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A review by musclelf
The Legend of Charlie Fish by Josh Rountree
3.0
Three and a half stars. This feels like something I would have written in college. I was really into writing westerns, magical realism, and soft science fiction. And while it's certainly written better than I could have ever done, it's also part of the (perhaps unfair) reason I'm only giving this three and a half stars. It feels like part of a story. Incomplete. Just like all of my college tries were, in the end.
Why is Charlie Fish even in this story at all? He hardly registers and it's supposed to be his legend? He barely has an impact in the story and feels more like an object to protect and fight over than a character. I did enjoy the rest of the characters however, but again I felt their stories were truncated. I'm a huge fan of novellas and short stories. It can be hard to write a complete story with so little room to do so, but I've read many, many, many stories that have accomplished it. Unfortunately I cannot count this one among them.
I feel bad crapping all over this book, it's really not as bad as I'm making it sound. Again, three and a half stars. I enjoyed the little boy with the big gun, I loved the Texas setting, the hurricane was terrifying to read about, and there were two pretty good villains.
Why is Charlie Fish even in this story at all? He hardly registers and it's supposed to be his legend? He barely has an impact in the story and feels more like an object to protect and fight over than a character. I did enjoy the rest of the characters however, but again I felt their stories were truncated. I'm a huge fan of novellas and short stories. It can be hard to write a complete story with so little room to do so, but I've read many, many, many stories that have accomplished it. Unfortunately I cannot count this one among them.
I feel bad crapping all over this book, it's really not as bad as I'm making it sound. Again, three and a half stars. I enjoyed the little boy with the big gun, I loved the Texas setting, the hurricane was terrifying to read about, and there were two pretty good villains.