The Snow Garden

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Thrilling
Review: Rice's power of additive storytelling (flashbacks of the past mixed with slivers of the present) result in an exciting tidal wave of resolution by the end of the novel. Another novel with gay undertones still succeeds at fleshing out realistic portraits of characters from all walks of life. The creative murderous twists in the novel are reminiscent of his mother's "The Vampire Chronicles," particularly regarding the self-inflection of many of the characters. This book is much more action-based than "A Density of Souls" and could be likened to a lighter read than the novelist's first work. Whereas A Density of Souls is an emotional roller-coaster, Snow Garden is much more murder-mystery whodunit meets gay coming of age hidden identity.

It is an electrifying read and as in A Density of Souls, Rice allows the reader a classic comfort: epilogue and final words of some sort of resolution for the characters. A sort of dash of literary comfort food. Nothing is worse for me, as a reader, than not knowing what happened to the characters whn I left the story.

I recommend it, and I even recommend to those looking to "discover" the younger Rice, that they read Snow Garden first and A Density of Souls second.

Rating:
Summary: The Snow Garden- Keep Trying
Review: Having read almost all of Anne Rice's books, I had to try Christopher Rice's The Snow Garden. Although it was an interesting story, the ending was somewhat unsatisfying. Also, having some gay characters gave the story interest, but having so many of them seemed forced and detracted from the story line. As a previous reviewer mentioned, the way Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights is featured throughtout this novel worked well. The way that it influenced the characters, however, seemed a bit far-fetched.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: I've read both of Christopher Rice' novels and they are both excellent reads. The characters, plot pacing and suspense are all well enough. My only wish would be to see slightly more believable finales. Of course, maybe the slightly-unrealistic dramatics are what make it interesting.....
In any case, it's a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Give it a miss!
Review: The Snow Garden is one of the worst reads I've had this year. The distinct lack of editing proved to be a huge stumbling block. Rice does not yet have the sophistication to be able to keep multiple plot lines running and this results in characters who seem to be motivated by schitzophrenic tendencies when this is clearly not the auhor's intent. When the characters do behave rationally they are one dimentional and I found none of them believable or even remotely likable. This is particularly true of the main character. My final complaint would be that too many characters are gay. This is also a problem I had with his first novel which, in comparison, was a far better piece of work. I think the publisher has given Rice a lot slack because of his name, which pretty much guarantees turning the company a profit. I am skeptical that a first of second time writer would get this published without having a mother who's so well known.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: Not being a fan of his mother's work I picked up Christopher Rice's THE SNOW GARDEN on not much more then a whim. Was I ever pleased with the decision. This novel has it all: wonderful deep characters, sexual tension, mystery, and a story that wraps around you from beginning to end. The setting, a snowbound Atherton University campus is a charcter within itself with Rice's vivid descriptions. The story itself takes you on quite a wild ride throwing one twist after another at it's reader to captivate one's attention. I could not put this book down, and before even finishing the last chapter I was at my local book store in search of DENSITY OF SOULS. Chris Rice is a wonderful young writer, and I can't wait for his next epic adventure.

Rating:
Summary: Be sure to take a walk in this garden!
Review: The Snow Garden has to be one of the best books i've read in a while. Not only was it a bone chilling suspense novel but it also dealed with college aged problems and early adulthood. When i read Christopher Rice's first book A Density of Souls i didn't think he could write another novel to top that but i was WRONG! I recommend this book to anyone who wants a book that will keep them at the edge of their seats.

Rating:
Summary: Startlingly Different Thriller
Review: I picked this book up at Blackwell's only a day before my trip because I was going to be on the airplane for seven hours, had heard of the author, and liked the description on the back cover.
I wasn't really expecting a lot of it, so I was pleasantly surprised at how different it was from other mystery novels I've read. The characters were deep, complex, and, if not involved in realistic situations, reacted realistically to the situations they were in. Unlike a lot of reviewers, I thought it was marvelously paced. The pacing was enough that you could really get to know the characters and the reasons behind what they were doing.

I really approved of Christopher Rice's decision to work on character development above the plot. I'm not a fan of books that tell you what the characters do but never explain to you why. Every one of the characters had a genuine reason for doing what they did, thinking what they did, and saying what they did. Everything the characters did was justified in the character's mind.

On the downside, I noticed that the actual text of the book reminded me of an unfinished copy. There were punctuation marks missing, typographical errors, and other various mistakes. I also think that there was an overabundance of homosexual characters in the book. Don't get me wrong--I'm by no means homophobic. But did April have to be a lesbian or was she simply thrown in as the token lesbian? Did Lauren have to be portrayed as a lesbian for most of the book? Did Tim really need to be gay, or was it simply the easiest way to draw a connection between him and Randall? It stands to reason that a large number of the characters were required to be homosexual due to the plot of the book, but at what point does it become necessary for there to be an astounding four straight characters in the book--two of whom are killed off in the first few chapters and one of whom is so minor she barely counts as a character? If the various parents and the cast of Kathryne's friends are thrown in there--that is, the ones that weren't unrealistically killed off in various ways--you still only come up with slightly more than half a dozen heterosexual characters.

That being said, I do think that the book is an interesting read, and it certainly kept me entertained for most of my flight.

Rating:
Summary: Startlingly Different Thriller
Review: I picked this book up at Blackwell's only a day before my trip because I was going to be on the airplane for seven hours, had heard of the author, and liked the description on the back cover.

I wasn't really expecting a lot of it, so I was pleasantly surprised at how different it was from other mystery novels I've read. The characters were deep, complex, and, if not involved in realistic situations, reacted realistically to the situations they were in. Unlike a lot of reviewers, I thought it was marvelously paced. The pacing was enough that you could really get to know the characters and the reasons behind what they were doing.

I really approved of Christopher Rice's decision to work on character development above the plot. I'm not a fan of books that tell you what the characters do but never explain to you why. Every one of the characters had a genuine reason for doing what they did, thinking what they did, and saying what they did. Everything the characters did was justified in the character's mind.

On the downside, I noticed that the actual text of the book reminded me of an unfinished copy. There were punctuation marks missing, typographical errors, and other various mistakes. I also think that there was an overabundance of homosexual characters in the book. Don't get me wrong--I'm by no means homophobic. But did April have to be a lesbian or was she simply thrown in as the token lesbian? Did Lauren have to be portrayed as a lesbian for most of the book? Did Tim really need to be gay, or was it simply the easiest way to draw a connection between him and Randall? It stands to reason that a large number of the characters were required to be homosexual due to the plot of the book, but at what point does it become necessary for there to be an astounding four straight characters in the book--two of whom are killed off in the first few chapters and one of whom is so minor she barely counts as a character? If the various parents and the cast of Kathryne's friends are thrown in there--that is, the ones that weren't unrealistically killed off in various ways--you still only come up with slightly more than half a dozen heterosexual characters.

That being said, I do think that the book is an interesting read, and it certainly kept me entertained for most of my flight.

Rating:
Summary: Left me wilted
Review: I admire Christopher Rice's courage in embracing a set of gay characters. However, I was disappointed overall with this novel. I thought I would be up all night reading this work after getting "hooked" from the prologue; and I did stay intrigued for awhile. But, I found the writer simply tried to put too many plots going on that didn't tie together. I found myself hurrying to finish the book-not because I was anxious to see what was going to happen, but because I had other things I was more interested in reading after this book lost its fizzle. I agree with another reviewer that the editing was very poorly done. (I noticed in one spot that Paula, the dead wife's sister, was referred to as Lisa, the dead wife in addition to the other mistake mentioned in the other review.) If your book budget is limited, I would skip this one.

Rating:
Summary: Good start, but the ending lets it down horribly
Review: I bought this book after reading the back flap. It reminded me of "Lake of the Dead Languages" by Carol Goodman and "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt.

The story mostly takes place on a school campus and revolves around a couple of (not so typical) students. There is a lot of tension between them and the death of the wife of one of their teachers brings a lot of intrigue. In the end though the story goes into fast forward mode and before you know it half of the people in the story are dead. This ending was most disappointing and I expected more after such a good start.

Also note that this book contains some explicit sexual content involving homosexuals. While this was not a problem for me, I thought some people might want to know.