Well, now I know what "urban fantasy" means. I think.

Not my cup of tea. Aside from that, the book is written badly, clumsily. Descriptive phrases are awkward, not particularly descriptive. It's little better than what a teen fantasy-phile might churn out.

The story is about an evil force that spends many years with the aim of wiping out humanity. The effort is headed by a young man setting out to seek his fortune in the mid-1800s, looking to stake a claim in the wild west. He carries with him a coin his father had given him, and it is that coin that pulls him along, urges him to take certain actions, to go in certain directions. After a while, the young man, Joel, figures out what he is looking for- the parts of an old carnival that had been broken apart many years ago. Including the monkey in the middle with the strange red eyes.

On the "good" side of the story is Ted, an ordinary young man in present-day San Francisco who is given a gift. A gift he doesn't even recognize. And Bob, the blue-jeaned blond surfer who gives dance lessons on the beach. Who had been doing so for over 100 years. You'd think someone would have noticed that he hadn't aged.

There are a few other characters who are either knowingly or unknowingly caught up in the events, which are, ultimately, cinematic. Did Adam Christopher hope someone would make a movie of this? Frankly, it probably would have been a better film than a book, because a lot of personality details could get filled in, a lot of visual detail in general. ( )

[ SEE THIS REVIEW @ BOOKCHARMED ]

The city of San Francisco doesn't know it yet but they're on the verge of total annihilation, and it all starts with an exploding fortune cookie during the birthday of a Bay Area blogger named Ted. It actually almost happened several times before (see: 1906 earthquake), but now with the circus in town, a few gods from long forgotten mythology in the mix, and a serial killer known as the Hang Wire Killer running loose around the city, things are looking a lot more serious.

There's certainly a lot packed into this book with a little bit of everything for everyone, and yet I didn't really like it as much as I thought it would. I was really hooked by the beginning as it (quite literally) started off with a bang, but the plot quickly became convoluted and I slowly started to lose interest.

The use of multiple perspectives was probably the best way to thoroughly explain most of the plot, but it's not one of my favorite things as a reader, especially when it includes one-time chapters of people who aren't the main focus or aren't necessarily important. One particular chapter changed points of views several times without warning which made for an annoying and confusing read.

Even though Ted Hall is touted as the main character in the blurb, there is actually very little from Ted's point of view. That was a bit disappointing because from the little that we do glimpse of him, he was probably my favorite for his personality and sense of humor which a few in the story seemed to lack. I still liked a few of the other characters, particularly Bob the blonde surfer dude who's been teaching ballroom dancing by the beach for last few centuries and Benny, a small Korean girl with an affinity for the word "dude." On the other hand, I found myself wanting to skip Joel's chapters most of the time. As the representative antagonist of the story, Joel is certainly creepy enough, but his chapters are often repetitive and didn't really add anything new to the story after a while.

Adam Christopher relies heavily on repetition to build up the tension in the story. It worked to convey an impending sense of doom up to a certain point, but then it just reached a limit where I might just have to throw a book at someone if I ever heard certain phrases again.

Things I never want to hear about again:
- Something moving / something else / something under...
- The coin in his pocket being cold.
- Italicized it, they, and them.

To really illustrate how repetitive the writing could be, I must give a shout out to one part in the story that mentioned that the weather was "hot enough to fry an egg" about three times in the span of three consecutive paragraphs.

Plot wise, I did enjoy the story. It kept me on my toes and kept me wondering who it and they were. I also enjoyed the dash of mythology thrown into it and the sense of the mystical that the circus theme always brings. The writing style, however, left a lot to be desired. ( )

I never shook the feeling that I was reading a still-nacent draft of this novel. For better or worse - does it mean that there's more to be mined from this story? Or does it just mean that this one didn't quite ever get there, wherever where is meant to be? Christopher is a smart writer and excited by what he's coming up with (you can feel the excitement in the writing) but that excitement never left the page, never transferred to me as a reader. Also, I should note: no one in America calls them prawns.
Anyway. I'm not turned off of wanting to read Christopher's other work and I'm not particularly against this book in any way - I just never really got into it either.

Review at RB: http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2013/12/15/hangwire/
and at TNBBC: http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/drew-reviews-hangwire.html ( )

I never shook the feeling that I was reading a still-nacent draft of this novel. For better or worse - does it mean that there's more to be mined from this story? Or does it just mean that this one didn't quite ever get there, wherever where is meant to be? Christopher is a smart writer and excited by what he's coming up with (you can feel the excitement in the writing) but that excitement never left the page, never transferred to me as a reader. Also, I should note: no one in America calls them prawns.
Anyway. I'm not turned off of wanting to read Christopher's other work and I'm not particularly against this book in any way - I just never really got into it either.

Review at RB: http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2013/12/15/hangwire/
and at TNBBC: http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/drew-reviews-hangwire.html ( )

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. ( )