The Company of the Dead
by David Kowalski
- Percentage of approved critics who have given this book a positive review.
Critic Rating
7%
Critic Reviews: 22
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- User rating from iDreamBooks & iTunes
Reader Rating
80%
Reader Ratings: 78
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Synopsis
Can one man save the Titanic? March 1912. A mysterious man appears aboard the Titanic on its doomed voyage. His mission? To save the ship. The result? A world where the United States never entered World War I, thus launching the secret history of the 20th Century. April 2012. Joseph Kennedy - grand-nephew of John F. Kennedy - lives in an America occupied in the East by Greater Germany and on the West Coast by Imperial Japan. He is one of six people who can... more
About David Kowalski
Published: March 13, 2012 by Random House
Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy, History. Fiction. 752 pages
- All Critics: 22
- Positive: 2
- Negative: 20
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The Celebrity Cafe | 17 Apr 2012
It's confusing and the action is either lightning quick or it moves at a lumbering pace in order to explain what happened and why.
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Book Equals | 30 Mar 2012
Well, it was long. It was really, really long.
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SFFWorld.com | 14 Apr 2012
On the downside, the striking action pieces and fast pace, at times, cover up a lack of depth in the characterisation, though it is pretty clear here what the reader is dealing with.
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Famous Monsters of Filmland | 20 Mar 2012
It’s as if so much effort is being taken to say something in a clever way that the meaning gets obscured.
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TheFish.com | 2 Apr 2012
The nearly 800 page book has four sections - a fascinating introduction; a rough re-education section where the reader must try to comprehend a present day, alternate reality; the journey of Kennedy and his team to Roswell, Nevada where the time machine is supposedly located while in the middle of a growing war; and the time travel back to the Titanic at the end of the book.
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Alternative Magazine Online | 15 Apr 2012
Sometimes the tapestry of the text and the world it conveys can become so detailed that the reader struggles to keep up, but these moments are softened by the breakneck pace and constantly evolving narrative.
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SteampunkScholar | 13 Apr 2012
The history of the Titanic is here, but not in a manner that rehashes what we already know.
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Slacker Heroes | 28 Mar 2012
And when I mean big, think Guttenberg Bible big with small font… the type of big that would daunt most readers.
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The Daily Rotation | 26 Mar 2012
While there are parts of the book that drag, the fact is, every piece of the story needs to be told, and its done in such epic fashion that some might find the overall experience a little tedious.
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Geeks of Doom | 20 Mar 2012
A lot of The Company of the Dead reads like more of a war epic than true sci-fi adventure and lots of loose ends are left flapping in the hot desert breeze.
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Chamber Four | 2 Apr 2012
Kowalski’s never going to win any awards for his prose.
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8 Days A Geek | 7 Apr 2012
The only issue I had with the characters is that some of the names are hard to pronounce (some are Native American) and there are a lot of them introduced very early in the book, meaning that you have to keep track of a lot of people before you have a chance to learn any names.
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Alternate History Weekly Update | 22 Mar 2012
The setting is the weakest part of the novel.
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[defective] Geeks | 12 Apr 2012
An interesting theory that, unfortunately, gets muddled by all of the action and conspiracy sections of the book.
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Book Geeks | 25 Mar 2012
Kowalski takes his time introducing the characters and even longer revealing their motivation and with a few characters I still wasn’t sure exactly what they were up to by the time the book had ended.
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We Love This Book | 23 Mar 2012
The plot and characters are well-developed and stand-alone but a working knowledge of twentieth century history helps the reader enjoy some of the ironies inherent in Kowlaski’s alternate world view.
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Tor | 13 Mar 2012
Assuredly, its sheer bulk and overwhelming ambition are not for the faint of heart.
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Wired | 6 Apr 2012
It’s well-plotted and has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing to the end.
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SciFiMovieHype | 12 Mar 2012
All the while the novel would have benefitted from longer chapters and more focus on one central character instead of jumping around like it does.
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NerdTrek | 21 Mar 2012
Characters moved very quickly from one scene to the next with very little description of not only their surroundings but also the means of how they got there.
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Fantasy Matters | 15 Mar 2012
The going is arduous at times (for the reader as well, the novel would have benefited were it slightly leaner), but memorable characters such as a historian, a descendant of a ship's officer of the Titanic, and a one-eyed spy director keep things lively.
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Publishers Weekly | 7 Nov 2011
Unfortunately, the female characters are mostly offstage and passive; Kowalski is best at exploring the much more complex relationships among male allies, enemies, and rivals.
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