Review: Empire of Light

Empire of Light by David Czuchlewski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just like The Muse Asylum, this novel can be categorized as a psychological thriller, just a thriller, or an action novel. Regardless, it is intelligent and a relatively fast-paced book.

I appreciated the impression we get of the Empire of Light, given that it can be considered a cult, but its members would disagree, and it has many aspects that could place it on one side or the other, rather than being an obvious Davinci Code-esque evil secret society.

The main character did annoy me somewhat. And the ending was frustrating, but I imagine it was supposed to be.


***SPOILERS BELOW*****
The juxtapositions were revealing, although I'm not sure I grasped everything they were supposed to reveal. There were definite contrasts between the narrator's father, who did the right thing (back in Vietnam) but attained bad results. While Giuseppe Conti (and the Imperium Luminis) would do the wrong thing, but with the 'right' results.
Another one was how Giuseppe Conti seemed to hate his sheep. I'm sure there is some analogy here about how Jesus loved his "flock" and God said to be a shepherd among men. But again, I'm not sure what the exact analogy is supposed to represent.


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Review: The Muse Asylum

The Muse Asylum by David Czuchlewski
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I picked this up at the Bookrack in Charlotte, completely on spec. I wanted a not-too-long fiction book. These gambles rarely work, but this was an exception.

I disagree with some other commenters, who say they didn't like the dialog. That might have been one of the first things that grabbed me. It wasn't common, nor awkward, but quick, erudite and witty enough to keep me going.

The story itself dragged me into it, including the "madness" sections, and I thought I had figured out the twist, and then, turns out I hadn't.

Anyway, I'm very happy I discovered this author, and I shall be searching for more of his books.

I find it amusing to read that the author was a student of Joyce Carol Oates', who describes the book as post-modern, when there is a scathing commentary within the book on terms like "post-modernism".


Also, I really wanted to read all the short stories mentioned in the book.

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