Dan Simmons' "Drood"

I decided there was no better way to start this new year off than with a good, gigantic book. I picked Drood, by Dan Simmons. 

I had always meant to read this book since it was first published, but something else always came up or made me forget about it. Going over my to-read list on Goodreads one evening, I was in a rut over having nothing new to read, I saw this one in my list and ordered it.

I couldn't wait for it to come in. I just knew I would really enjoy this one! I can't believe I didn't read it sooner. Although this book really was not so much about Charles Dickens as it was about Wilkie Collins instead, I'm compelled by it and the entire story line is mind bending in that you have to sort through what is fact and what is fiction, simply because Collins is an opium addict. 

What appears to be paranoia or schizophrenia is laudanum and morphia fast at work, or is it? What events are real and what events drug induced? 

I like this book ten times more than Murder As A Fine Art, which I couldn't even finish because it bored me so much after about 250 pages. I couldn't find the characters realistic or intriguing. The author tried to make the female heroin stand out but instead, to me, she simply came off as overbearing and annoying. 

While reading this book, there were a few times I almost thought the author wrote too much, that it should have been a smaller book. I admit, now that I'm done with it, I'm pretty sad. I actually wish it would've been longer. I enjoyed reading this novel in its entirety. I feel the author is very talented and I really liked the ending and how this writer was able to bring these characters to life.