Laura Lemay reviewed Bite Me by Christopher Moore
Review of 'Bite Me' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I have been a Chris Moore fan going way, way, way back; I read Practical Demonkeeping soon after it came out, and I've owned every book he's written since then. I adore Moore's manic, wacky sense of humor, and his books are just so much fun to read.
But Moore's work has always been really uneven for me. There have been excellent books (Lamb, The Lust Lizard, Bloodsucking Fiends, a Dirty Job), and not-so-great books (Fluke, the Sequined Love Nun). In general I've found the sequels to be much, much weaker than the original books, with a rehashed, repetitive feel to them. t's notable that I didn't realize that Bite Me had been out for almost a year, because I was confusing it with You Suck, the previous sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends. And I owned You Suck and I had read it and completely forgotten about it, so....well, that's half …
I have been a Chris Moore fan going way, way, way back; I read Practical Demonkeeping soon after it came out, and I've owned every book he's written since then. I adore Moore's manic, wacky sense of humor, and his books are just so much fun to read.
But Moore's work has always been really uneven for me. There have been excellent books (Lamb, The Lust Lizard, Bloodsucking Fiends, a Dirty Job), and not-so-great books (Fluke, the Sequined Love Nun). In general I've found the sequels to be much, much weaker than the original books, with a rehashed, repetitive feel to them. t's notable that I didn't realize that Bite Me had been out for almost a year, because I was confusing it with You Suck, the previous sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends. And I owned You Suck and I had read it and completely forgotten about it, so....well, that's half a review right there.
I liked Bloodsucking Fiends a lot, but I think the story of Jody and Tommy is wearing thin at this point, and goth teenager Abby's voice was funny in the last book but is tedious and repetitive here (I skimmed). Not a lot of character development or background for anyone here, a mess of subplots, and the pace is frenetic to the point of ridiculousness. There is one lovely subplot involving a mystery samurai which gives a tiny glimpse into the kind of touching-but-funny writing that Moore is capable of, but until the very end it gets lost in the scuffle.
I imagine that I will continue to buy every Chris Moore book as long as he continues to write them, but I'm still waiting for another Lamb. This wasn't it.
One star for a few good jokes, and one star for the Okata subplot.
