic that results from any demon attack, a calmness set in. In the first few pages, a demon turns a road to molten tar in front of a man in his car. The man notices the demon, and notices that his car is sunk and will go no farther. Furthermore, the demon is tearing at the car to get to the driver. The driver pops the door, climbs over the roof and leaps to the sidewalk, where he strolls away. Spectators are only distantly interested, since this spectacle is less than rare. It's this kind of writing that makes this book a four-star. The rest of Book One is also great to read. Book two, however, is less-than great. It is a jumble of ideas thrown together in a way that makes a bit of sense. That's all. Focus also moves away from the demons, and I think that takes away from the story a little. If it were seperate, Book one would get five stars, two would get two. But it's not, so the whole thing has to suffer through a three. Tough.

All in all, this book is a nice pickup and I recommend it to you. And you. And you. And you. Yeah, and especially you. [/end Sherry Lewis]

Rating:
Summary: Another excellent short novel from Cemetery Dance folks.
Review: When it comes to John Shirley, you have to take your chances. In my humble opinion, I find him a writer of widely varying quality (though one who steadily improves, there is little backsliding in his work). If one goes as far back as CELLARS, there is really not much to recommend; however, Mr. Shirley has produced such excellent work as: IN DARKNESS WAITING; WETBONES; and, most recently, DEMONS. This is a terrific short novel--well-paced, gripping, and solid. Mr. Shirley's mastery of this short form is impressive. A sense of dread is pervasive thoughout, though his prose is lean and to the point.

In this most imaginative premise (though I sense some inspiration from John Ostrander's DEMON WARS arc in the GRIMJACK comics), unstoppable, murderous demons have suddenly appeared on Earth. They can make their presence known anywhere and anytime. With no defenses, humans must make their way through this hell on earth as best they can (this is Shirley's most interesting facet in the book--how John and Mary Sixpack continue about their daily business in this new dystopia).

It was a pleasure to read DEMONS, and I look forward to Mr. Shirley's next work.

Rating:
Summary: A Fine Horror Novel from John Shirley
Review: While "Demons" may lack the intense machine-gun narrative of John Shirley's "A Song Called Youth" cyberpunk trilogy, it nonetheless is a splendid example of his fine literary style which has garnered praise from distinguished writers ranging from William Gibson to Clive Barker. I found "Demons" to be a riveting read, especially Book 1, which is a phantasmagorical trek through San Francisco in the midst of a demonic occupation. Book 2 adds some intriguing touches with regards to cyperpunk and environmental disaster fiction thrown into a plot which shows what happens when big business runs afoul of demons. Melissa, the daughter of an obscure college professor, is the main character - and emotional heart - of both books. Shirley's prose has rarely been better. This is yet another fine book from one of my favorite authors of fiction.