Suvudu Universe

Ted Hall is worried. He’s been sleepwalking, and his somnambulant travels appear to coincide with murders by the notorious Hang Wire Killer.

Meanwhile, the circus has come to town, but the Celtic dancers are taking their pagan act a little too seriously, the manager of the Olde Worlde Funfair has started talking to his vintage machines, and the new acrobat’s frequent absences are causing tension among the performers.

Out in the city there are other new arrivals – immortals searching for an ancient power – a primal evil which, if unopposed, could destroy the world!

Hang Wire – what a trip. I find it so hard to adequately describe what I felt about this book. I liked it, it confused me, it left me wanting more. But ok lets go with this:

First few chapters: When you turn into a gibbering mess on the floor because there are no words to describe the enjoyment of what you’re reading….yah that was me. The intro was strong but be prepared for much back and forth time jumping.

There are quite a few characters featured. And no shortage of fascinating concepts and ideas that the author was weaving in. Plus…an evil circus, my reaction to anything circus?: Fricka fracking blowing my mind good ! – who what, ok yes I’m loving it – just yes – words fail me…there is nothing creepier and more delicious than a circus. I might be the ruling authority on this.

Then I get past my initial reaction and move into a zone where I was cruising along and my momentum slowed down a bit. I was trying to absorb all the strange things that were being tossed at me. The writing was lush and immersive. A touch more world building and explanation would have been greatly appreciated, because heck sometimes I need things spelled out for me. Its a fine balance that must be walked between letting a reader fill in the gaps to hey my foot is stuck here and I need the story to help pull me out.

Each chapter we jumped from one character to another – this could be good or this could be bad I think it completely depends on an individual reader’s preference. Personally, at first I was excited by it because everything was so fresh and interesting. But then admittedly after awhile I found I wasn’t attaching to any one character in particular as much as I usually would so I think I would have benefited from longer amounts of time spent with each character at a given stint. Because of this reason I think Hang Wire would be best binge read because that way you won’t lose track of which character you are with and where you are in the story. Just buckle in and plow through.

Hang Wire has a lot of things going on, and when I say a lot I am not joking. Each character brings their own weird funky bag of something to this potluck party and some work great and others will leave you wondering – ‘now why the heck is this here or happening, and who the heck, why would you even be here?’ sort of moments. Sometimes, I can really dig that. Obviously, this worked for me this time around because I was really enjoying it and I could partially say I have a rather fractured state of mind currently and this fit with how I was feeling perfectly. But ultimately, I can’t explain why I was able to roll with this the way that I was. Maybe it was the evil circus….maybe it was the exiled gods? Maybe it was demented characters and a serial killer. Who knows? I liked it, nuff said?

Alright one more bit of two cents! I think Hang Wire will be a complete hit or miss read for folks. You will either click with it in some weird way that defies explanation or you’ll not like the flow and moments of confusion. Though you won’t be able to help yourself from loving the author’s prose because hell that was just dagnabit good. Either way I’d say if you’re intrigued it definitely worth a read. I’ve read one other book by this author, The Burning Dark, and it was so completely different from this in every way it was almost as if someone else penned it. Both great books and now I’m itching to try out another by Christopher because all seem like they are completely different genres.

Hang Wire

Find Book: Amazon | I ndiebound | G oodreads
Follow Author: Website | Twitter

The post Review: Hang Wire by Adam Christopher was written by the author Tabitha the Pabkins. © My Shelf Confessions