SGD $10
Spine intact. No markings. Like New.
From award winning author Daryl Gregory comes Harrison Square, a thrilling and colorful Lovecraftian adventure of a teenage boy searching for his mother, and the macabre creatures he encounters.
Harrison Harrison-H2 to his mom-is a lonely teenager who's been terrified of the water ever since he was a toddler in California, when a huge sea creature capsized their boat, and his father vanished. One of the "sensitives" who are attuned to the supernatural world, Harrison and his mother have just moved to the worst possible place for a boy like him: Dunnsmouth, a Lovecraftian town perched on rocks above the Atlantic, where strange things go on by night, monsters lurk under the waves, and creepy teachers run the local high school. On Harrison's first day at school, his mother, a marine biologist, disappears at sea. Harrison must attempt to solve the mystery of her accident, which puts him in conflict with a strange church, a knife-wielding killer, and the Deep Ones, fish-human hybrids that live in the bay. It will take all his resources-and an unusual host of allies-to defeat the danger and find his mother.
Amazon Review
The meta-prequel to "We Are All Completely Fine" delivers a great reading experience!
By Bibliotropic .net on March 27, 2015
The somewhat meta-prequel to We Are All Completely Fine, Harrison Squared tells the story that Jameson hinted at in WAACF, the story of his childhood experiences in Dunnsmouth, where he discovered that there’s more to the world than the mundane. I say meta-prequel because in We Are All Completely Fine, Jameson admits to having written about his experiences in the form of fiction, changing his name from Jameson Jameson to Harrison Harrison. Fiction disguised as fact disguised as fiction, and this approach from Daryl Gregory doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. This could be considered a prequel, or an in-universe novel, or both.
This is what you get when you read Gregory’s novels. Something to make you think, something that isn’t quite what you expect and that challenges expectations. It’s one of the reasons why I love reading his work.
This book is pretty short, a nice quick read, and between this and the protagonist being a teenager in high school, it could easily be classed as YA. I’m not entirely sure it isn’t, but it doesn’t really feel like it, at least to me. Maybe it’s because it’s the prequel to a much darker novel, maybe it’s because the publisher has its own YA imprint and this book wasn’t published through them, I don’t know. Either way, there’s enough crossover here that fans of both YA and adult fantasy can find something to like here, especially when their interest falls to Lovecraftian fiction.
It’s an interesting mystery that Gregory crafts here, at first seeming like Harrison’s problem will lie in figuring out why everyone at his new school are so weird (and that goes beyond the typical teenager definition of weird; most teenagers don’t have coded finger-tapping communication, attend classes on how to reanimate frogs using a car battery, or spent morning assemblies chanting in a strange incomprehensible moaning language), progressing to solving the mystery behind his mother’s disappearance. Those who have read We Are All Completely Fine will see bits and pieces of everything Jameson talked about, from Dwellers to the Scrimshander. This was a double-edged sword, since while it was interesting to see how the character encountered all these concepts and people, in the end it felt almost as though the author was trying to shoehorn as many of them in as possible. They did all play a part in the plot, at least, but it still started to feel a bit cramped with references by the end.
Still, it’s a fascinating and complex story that Gregory builds, layers upon layers of little points of interest that could have been done away with — such as fingercant — without changing the story much at all. But its their presence that adds realism to the dark fantasy, which I always love to see. People are always more complex and varied than the stories they take part in; Gregory has been excellent at expressing this in prior works, and this is no exception. The bad guys are not always people who the protagonist dislikes, and the good guys are not always the ones who instantly flock to the golden boy. They’re not always intensely dedicated to one goal and one alone. And you don’t always seen everything of them during the course of the story. There were characters with stories that I very much wanted to see elaborated, particularly within the group of teens who weren’t so keen on the cult-like activities of Dunnsmouth’s adults. There’s another host of novels (or at least a large collection of short stories) in those characters, and I’d love to read them. Gregory really has the knack of making people on pages feel real and expansive.
I can definitely recommend Harrison Squared to those who read and enjoyed We Are All Completely Fine. That much I’m sure of, and those who read the sequel first will probably appreciate the references and tie-ins. Those who haven’t read it, though, I think will probably think that this is definitely a decent book but probably won’t appreciate it as much as those who have stepped into the mythos beforehand. Some of the fun was in seeing what connected things to We Are All Completely Fine, and though it functions perfectly well as a standalone novel, I do recommend reading the two books together. They make a much more comprehensive picture together, complementing each other well, and the experience is better for it.
Lovecraftian fun by the author of Afterpary
By MyBookishWays on March 24, 2015
Love Lovecraft? If so, you’re in for a treat with Daryl Gregory’s rather charming new book. 16 year old Harrison Harrison (H2 for short) is in Dunnsmouth, MA, with his mother Rosa (an oceanographer), who is there on a research trip, and as soon as he sets foot into Dunnsmouth Secondary, he gets an odd feeling. The school is decidedly weird: the pool is in an underground cave, the school mascot is a thresher shark, and the enigmatic Principal Montooth claims to have met Harrison’s father years ago. At first blush, the students and teachers are pretty weird, too. Harrison notices that the kids seem to communicate by finger movements, and he’s instantly intrigued. However, Harrison and his mom are barely there for a day when Rosa disappears out on the ocean, while placing research buoys. He’s already lost one parent, along with part of his leg in a swimming accident as a toddler, and he’s not about to lose his mom, so he decides to investigate. It seems that the entire town is hiding something, and it also seems that he’s being spied on by a humanoid creature with webbed hands and feet.
Harrison’s cosmopolitan Aunt Sel has come to look after him, and luckily, Aunt Sel doesn’t fit the traditional guardian role, so she doesn’t discourage Harrison from digging into his mom’s disappearance. So, we’ve got a cult-like school with students that communicate by fingercant, a missing mother, and a mysterious madman that seems to be out to get Harrison. Elder Gods mythos and Harrison’s memory of an attack by an ocean leviathan certainly give the book its Lovecraftian feel, and his new friend from the sea, Lub, a humanoid, fish-like Dweller, is a delight. Harrison also finds friendship in the dour Lydia, who eventually plays a big part in his investigation into his mom’s disappearance. Harrison Squared is a fantastic read, and the author uses wry humor (especially with Lydia and also Harrison’s own narrative) to wonderful effect, which only underscores the very real terrors that Harrison must deal with. I couldn’t help but notice that Harrison Squared would be great read for teens as well, since they will certainly identify with Gregory’s take on high school. It’s rare to walk that fine line of Adult/YA crossover, but Daryl Gregory pulls it off easily, and with plenty of panache. Harrison is very easy to root for, with a gently sarcastic sense of humor, and he keeps that sense of humor, even in the face of great danger. Things get dark, but they never get too dark, and it’s as much a coming of age story for Harrison as it is an effective adventure. This is such a fun read, and if you haven’t discovered Daryl Gregory yet, this would be a great place to start.
Things That Go Bump In The Ocean
By C. Daley on March 24, 2015
There is not enough time in the day to work and read all the books I have waiting for me. I have been wanting to read Daryl Gregory for some time but just have never quite gotten to him (despite the fact that I own two of his books which have been well reviewed). When the opportunity to review Harrison Squared came up I decided the time had finally arrived. The best thing I can say about this book is that when I was done I knew I would be quickly reading the other Gregory books I owned. I absolutely adored this book.
While the book clearly falls in the teen age range it is very accessible for adults. It is a great book that never gives into many of the common cliches in teen fiction. The plot unfolds nicely revealing bits and pieces of the mystery. It's a hard book to review plot points without giving up too much of the surprising story. I'll give you the bare bones. Harrison Harrison and his mother move to the small Lovecraftian town of Dunnsmouth, Massachusetts. Harrison is a little damaged both mentally and physically. Both a direct result of an attack by a giant sea creature (at least that's how he remembers it) that cost him his leg and his dad his life.
It turns out Harrison is a sensitive. His mind finely attuned to the paranormal world around him. This was probably not the right town to move to because Lovecraftian horrors abound and Harrison soon finds himself right in the middle of it all. Between his way strange high school, the deep ones, fish human hybrids, and knife wielding maniacs trying to skin him alive Harrison has his hands full.
The story is often quite hilarious and creepy scary in equal amounts. What really jumped out at me was Gregory's total command of the story. His writing is fast and crisp. He is able to set the mood, keep you guessing, and introduce mountains of great characters (including Lub who may be my favorite new character of the year. I would read a whole book with him as the star). One of my favorite books this year and I hope the beginning of a wonderful relationship between me and Daryl Gregory.
http://www.amazon.com/Harrison-Squared-Daryl-Gregory/dp/0765376954/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452867857&sr=1-1&keywords=harrison+squared+-+daryl+gregory+2015
Spine intact. No markings. Like New.
From award winning author Daryl Gregory comes Harrison Square, a thrilling and colorful Lovecraftian adventure of a teenage boy searching for his mother, and the macabre creatures he encounters.
Harrison Harrison-H2 to his mom-is a lonely teenager who's been terrified of the water ever since he was a toddler in California, when a huge sea creature capsized their boat, and his father vanished. One of the "sensitives" who are attuned to the supernatural world, Harrison and his mother have just moved to the worst possible place for a boy like him: Dunnsmouth, a Lovecraftian town perched on rocks above the Atlantic, where strange things go on by night, monsters lurk under the waves, and creepy teachers run the local high school. On Harrison's first day at school, his mother, a marine biologist, disappears at sea. Harrison must attempt to solve the mystery of her accident, which puts him in conflict with a strange church, a knife-wielding killer, and the Deep Ones, fish-human hybrids that live in the bay. It will take all his resources-and an unusual host of allies-to defeat the danger and find his mother.
Amazon Review
The meta-prequel to "We Are All Completely Fine" delivers a great reading experience!
By Bibliotropic .net on March 27, 2015
The somewhat meta-prequel to We Are All Completely Fine, Harrison Squared tells the story that Jameson hinted at in WAACF, the story of his childhood experiences in Dunnsmouth, where he discovered that there’s more to the world than the mundane. I say meta-prequel because in We Are All Completely Fine, Jameson admits to having written about his experiences in the form of fiction, changing his name from Jameson Jameson to Harrison Harrison. Fiction disguised as fact disguised as fiction, and this approach from Daryl Gregory doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. This could be considered a prequel, or an in-universe novel, or both.
This is what you get when you read Gregory’s novels. Something to make you think, something that isn’t quite what you expect and that challenges expectations. It’s one of the reasons why I love reading his work.
This book is pretty short, a nice quick read, and between this and the protagonist being a teenager in high school, it could easily be classed as YA. I’m not entirely sure it isn’t, but it doesn’t really feel like it, at least to me. Maybe it’s because it’s the prequel to a much darker novel, maybe it’s because the publisher has its own YA imprint and this book wasn’t published through them, I don’t know. Either way, there’s enough crossover here that fans of both YA and adult fantasy can find something to like here, especially when their interest falls to Lovecraftian fiction.
It’s an interesting mystery that Gregory crafts here, at first seeming like Harrison’s problem will lie in figuring out why everyone at his new school are so weird (and that goes beyond the typical teenager definition of weird; most teenagers don’t have coded finger-tapping communication, attend classes on how to reanimate frogs using a car battery, or spent morning assemblies chanting in a strange incomprehensible moaning language), progressing to solving the mystery behind his mother’s disappearance. Those who have read We Are All Completely Fine will see bits and pieces of everything Jameson talked about, from Dwellers to the Scrimshander. This was a double-edged sword, since while it was interesting to see how the character encountered all these concepts and people, in the end it felt almost as though the author was trying to shoehorn as many of them in as possible. They did all play a part in the plot, at least, but it still started to feel a bit cramped with references by the end.
Still, it’s a fascinating and complex story that Gregory builds, layers upon layers of little points of interest that could have been done away with — such as fingercant — without changing the story much at all. But its their presence that adds realism to the dark fantasy, which I always love to see. People are always more complex and varied than the stories they take part in; Gregory has been excellent at expressing this in prior works, and this is no exception. The bad guys are not always people who the protagonist dislikes, and the good guys are not always the ones who instantly flock to the golden boy. They’re not always intensely dedicated to one goal and one alone. And you don’t always seen everything of them during the course of the story. There were characters with stories that I very much wanted to see elaborated, particularly within the group of teens who weren’t so keen on the cult-like activities of Dunnsmouth’s adults. There’s another host of novels (or at least a large collection of short stories) in those characters, and I’d love to read them. Gregory really has the knack of making people on pages feel real and expansive.
I can definitely recommend Harrison Squared to those who read and enjoyed We Are All Completely Fine. That much I’m sure of, and those who read the sequel first will probably appreciate the references and tie-ins. Those who haven’t read it, though, I think will probably think that this is definitely a decent book but probably won’t appreciate it as much as those who have stepped into the mythos beforehand. Some of the fun was in seeing what connected things to We Are All Completely Fine, and though it functions perfectly well as a standalone novel, I do recommend reading the two books together. They make a much more comprehensive picture together, complementing each other well, and the experience is better for it.
Lovecraftian fun by the author of Afterpary
By MyBookishWays on March 24, 2015
Love Lovecraft? If so, you’re in for a treat with Daryl Gregory’s rather charming new book. 16 year old Harrison Harrison (H2 for short) is in Dunnsmouth, MA, with his mother Rosa (an oceanographer), who is there on a research trip, and as soon as he sets foot into Dunnsmouth Secondary, he gets an odd feeling. The school is decidedly weird: the pool is in an underground cave, the school mascot is a thresher shark, and the enigmatic Principal Montooth claims to have met Harrison’s father years ago. At first blush, the students and teachers are pretty weird, too. Harrison notices that the kids seem to communicate by finger movements, and he’s instantly intrigued. However, Harrison and his mom are barely there for a day when Rosa disappears out on the ocean, while placing research buoys. He’s already lost one parent, along with part of his leg in a swimming accident as a toddler, and he’s not about to lose his mom, so he decides to investigate. It seems that the entire town is hiding something, and it also seems that he’s being spied on by a humanoid creature with webbed hands and feet.
Harrison’s cosmopolitan Aunt Sel has come to look after him, and luckily, Aunt Sel doesn’t fit the traditional guardian role, so she doesn’t discourage Harrison from digging into his mom’s disappearance. So, we’ve got a cult-like school with students that communicate by fingercant, a missing mother, and a mysterious madman that seems to be out to get Harrison. Elder Gods mythos and Harrison’s memory of an attack by an ocean leviathan certainly give the book its Lovecraftian feel, and his new friend from the sea, Lub, a humanoid, fish-like Dweller, is a delight. Harrison also finds friendship in the dour Lydia, who eventually plays a big part in his investigation into his mom’s disappearance. Harrison Squared is a fantastic read, and the author uses wry humor (especially with Lydia and also Harrison’s own narrative) to wonderful effect, which only underscores the very real terrors that Harrison must deal with. I couldn’t help but notice that Harrison Squared would be great read for teens as well, since they will certainly identify with Gregory’s take on high school. It’s rare to walk that fine line of Adult/YA crossover, but Daryl Gregory pulls it off easily, and with plenty of panache. Harrison is very easy to root for, with a gently sarcastic sense of humor, and he keeps that sense of humor, even in the face of great danger. Things get dark, but they never get too dark, and it’s as much a coming of age story for Harrison as it is an effective adventure. This is such a fun read, and if you haven’t discovered Daryl Gregory yet, this would be a great place to start.
Things That Go Bump In The Ocean
By C. Daley on March 24, 2015
There is not enough time in the day to work and read all the books I have waiting for me. I have been wanting to read Daryl Gregory for some time but just have never quite gotten to him (despite the fact that I own two of his books which have been well reviewed). When the opportunity to review Harrison Squared came up I decided the time had finally arrived. The best thing I can say about this book is that when I was done I knew I would be quickly reading the other Gregory books I owned. I absolutely adored this book.
While the book clearly falls in the teen age range it is very accessible for adults. It is a great book that never gives into many of the common cliches in teen fiction. The plot unfolds nicely revealing bits and pieces of the mystery. It's a hard book to review plot points without giving up too much of the surprising story. I'll give you the bare bones. Harrison Harrison and his mother move to the small Lovecraftian town of Dunnsmouth, Massachusetts. Harrison is a little damaged both mentally and physically. Both a direct result of an attack by a giant sea creature (at least that's how he remembers it) that cost him his leg and his dad his life.
It turns out Harrison is a sensitive. His mind finely attuned to the paranormal world around him. This was probably not the right town to move to because Lovecraftian horrors abound and Harrison soon finds himself right in the middle of it all. Between his way strange high school, the deep ones, fish human hybrids, and knife wielding maniacs trying to skin him alive Harrison has his hands full.
The story is often quite hilarious and creepy scary in equal amounts. What really jumped out at me was Gregory's total command of the story. His writing is fast and crisp. He is able to set the mood, keep you guessing, and introduce mountains of great characters (including Lub who may be my favorite new character of the year. I would read a whole book with him as the star). One of my favorite books this year and I hope the beginning of a wonderful relationship between me and Daryl Gregory.
http://www.amazon.com/Harrison-Squared-Daryl-Gregory/dp/0765376954/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452867857&sr=1-1&keywords=harrison+squared+-+daryl+gregory+2015
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