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samdalefox 's review for:
The Dispatcher
by John Scalzi
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Good premise but underexplored. I'm not invested enough to continue with the rest of the series.
The premise: a world where 99.9% of murder victims (note: not death by other means) wake up in their beds naked and completely unharmed. The protagonist 'kills' people for a living aka 'dispatching' people with fatal injuries so that they survive. There are of course grey areas to how this service is used.
Why it's underexplored: It didn't feel like the implications of such a world were explored as thoroughly as I'd have liked. We are given a very narrow view of how this phenomenon has impacted the world; through the well worn lens of murder-mystery-cop-thriller. A dispatcher and a cop buddy up to investigate a missing person case, very standard. Even the explanations given through the dialogue seemed forced. Some characters seemed ignorant of the reality they're living in, e.g., the cop Langdon. There were several conversations that seemed awkwardly inserted just so the reader could be caught up to speed how this phenomenon operates. It reads clumsily when compared to scifi greats such as James Triptree who managed to convey much more complicated premises without direct explanation.
Overall, I enjoyed the story for what it was and I enjoyed the audiobook performance. Not a masterpiece, but not every book needs to be.
The premise: a world where 99.9% of murder victims (note: not death by other means) wake up in their beds naked and completely unharmed. The protagonist 'kills' people for a living aka 'dispatching' people with fatal injuries so that they survive. There are of course grey areas to how this service is used.
Why it's underexplored: It didn't feel like the implications of such a world were explored as thoroughly as I'd have liked. We are given a very narrow view of how this phenomenon has impacted the world; through the well worn lens of murder-mystery-cop-thriller. A dispatcher and a cop buddy up to investigate a missing person case, very standard. Even the explanations given through the dialogue seemed forced. Some characters seemed ignorant of the reality they're living in, e.g., the cop Langdon. There were several conversations that seemed awkwardly inserted just so the reader could be caught up to speed how this phenomenon operates. It reads clumsily when compared to scifi greats such as James Triptree who managed to convey much more complicated premises without direct explanation.
Overall, I enjoyed the story for what it was and I enjoyed the audiobook performance. Not a masterpiece, but not every book needs to be.