Author: M.J. Rose
First published: 2013
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
I haven't participated in Plagues, Witches and War Historical Fiction Book Club for quite some time now, and this was definitely NOT the book to encourage my further participation. It's so full of bullshit from the beginning! There are Celts, spiritualism, reincarnation, Jungian therapy, suicides, Satan with his deals, myths, personality disorders, drugs and what not. It's as if the author tried to just put everything she knew in the book, and it's even not much, at least concerning myths. The worst thing however is that the author is SERIOUS about all this stuff. I like a bit of mysticism, but I like it to be more subtle. There should be some reasonable explanation for everything happening, even if the atmosphere suggests that there's not. But the book demands the reader to actually believe in reincarnation. Seriously?
Why two stars still? Well, the writing is good. I think the author has made a descent attempt to mimic Hugo's writing, or at least 19th century writing. So when the heroine was not in a fit or in the middle of a discussion or action that didn't make any sense, I could even enjoy the flow of words.
In my book:
Bullshit, full stop.
*blink* Really? Wow. From the cover, I would have guessed a run-of-the-mill piece of historical fiction in which a female protagonist finds out a Dark Secret of the past. Instead, it's Celts and deals with Satan and reincarnation, all at once! I'll be sure to avoid it.
ReplyDeleteHaha, well actually you guessed right, only the female protagonist has a mental disorder and sees visions from her Celtic former life, and Hugo deals with Satan... Se there's a bunch of totally idiotic Dark Secrets :)
DeleteI've read books that I gave 2 stars even though I disliked them simply because I could see that there was some talent underlying the story. Maybe it lacked something in character development or narrative flow but there was good transitions or something. Some books know how to include a lot of "stuff" well but most do fall into the information dump. In this case, it sounds more like an idea dump.
ReplyDeleteI love your end comment: Bullshit. Way to be blunt about it! Love it. (your rant, not the book)
ReplyDelete