CIPHER, THE

Rating:
Summary: I loathed this book.
Review: This book sucked. 356 pages about a hole in the floor. I was so disgusted that I had wasted my time reading this book. And I didn't like any of the characters of the book. I thought they were hole-worshipping morons and sincerely wished that they had all jumped into the hole by the end of the book. I was also severely dissapointed in that wishy-washy ending; "Maybe I will jump in the hole now.". What a waste of paper. I shudder to think of all the trees that sacrificed their lives to have this crap printed on them.

Rating:
Summary: Coolest concept, then nothing much happens.....
Review: When I first read "The Cipher" five years ago I read it in one day - read it cooking, watering the trees, even in the shower, held up high - Koja's bullet-slick style and exquisitely unusual, detailed images were utterly delicious to me, and I gobbled them like a bag of Lay's BBQ potato chips. The idea of a weird black hole-ish THING in the laundry room floor of a dingy apt. building remains one of my favorite concepts I've ever read about, endlessly oooo-able. When I read the novel again today, though, many of the things I disliked during my first reading had worsened with time for me. The first 100 pages or so soar, zip, WOW; after that, many many more characters enter the story, none of whom were interesting to me, and they basically bicker about what the Funhole is or isn't and are mean to Nicholas until the last 20 pages of the novel. Nothing else really, honestly HAPPENS with the Funhole, and what a waste that is of such an original concept in the hands of a truly wonderful writer! Any story basically boils down to what happens in it, and I think the simple choice of having more interesting things happening with the Funhole and the characters who were obsessed with it would've produced a masterpiece of a book. Bickering is very believable; bickering is bloody boring. Nakota also turned into a toxically monstrous, Dickensian villainess upon second reading for me, and while this is a sincere compliment to Koja it made suffering through her vastly witchy dialogue & actions about as much fun as having a cactus duct taped to one's underarm. ENOUGH ALREADY! I felt her character was 96% overkill and I skipped most of her this time...so "The Cipher", ultimately, is underdone and overdone, brilliant and disappointing, a novel whose beginning I love so much and one I'll always skip giant chunks of upon re-perusing. I became a Koja fan because of it and have really enjoyed much of the rest of her work, and I'd still have to recommend "The Cipher" if you like her too. She's a true jewel in the horror field and I hope she'll send a new novel our way sometime soon.

Laslonnian

Rating:
Summary: Coolest concept, then nothing much happens.....
Review: When I first read "The Cipher" five years ago I read it in one day - read it cooking, watering the trees, even in the shower, held up high - Koja's bullet-slick style and <paradoxically> exquisitely unusual, detailed images were utterly delicious to me, and I gobbled them like a bag of Lay's BBQ potato chips. The idea of a weird black hole-ish THING in the laundry room floor of a dingy apt. building remains one of my favorite concepts I've ever read about, endlessly oooo-able. When I read the novel again today, though, many of the things I disliked during my first reading had worsened with time for me. The first 100 pages or so soar, zip, WOW; after that, many many more characters enter the story, none of whom were interesting to me, and they basically bicker about what the Funhole is or isn't and are mean to Nicholas until the last 20 pages of the novel. Nothing else really, honestly HAPPENS with the Funhole, and what a waste that is of such an original concept in the hands of a truly wonderful writer! Any story basically boils down to what happens in it, and I think the simple choice of having more interesting things happening with the Funhole and the characters who were obsessed with it would've produced a masterpiece of a book. Bickering is very believable; bickering is bloody boring. Nakota also turned into a toxically monstrous, Dickensian villainess upon second reading for me, and while this is a sincere compliment to Koja it made suffering through her vastly witchy dialogue & actions about as much fun as having a cactus duct taped to one's underarm. ENOUGH ALREADY! I felt her character was 96% overkill and I skipped most of her this time...so "The Cipher", ultimately, is underdone and overdone, brilliant and disappointing, a novel whose beginning I love so much and one I'll always skip giant chunks of upon re-perusing. I became a Koja fan because of it and have really enjoyed much of the rest of her work, and I'd still have to recommend "The Cipher" if you like her too. She's a true jewel in the horror field and I hope she'll send a new novel our way sometime soon.

Laslonnian

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