Dee reviewed The Helmet of Horror by Viktor Olegovich Pelevin
Review of 'The Helmet of Horror' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A bizarrely captivating reimagined version of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. It feels like a "Black Mirror"-esque take on the original myth but Pelevin manages to pull it off really well. Initially, I felt uneasy about the format of the writing—a literal chatroom—but this format actually assisted in creating a "snappy" and fast paced dialogue between the characters. In other words, the format did not restrict the story as I though it would.
On the topic of the character's themselves, Sartrik is most definitely my favourite of them all. I do not want to spoil exactly why he is as this review is intended to encourage others to read this and not to give away the plot. Pelevin makes great use of these "characters" (it is rather hard to consider them to be actual characters but for lack of a better word I'll stick to calling them as …
A bizarrely captivating reimagined version of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. It feels like a "Black Mirror"-esque take on the original myth but Pelevin manages to pull it off really well. Initially, I felt uneasy about the format of the writing—a literal chatroom—but this format actually assisted in creating a "snappy" and fast paced dialogue between the characters. In other words, the format did not restrict the story as I though it would.
On the topic of the character's themselves, Sartrik is most definitely my favourite of them all. I do not want to spoil exactly why he is as this review is intended to encourage others to read this and not to give away the plot. Pelevin makes great use of these "characters" (it is rather hard to consider them to be actual characters but for lack of a better word I'll stick to calling them as such) to philosophise about the nature of perception and it's relation to reality.
4/5
A brilliant read but I do wish Pelevin spent a bit more time with the definition and purpose of myth which was explored a little during the start of the story but was abandoned later on. Regardless, this will certainly be one of those books I frequently come back to.
