mikerickson reviewed Agents of dreamland by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Review of 'Agents of dreamland' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Yesterday, I forgot my name. It was an odd sensation, realizing I no longer knew what my mother and father had christened me, a few seconds of cold panic. But the panic was fleeting, and behind it was peace and assurance. We can't carry our names with us on the journey that lies ahead.
I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I honestly don't think I was smart enough to really follow what was going on in this book. You remember when you were a kid and you listened to grown-ups talking about politics or something way over your head and you knew that you didn't know what they were saying? That's the feeling I walked away from this book with.
Didn't mean I didn't enjoy it though.
Half the book focused on a doomsday cult out in the desert that was giving some real Fear and Loathing in Las …
Yesterday, I forgot my name. It was an odd sensation, realizing I no longer knew what my mother and father had christened me, a few seconds of cold panic. But the panic was fleeting, and behind it was peace and assurance. We can't carry our names with us on the journey that lies ahead.
I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I honestly don't think I was smart enough to really follow what was going on in this book. You remember when you were a kid and you listened to grown-ups talking about politics or something way over your head and you knew that you didn't know what they were saying? That's the feeling I walked away from this book with.
Didn't mean I didn't enjoy it though.
Half the book focused on a doomsday cult out in the desert that was giving some real Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas vibes, and the other half dealt with super secret government agencies à la Control (the 2019 video game). There were time skips out the wazoo, some of them clearly labeled and others more subtly inferred, and it was in first person when following one character but third person limited the rest of the time. It wasn't especially dense or purple prose, but this very much felt like a story that was actively trying to evade my grasp. It was fast-paced too; just when I felt like I was getting a handle of things, we moved on to the next scene. Just an overall surprisingly challenging read for something just over a hundred pages.
This book was pitched as cosmic horror, but there were direct references to I guess what you'd call "official Lovecraft canon." A few deities and places from the established mythos are name-dropped, and maybe it was leaning more on that background than I realized. Overall it was short though, and I definitely don't feel that my time was misspent with this book, I just wish I felt like I had a better understanding of it.
