Lucas reviewed An evil guest by Gene Wolfe
Fun, confounding, pulpy, demanding of your attention
3 stars
A kaleidoscopic blend of genres, a supernatural mystery that keeps changing shape—amongst many other things—that requires patience, attention, and lots of post facto puzzling things out. Perhaps, for me, too much: I wasn't carried along by what I read as much as I was carried along by my expectation that there'd be more clues ahead. Then it ended and, man, I could use more.
I did not like how some of the dialogue from Black and Japanese characters was done, nor Cassie's repeated use of "Honest Injun." Fine with weird anachronisms, like people still having landlines and answering machines in a world where interstellar travel is as affordable as an RV, but some of the attitudes regarding women and racialized people don't read without mild discomfort.
