Rating: 
Summary: This one will keep you up at night!
Review: I have read Clive Barker. I have read Stephen King. I love these guys. But Floating Dragon is the only book I've read in the last fifteen years to actually given me nightmares!A great read!
Rating:
Summary: One of Peter Straub's best books!!
Review: I have read this book three times since it was released in the early '80's. I think this is Peter Straub's best all-out horror novel. There are several chapters that still raise chills when I read them. I love the narrative and the pure descriptive power that he is able to build into each chapter. Peter Straub has never disappointed me in any of his books, and this one certainly ranks as one of the best !!
Rating: 
Summary: All The Right Ingredients, But . . .
Review: I read "Floating Dragon" when it first came out, and it impressed me. It was one of the first serial murderer/horror stories I had read, and I still remember some of the characters. Since then, however, I've read several other books in the genre, and "Floating Dragon" keeps getting less impressive. It certainly has a creepy feel to it, and the characters do stand out, but it does not have a coherent, well-flowing plot. Like the dragon in the title, the story floats around, runs into blind alleys (not false leads, but seemingly dropped subplots or unfinished story-lines). The reader is not gripped by it. A good story of this genre is a thrilling roller-coaster ride; this is a ride on a leaky balloon, with some uncertainty about where it will land. Thomas Harris does it better, although not consistently (see my reviews of "Red Dragon", Silence of the Lambs", and "Hannibal").
Rating:
Summary: All The Right Ingredients, But . . .
Review: I read "Floating Dragon" when it first came out, and it impressed me. It was one of the first serial murderer/horror stories I had read, and I still remember some of the characters. Since then, however, I've read several other books in the genre, and "Floating Dragon" keeps getting less impressive. It certainly has a creepy feel to it, and the characters do stand out, but it does not have a coherent, well-flowing plot. Like the dragon in the title, the story floats around, runs into blind alleys (not false leads, but seemingly dropped subplots or unfinished story-lines). The reader is not gripped by it. A good story of this genre is a thrilling roller-coaster ride; this is a ride on a leaky balloon, with some uncertainty about where it will land. Thomas Harris does it better, although not consistently (see my reviews of "Red Dragon", Silence of the Lambs", and "Hannibal").
Rating:
Summary: OH MY GOD!
Review: I read this book fifteen years ago (and Ghost Story almost twenty years ago, my second most favorite book of all time) and it is still the scariest book I have ever read. Don't read Ghost Story and Floating Dragon in the same week or you will have some seriously scarey dreams for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: A little overdone but good
Review: I thought that the beginning was excellent but the writing spiraled down and the violence and gore was way too overdone. I thought that the ending was sort of a let down. Ghost Story was a million times better! But it was still very good. Peter Straub always is.
Rating: 
Summary: Very, Very Good
Review: If I could give this book 4 1/2 stars, then I would. It is some of the best work Straub has produced. He should be wearing the mantle for gothic horror author master. Straub reminds me of Nathanial Hawthorne with this story. He tells the tale of an area dying into madness and the horror the various individuals have to face including people that are dissolving into water. The only complaint I have is that Straub writes in a very disjointed style that jumps around the plot and can be hard to follow. I think he chose this method to enhance the suspense. If you have read either Shadowlands or Ghost Story, then you will love Floating Dragon. It is a harder read, but it is ceratainly worth the effort. It is my personal favorite of his books.
Rating:
Summary: Very, Very Good
Review: If I could give this book 4 1/2 stars, then I would. It is some of the best work Straub has produced. He should be wearing the mantle for gothic horror author master. Straub reminds me of Nathanial Hawthorne with this story. He tells the tale of an area dying into madness and the horror the various individuals have to face including people that are dissolving into water. The only complaint I have is that Straub writes in a very disjointed style that jumps around the plot and can be hard to follow. I think he chose this method to enhance the suspense. If you have read either Shadowlands or Ghost Story, then you will love Floating Dragon. It is a harder read, but it is ceratainly worth the effort. It is my personal favorite of his books.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Ghost Story
Review: If you liked Ghost Story you will love Floating Dragon. Simply impossible to put down. Somewhat like Stephen King's The Stand but more frightening and believable.
Rating:
Summary: COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
Review: In 1995, I was in Manhattan at the Pennsylvania Hotel. While in the elevator traveling down to the lobby a man was standing in front of me. Turns out this was Peter Straub. He was plugging his new book Hell Fire Club, He turned out to be a very nice guy. So I feel a personal bond while I read his bookS if you can believe that.
I first read this book in 1986, I thought it was a little confusing, but being as young as I was (14) I finished it. I figured it must be my immaturity, that I didn't follow the story well. So jump ahead to 2000, I just happen to come across my dusty Hard cover that I had and decided to give it a retry. Now I am almost 30 and I feel I have some comprehention of things so I read it over. Well I was right, the premis of the book is great, it's just that Straub was having a hard time putting it into words. The book was too long and wordy with too many unimportant charactors we didn't need to hear about. I found the main charactors very 3 dimensional, as well as the description of the town, but the story runs along at a bumpy pace. It's not a lite read at all. You'll need to put your thinking caps on for this one. But Straub is not a King or Koontz more like Henry James. Now on a positive note; mind you Floating Dragon is not a great book, but Straub is a great author.
Straub to me is a literary Horror writer, he doesn't write fast books with happy endings. His books make you think and contemplate. He is in a genre of his own.
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