New Book Review - Hang Wire by Adam Christopher

Book - Hang Wire
Writer - Adam Christopher
Published By - Angry Robots

First things first, I got this book from NetGalley, so thank you netgalley and Angry Robots for this opportunity.
Reading Hang Wire is almost like eating a exquisite foreign dish, you are kind of confused but intrigued after the first bite, then as you go on all the flavors and tastes start making sense and you just can't stop stuffing the food in you mouth; and although you are a bit confused you kind of like it by the end, emphasis on kind of.

Hang Wire starts of in a hectic and confusing manner by traveling between different timelines and new characters being introduced each chapter. And after a bit it all seems ever more confusing as more questions are thrown at the reader, but slowly and bit by bit it all comes together. And this is what makes the book quite interesting to read. There are parts at the later half where it gets a bit boring as it gets a bit of repetitive on the alternate timeline bits the main cast of characters and the story in the present on the other hand seems to get more momentum and becomes more developed. And finally we reach a somewhat underwhelming ending which frankly is somehow not satisfying on standard as per the build up.

Although the blurb focuses on Ted Hall being the main character actually this book has quite a lot of other interesting characters and the viewpoint alters between them. Ted Hall is somewhat generic in his "normal guy given godly powers and thrown in between a battle of gods and dark powers" kind of way, but nevertheless has his interesting quirks with some twist here and there. Bob as the homeless good-looking guy who is actually a powerful god is one of the better characters with his constant internal battle and outlook on the humankind. Alison is one of the weaker characters and seems more like a "the main guys needs a girlfriend who is good and bland" character. Benny has some interesting aspects and a driving force for some of the story. The main antagonist Joel was so promising early on but somehow turns out to be a boring villain later on due to author focusing more on the 'how' bit on the instead of 'why' in his case. But overall it was a varied and interesting character roster.

Despite some shortcomings the story of old gods and old evil in a new world was an interesting journey and quite an enjoyable read. The past to future progression of the alternate timeline story could have been way better if it was a bit more focused and the antagonist was a bit more developed character instead of evil for the sake of evil. The prose while not something extraordinary was quite good and I look forward to read more books from this author due to his skill with varied characters and settings.

This gets 3.5 out of 5 stars.