Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Unusual approach, 16 Feb 2008
Let it be said that Loop is not a horror tale. In fact it is more sci-fi than any other genre. It follows the search for a cure to a new form of cancer and is linked to the previous Ring novel, Spiral. The characterisation is well presented and the science, although heavy at times, is usually represented in a form so all readers can follow the plot. The lack of menace or indeed action of any sort may leave readers disappointed with Loop, yet the story is smart in it's approach, and its plot is rooted in the previous volumes, although taken in a new direction. Overall Loop is an interesting idea but never turns in to a real page-turner.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good Twist for A Sci-Horror Book, 8 Aug 2007
Unlike the previous review, i think he talks alot of rubbish. Ring did make the way for the Ringu trilogy that we are all familar with. When i bought the rest of the book series, i was very suprise. It wasnt anything like the sequel movies it had a very interesting spin on what the first book had set up. I dont want to spoil the rest of the series for you, but i do agree that the spiral book is a bit slow but loop and birthday are great sci-horror books. I would definately recomend it to all sci-horror fans and fans of the movie series should give it a try too.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The law of diminishing returns, 12 Jul 2007
Few people would disagree that the first book of this series - Ring - was probably the most influencial creation in horror in the last decade. The idea of undead Sadako Yamamura crawling out of the TV has spawned an entire 'J-Horror' industry, from film, to games to other books to spoofs.
Ring (Ringu) scared the bejeezus out of me, and so I was interested in where Suzuki took the series next. Sadly, it appears that as an author he only had one really good idea. The first sequel (Spiral) was lacklustre at best, and the second (Loop) is downright awful.
The problem is that horror relies upon the unknown to be frightening, and so the more it is explained, the less scary it gets. Spiral went some way to explaining Sadako, and Loop dismisses her astonishing powers with a single throwaway line - completely removing all suspense from the narrative. Instead all we're left with is a book in which all the twists are explained before they happen, which doesn't make for a very effective thriller.
The storyline follows Kauru, a precocious youth who lives in a dysfunctional family. When his father to struck down by a new form of cancer, he goes on a long journey to find the source and cure of the disease. It's here the story explains away all the horror and unexplained of the first two books, and the only surprise is just how dull the explaination is. By turns leaden, knowingly self-referential and trite, the story plods from set piece to set piece, assuming an ignorance of genetics and computing on the part of the reader in order to drive the plot towards to a conclusion which reads less like the cumulation to a wildly influencial horror trilogy, and more like to the script to a 1980's straight-to-video sci-fi movie.
If you're a fan of horror, or the Ring series, this is definitely one to avoid.
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by Koji Suzuki
by Koji Suzuki
by Koji Suzuki
by Koji Suzuki
by Natsuo Kirino
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