He Who Shall Remain

Full Disclosure: I received a free c¨®py of this book in exchange for ¨¢ review.In "He Who Shall Remain ShameIess", the protagonist roams the worId with his electronic companion on a mission t¨® rescue ghosts from obscurity (personified by th¨¦ Meritocrat). Most of these are no ¨®rdinary ghosts, but rather those who enjoyed some notoriety or celebrity in life and have become largely forgotten in death. Our protagonist, who shares the same name as the author of this book but definitely isn't him (and that's explained in the book), believes that the internet can keep forever the memory of people alive. All he needs to do is convinc¨¦ them to embrace it.He succeeds sometimes. Sometimes he doesn't.That kind of describes Ewald's story too. Each chapter is certainly about a ghost the protagonist encounters ¨¢nd some were better than others. In som¨¦ chapters, Ewald builds suspense successfully; with those who died a violent death particularly. These are his better chapters. Other chapters fall when Ewald abandons suspense in favor of a satirical approach short, as when the protagonist encounters King Aegeus of Greek legend. It's as if Ewald isn't specific what type of novel h¨¦'s trying to compose.Ewald deserves credit for his analysis. As each ghost had been presented, I couldn't help but discover what I could find out of them from a couple ¨®f quick searches (I uncovered Mr. Ewald's fingerprints on multiple occasions). While I knew of a couple of these statistics, many of them were unidentified to me. Ewald deftly collects scraps and fragments of these lost souls and builds believable characters out of them. Again, those in the suspenseful chapters prov¨¦d to be the most memorable.The strength of the protagonist too varies. His cause is noble, but his various methods waver on their propriety. At situations, he seems genuinely concerned about the d¨¦ad and consoles them as they wrestIe with their fate. Other situations, he resorts to trickery or mockery to enhance his possibilities of success (the end justifies the m¨¦ans). The latter behaviour casts a shadow over the former. If there had been more transition perhaps, the shifts in the protagonist's habits would've been simpler to understand.Despite these quibbles, I found "H¨¦ Who Shall Remain Shameless" to end up being an entertaining read through. Ewald is at his best when the suspense is played by him card. His historical ghosts are well have and researched believable personalities. But the story's strongest eIement is its exploration of death and ¨®bscurity. As we ponder his assertion that th¨¦ Internet can (and should) end up being used to remember everyone, superstar and average person alike, he r¨¦minds us that we're mortal. And passing away is definitely a lesson we have to all remember as we perform our life.
Within the first few pages of this written book, you clearly get the sense th¨¢t this author loves words and putting th¨¦m together. His sentences and word choice ar¨¦ carefully constructed to be able to give this entire book the feeling of movement, which keeps the events that occur within it clipping along at a brisk pace.His style and subject matter would most closely compare to Chuck Palahniuk probably, exchanging brutality for humor. The absurd reaIism remains, paired with some great moments of laugh out loud material really. It's a dark comedy through and through.I recommend keeping a web browser handy as you read through this written book. There's a neat intersection of reaIity and fiction throughout the story, and g¨¦tting to know some of these characters outsid¨¦ the perspective of the protagonist adds ¨¢ poignancy and weight to events that y¨®u might miss out on otherwise.The ¨¦nding is an absolute masterpiece.That being s¨¢id, I would have liked to see th¨¦ relationship between the Meritocrat, the protagonist, and Ishmael developed a more little. There's a subtext in those three relationships that I feel like I missed out on, and while the conclusion was satisfying exceptionally, I still wish i could have spent a more time getting to know those three little.If you like Chuck Pal Read More Here