Brother Odd

I love reading. It's not an easy thing to do, and it was specially hard to acquire the habit of reading, which is the only way you can go through many books at a reasonable pace. It doesn't seem like an important point but it is, because the faster you read, the greater is the probability of stumbling across something that will truly rock your world. It doesn't happen very often, I must tell you, but when it does it becomes a special experience, and fills you with anticipation for the next time it will happen. It's a sort of high one can never get tired of, and I'll tell you why. It's the real deal. Think about it. When you watch a movie, you're getting an incredibly huge amount of input, and it's visual input, which kinda overcomes all other kinds, since it's so powerful, not only in the amount of information it contains, but also in the ease with which we are able to absorb it. Music is sort of different, but it still demands little from the listener to be absorbed. But a novel is something else. It takes hours, days, weeks, sometimes months (ever tried reading "David Copperfield"?). Anyone who can take an absolute stranger on a journey of concentration for days and still come out with success on the other end is amazingly gifted. And the most interesting thing of it all is that the greatest amount of work in the process is not done by the author. Yes, of course, his words are the basis for the story and characters, but it's really the reader who plays the bigger role. Imagination is the key word here. All the author does is sort of take you by the hand and encourage you in the first steps (pages), but at some point, he just lets go. And then it's all up to you.

I don't even remember why I read "Odd Thomas", the first book of the Odd series. I had read something by Dean Koontz a long time ago ("By the Light of the Moon"), and although it wasn't a bad novel, it didn't motivate me to pick up any other of his books. But Odd found its way to me anyway and I ended up having one of the most incredible and fullfilling literary experiences of my life. I couldn't really grasp the concept of Odd (and still can't), and how he can, at the same time, be everything you want to be, and everything you don't. I wouldn't say he's adorable, 'cause that wouldn't express it correctly. I'd go with ... addictive. Yes, that's a better word. You can't get enough of Odd.

Brother Odd, the third novel of the series is just terrific. I am sort of biased to talk about it, because I became such a huge fan of the Odd universe, but I just feel I can't stress enough how amazing this is. And there's something else. It just doesn't feel like a series at all. It feels like one long story, where completeness is something you don't want. And just like Odd, you're not only unafraid of what's to come, but you're more ready than ever to welcome it.

I give it 5 stars out of 5.