#road to nowhere
David Byrne (Talking Heads, Road To Nowhere)
I first read Road to Nowhere when I was 10, and oh boy was I way too young to handle significant parts of this subject matter. I just remember seeing an awesome book cover on a classmate’s desk and seeking it out at the library. I was thrilled when I came across the (very minor) swearing. All of that context aside, this is a really good book and one of Christopher Pike’s best. It’s a bit of a slow mover, but the ending is more than worth it. I really liked all of the main characters, both the ones in the car and the ones in the stories they were telling. The “campfire” style of the narrative allowed for each story to take its time and resonate. There was also a really powerful message here aimed at the teenage target audience that I think was tastefully done. I appreciated that it wasn’t too heavy-handed with themes that could easily get sappy and sanctimonious. In total, Road to Nowhere scratched my nostalgic itch, turned out better than I had remembered, and made me want to dive even deeper into Christopher Pike’s twisted canon.
Score: 5
My full review and recap with memes, snark, and spoilers can be found on my blog:
https://www.danstalter.com/road-to-nowhere/
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Lost in the woods, following a road to no where
“The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn.”
- David Russel
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It was only mid-morning, and Kostya was dead on his feet. Something kept pulling him from his trance during the night— be it a strange sound or an even stranger feeling. He was well acquainted with crypts, but he’d never spent the night in one, and he didn’t fancy doing it ever again. He was sure the undead scribes would somehow reanimate, or the rats would chew on him as he slept. He swore one of the little blighters tried to get into his pack.
Despite all that, there was another reason he couldn’t settle. There was something deeply unsettling about Astarion. By all accounts, Kostya was a terrible cleric, but he was dedicated to his studies. He learned about vampires — all Kelemvor’s acolytes did — and Astarion almost fit the profile. He had red eyes and fangs and was as pale as a new-bled corpse. But he could walk in the sunlight, and as far as Kostya knew, that was bloody impossible.
Maybe he’s eladrin, he wondered. Or a changeling.
It was rude to ask, he wagered. And as long as Astarion wasn’t a vampire and he wasn’t biting any necks, then his heritagewasn’tKostya’s business.
It’s not like I’d know what to do if he was a vampire, he thought bitterly.
[Keep reading at Archive of Our Own.]
