Thank you NetGalley for this earc in exchange for my honest review

I just couldnt get through this book. I had such high hopes because the concept seemed so intriguing but it just fell flat. It felt like it went no where and was so confusing

I was so hoping I would love this one but it was meh.
It took me a long time to finish it .

I can’t recall.

**I was given an eARC in exchange for an honest review**

I would like to start this review with my belief that Owen King is a nepo baby who would never have had a job if not for his father literally being Stephen King. Not that the ideas aren't there, but no publisher would pick this story up in its current state without name recognition.

It took more than halfway into the book to get an inkling of what the direction of the story was. Different PoVs were slapped together to tell independent little pieces of story set in the same city, but they didn't go together. Now, the oddity of the organization of the chapters makes sense at times, but largely it is a lot of moving back and forth that makes the direction difficult to follow. The flashback sort of bits work really well and honestly those were my favourite parts. Truly. I did not like D's parts, not really. Her PoV didn't actually do much for moving the story forward. And after a certain point, there's just too many different perspectives. Her PoV got better as it progressed, but still, not the best.

So many times during the story it felt like we were getting to a moral—because truly, the prose suggests there will be a moral at the end—but there was no moral at the end. There was brief commentary on issues, but never a fully-baked take on any of said issues. I think this is where I'm getting hung up on this. It's nearly 500 pages, and I don't feel like anything was achieved. It easily could've remained a short story. It lent itself more to English class short stories where the moral is "communism is bad", but doesn't really support that.

I'm not even really going to get into my tirade on why I think Owen King is bad at writing female protags (much like his father), but suffice to say, kind of tired of the "sexy mystery" trope. Will say, thank God, this was not a case of "she breasted boobily down the stairs". Simply a case of a female protagonist King failed to make me care about.

This book was terrible. It was all over the place, had weird sex scenes, the tone was wildly inconsistent. I started skimming it about halfway through but I should have DNF'd. Didn't get into this one in any aspect.

I am scared to give a honest review of The Curator by Owen King. I was so excited when I found out Owen King was coming out with a book as I loved Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King. But I gave this book a 3 star for effort. I was lost and could not be found by reading this novel. I was so disappointed as I had high expectation for this book. I was so letdown. I am sorry but Stephen King and Joe Hill will always rule. I kept reading small pieces of chapters hoping I could connect somewhere in the book but it did not happen. Again I am sorry maybe if I use audio it might make more since. I will have to re-visit this book at a later date. Thank you Netgalley, Publishers and Owen King for advance readers copy in exchange for a honest review.

"Ok, but where is this going?" I asked myself throughout my entire reading.. and in vain. Sadly, this book was a total bust for me.

The Curator follows a vast and quirky cast of nobles, street folk, and soldiers, all linked together by the very fine strings Owen King has subtly spun. This is the kind of story that requires your utmost attention at all times, or you may miss these intricacies, which will essentially make your hours spent reading this for naught.

While I can admire that kind of attention to detail in one's writing, to read it is something else entirely. Only after did I find out this is a long-winded version of a short story, also written by King. Really wish I'd known, because that sounds much more enticing.

Every time I thought this slow-moving steam engine was finally hitting its next gear, the POV would change and lose all momentum. A shame, really, because the world building was very intriguing.

What a disappointment to not have enjoyed this one like I'd hoped. Big thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free ARC.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The only book by Owen King I had previously read was Sleeping Beauties, which he co-wrote with his father Stephen King. I really enjoyed it and had high hopes for this one.

A fantasy political historical novel about a museum, rebellion, and a love of cats sounded so intriguing. However, I was deeply disappointed. I felt completely detached from the characters and their circumstances. Some descriptions of violence affected me, but there were no positive events to balance it out. I didn’t understand or root for any of the characters.

The plot is disjointed and chapters jump from different points of view and different time periods, but in such a way to make it difficult to follow. I didn’t understand the trajectory of the book and sometimes that’s fine. It’s a slice of life. But it didn’t feel like that. I kept thinking there was a point to it all, but I was missing it. There was mystery and magic, but this just confused things, rather than being delightful, interesting, or developing the characters.

Some of the writing was really great, with beautiful, clear descriptions of various locations, but overall the book was cold, distancing, and confusing. Definitely not for me.

The premise is enchanting, imaginative, and unique. However, I felt disconnected to the story and the characters; it seemed like I was constantly missing something / how things were connected as the story jumped around a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked the book. I just didn’t love it, it could be the political aspects. The story follows several characters, they just weren’t developed very well. It’s written well and the worldbuilding was great. One of my best friends will love this book, I can’t wait to pass my copy off to her!
 
Huge thank you to the publishing house for this ARC. 

Published: today!

I really enjoyed this tale it is a long form expansion of the short story The Curator. A fantastically story of the fantasy set in the 19th century the unamed city nicknamed “the fairest city ” The curator is full of whimsy the unexplained a hero in a character named Dora who seeks out answers of where her brother went after he died. Her brother Ambrose adored Dora or (D) as he affectionately called her, he worked at the Museum of Psykical Research when she was six. Dora’s convinced that the answers lie within the Museum of Psykical Research before she can find any answers she finds the building burnt to the ground while the city is in the midst .of a revolutionary uprising. Dora becomes the curator of The Museum of the Worker as soon as Dora digs for answers people around her try to get in her way or stop her from looking for the answers to questions that should stay buried. I found some of the side stories were a little long and some of the language used offensive at times. However I enjoyed the story the 19th century feel the characters were well delivered and very interesting. The world is almost like a Dickens story, I thought the idea of the different museums was ingenious to the plot. The cats I think will please a lot of people and is pivotal to the plot. I ask you have patience because the story is wonderful. It is slow to start but once the pace picks up you won’t want to put it down.
Recommend for fans of fantasy novels and fans of V.E Schwab Novels I would like to thank Owen King Simon & Schuster Canada, Scribner and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought about DNF-ing this book several times. There didn't seem to be much of a plot that went anywhere but I kept going because there were some interesting characters and dry humor in the dialogue that made the story interesting enough to keep slogging through.

I think the first half of the book could have been condensed significantly. I felt the story got much better at the mid-way point, when everything started to come together with more of a purposeful plot.

Overall, an enjoyable read but it took a while to get there.

2.5/5

I couldn't really understand what was going on in this book. The description made it sound super interesting though.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of The Curator by Owen King!

This book was okay for me. Something about it just didn’t click. That doesn’t make it a bad book. It’s just not the book for me.

First, thank you Owen King, Simon & Schuster Canada, Scribner, and Netgalley for this free ARC in exchange for a review.

The good: The concept seemed whimsical. I got the impression it's the type of speculative novel I enjoy. There was a bit of lovely whimsy in one page about Simon the Gentle.

The world-building was interesting, and kept my (albeit not rapt) attention for a little while.



The bad: The lack of characterization. We're barely being told (or shown; that would have been better), the feelings or emotions of the characters. This doesn't allow the discerning reader to relate to, and thus care about the characters.

The "romance": obscene descriptions of treating a woman like a prostitute or porn actress, and the woman in this couple being a complete dope, who just accepts that sex with her boyfriend is boring, as if he's the only good looking man who exists. This is only mentioned, and never seems to be addressed in the book as a problem, when clearly, it realistically should be. Even if the woman (or man, if he were the dope in this situation), felt too weak and dependent on their partner to even discuss having sex a different way, well who even knows how Dora really feels, as she's a cardboard cutout of a "woman", instead of a person with an actual personality. We're only told she doesn't like it. "Great" morals to push for the teens who will undoubtedly read this book. Hey teen girls and women - just because he has a fun childlike attitude at times, that doesn't mean you should date him just to not be single, when he's selfish and terrible at sex. Hey teen boys, and also men - despite the fact that porn exists, not every woman wants to be treated like a whore. Also, cosmic, mindblowing multiple orgasms are available to all those who actually take the time to build an emotional relationship with a partner, before getting it on.

[Note: In the case of responses to this review to tell me to, "lighten up", or "get with the times", and the like, no, this is not a situation where one just goes with it, cause everything about life is a joke or something. Morals are a thing. A thing you would benefit from. I will not respond to such comments if they are made.]

I skimmed the book after 11%, and I see that it never gets better.

How unfortunate that so many books these days handle what could be interesting concepts, so poorly.