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The Deaver Reading Club # 1 "Garden of Beasts"


43 replies to this topic

#1 terminus

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Posted 06 June 2010 - 02:18 AM

Given that the majority of us are going to probably try and lay our hands on some Deaver novels in the wake of his announcement, I suggested elsewhere that it might be a nice idea to have a 'reading group' where we all try and coordinate which of his books we're reading at a given point.

And given that 'Garden of Beasts' is reportedly the book that got Deaver the Bond assignment, it seems an obvious choice to start with that book. I'm aware several people have already bought the book - so have suggested that this first round of the reading group encompasses two months, to allow those who HAVE read the book or who have already started reading it to begin discussion that those who intend to read it within the next month can later contribute to.

So, without further ado, let's begin discussion of 'Garden of Beasts':

#2 whiteskwirl

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Posted 06 June 2010 - 02:19 AM

So then we should all be under the assumption that this is a spoiler thread. Correct? Well, I guess it doesn't have to be. We can just use spoiler tags. I like spoiler tags anyway.

Edited by whiteskwirl, 06 June 2010 - 02:20 AM.


#3 terminus

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Posted 06 June 2010 - 01:31 PM

Yes, I suppose it ought to be a bit of a spoiler thread. My bad.

#4 whiteskwirl

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Posted 06 June 2010 - 05:00 PM

Thoughts on Chapter 8:

Spoiler


#5 whiteskwirl

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 05:19 PM

I'm just past the halfway point in this book, and it is very dull so far. At this point I would usually stop reading, but I'm going to press on so I can feel qualified enough to discuss it later. The main character is uninteresting and there is little action or intrigue.

Spoiler


#6 terminus

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 05:38 PM

Interesting that you're having such a negative approach to it, whiteskwrl. Am going to be intrigued as to what I feel it's like when I read it.

#7 whiteskwirl

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 10:28 PM

Interesting that you're having such a negative approach to it, whiteskwrl. Am going to be intrigued as to what I feel it's like when I read it.


Hopefully my thoughts so far won't influence you too much. It's not been a bad book so far, just underwhelming. But that could be due to my expectations of what kind of book I thought it was going to be before I started reading it. When I finish the book I'll put up a full review. Hopefully others will do so as well.

#8 marktmurphy

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 11:05 PM

I can't even find it anywhere. My library says it's on but it isn't on the shelves: the bookshops don't have it, although every time I look in Waterstones my eye gets drawn to some book by some guy called Jeremy Duns... B)

#9 terminus

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Posted 07 June 2010 - 11:10 PM

marktmurphy - try whsmith, neither of my local Waterstones have Garden of Beasts but the big whsmith in Manchester City Centre had a better selection of Deaver books.

#10 whiteskwirl

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Posted 08 June 2010 - 06:00 AM

I just finished the novel. I'll post my review of it when I finish it, but until then I'll just say that the second half of the novel was much better than the first half. The writing was good, especially the dialogue. After reading Garden of Beasts, I am optimistic about Jeffery Deaver writing the next James Bond novel.

#11 whiteskwirl

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Posted 08 June 2010 - 07:09 AM

Within the spoiler tags is my review of Garden of Beasts. It was better than I thought at first, and it left me feeling good about Jeffery Deaver being the next Bond author.

Spoiler

Edited by whiteskwirl, 08 June 2010 - 07:14 AM.


#12 terminus

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Posted 09 June 2010 - 12:38 AM

Interesting review. One simple question - does Deaver now have your confidence in writing Project X?

#13 whiteskwirl

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Posted 09 June 2010 - 12:40 AM

Interesting review. One simple question - does Deaver now have your confidence in writing Project X?


Yeah. As I said above, Garden of Beasts made me feel good about Deaver being the next Bond author. I had felt good about it ever since Deaver was announced as the next author, but I had never read any of his work. Now that I have, I'm even more excited. I think Jeffery Deaver is capable of writing the best continuation novel yet.

#14 terminus

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Posted 09 June 2010 - 12:53 AM

That's good. Tried to track it down through my local library system today but the two I could have got to didn't have it, going to call up one of the others tomorrow and arrange to pick it up on Thursday I think. If I enjoy it, I may buy it and get Deaver to sign it when I go to the signing.

#15 terminus

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Posted 10 June 2010 - 12:31 PM

And have now picked it up from the library - and begin reading this afternoon. Found the first two chapters to be very much the stuff of Bond - the recruitment and the assignment being given could almost be transcribed to Bond/M. We could do much worse than having the style of writing and description beind seen in Project X.

Am looking forward to seeing where this will be going - and I am desperately hoping I'm going to disagree with your thoughts on it, whiteskwrl.

#16 terminus

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Posted 11 June 2010 - 04:10 PM

Just onto Chapter 4. Chapter 3 is a fair sight longer than Chapter 1 and 2. The tension is keeping up, we've just met Ernst himself and I'm curious as to what the mid-point twist is going to be. I'm also curious as to the double-meaning of a certain sentence - 'the last person he would ever kill'.

#17 [dark]

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Posted 14 June 2010 - 05:51 AM

Bought a copy today - I'll probably start it as soon as I'm done with David Wolstencroft's Contact Zero (Wolstencroft also wrote an introduction to the early 2000s Fleming reissues).

#18 Single-O-Seven

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Posted 14 June 2010 - 11:56 AM

Just bought this and will probably take it to the cottage vacation this week.

#19 terminus

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Posted 14 June 2010 - 12:35 PM

Two more people to join the Reading Club! Hurrah! I'm sure I speak for myself and whiteskiwrl when I say it will be nice to hear the thoughts of others.

#20 dlb007

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Posted 14 June 2010 - 01:01 PM

Having just finished Garden of Beasts I must say that I am completely confident with Jeffery Deaver being the new Bond author. Garden of Beasts was a rather slow-moving thriller, but one that left me satisfied at the end. The twists came out of nowhere, unlike some of Gardner's that were obvious way before they happened. I was extremely happy with the dialogue and found the plot to be well-constructed. While the book was overly long and contained situations and characters that didn't really need to be mentioned, I still enjoyed what I was reading. Deaver clearly knows how to research and write a taut thriller and I feel he is a great choice to get Project-X rolling along.

On a side note, regarding Project X; I came upon a site (it escapes me now, but I'll post as soon as I remember), that talked about a book of short stories that Deaver had written, a book that was rather unusual. Each story, written by a different author, continued the same plot line that the first story kicked off. I believe Deaver wrote the first and one of the later stories. Anyway, thought that was interesting, because it seems that Project-X is pretty much the same idea. Deaver kicks off the series and then the next writer takes his ideas and continues them.

#21 terminus

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Posted 14 June 2010 - 01:33 PM

Which scenes do you consider extraneous?

#22 whiteskwirl

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Posted 14 June 2010 - 11:58 PM

Two more people to join the Reading Club! Hurrah! I'm sure I speak for myself and whiteskiwrl when I say it will be nice to hear the thoughts of others.


Yes, it would be good to hear more opinions on Garden of Beasts.

#23 Santa

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Posted 15 June 2010 - 07:24 AM

I started it last night. I've heard so many good things I'm hoping it'll make up for the other two Deavers I read.

#24 Matt_13

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Posted 16 June 2010 - 03:02 PM

I just finished it last night and very much enjoyed it. The last 40 or so pages are pretty exciting. There were some good twists and turns in there, as well. That said, the climax and final revelations about the whole shebang felt a bit cheap and VERY convenient, and, as a result, to a small degree hollow. Still, it was a very enjoyable read. Hope you enjoy it Santa. B)

File this one under "Better than most modern thrillers."

#25 whiteskwirl

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Posted 16 June 2010 - 04:34 PM

I just finished it last night and very much enjoyed it. The last 40 or so pages are pretty exciting. There were some good twists and turns in there, as well. That said, the climax and final revelations about the whole shebang felt a bit cheap and VERY convenient, and, as a result, to a small degree hollow. Still, it was a very enjoyable read. Hope you enjoy it Santa. B)

File this one under "Better than most modern thrillers."


Which parts felt cheap and convenient for you? Was it:

Spoiler


#26 DAN LIGHTER

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Posted 16 June 2010 - 05:55 PM

Spoiler


#27 marktmurphy

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Posted 16 June 2010 - 10:17 PM

Bought a copy today - I'll probably start it as soon as I'm done with David Wolstencroft's Contact Zero (Wolstencroft also wrote an introduction to the early 2000s Fleming reissues).



I've read that: it was a good, exciting read.

#28 Matt_13

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Posted 17 June 2010 - 01:31 AM

I just finished it last night and very much enjoyed it. The last 40 or so pages are pretty exciting. There were some good twists and turns in there, as well. That said, the climax and final revelations about the whole shebang felt a bit cheap and VERY convenient, and, as a result, to a small degree hollow. Still, it was a very enjoyable read. Hope you enjoy it Santa. B)

File this one under "Better than most modern thrillers."


Which parts felt cheap and convenient for you? Was it:

Spoiler


Spoiler


#29 zencat

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Posted 29 June 2010 - 04:04 PM

Started reading last night. Wow, his style is very hardboiled. I like. B)

#30 terminus

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Posted 29 June 2010 - 04:26 PM

I need to finish it off, got occupied with doing other bits and bobs.