3.5 rounded up

This is a fun whodunit in maybe one of my favourite settings ever? Certainly up there, anyway. It feels like it lasts some of the punch as the novellas in the world, because I think the characterization is there, but not so much the rest of the character work. The pacing is pretty good, worldbuilding fantastic, and the specificity of the setting is absolutely top-notch. I tend to love authors who describe things that differ from defaultism - and tend to think too many authors rely a bit too much on it in settings where that’s a questionable choice (often fantasy).

It’s also a bit subversive if you are aware of some of these tropes/stories/inspirations, which is always satisfying. I’m not a huge fan of the tone switching often, as I generally don’t like humour and I think this setting actually is, for lack of a better word, “cooler” when serious. I just find that humour can really undermine certain aspects of mysteries and murders and crime and things, unless handled very deftly. Yes, we need tension to break sometimes with a book of this length, I just think the subject matter feels like a weird dichotomy with humour. Could be I’m just in a mood too. I never know when comedy will play well with me.

Regardless, as with the previous novellas, I hope people pick this up and give it a shot. It’s unique and compelling throughout.

3.5 rounded up

I liked this more than The Kiss Quotient. I related a lot more to sensory issues and class divides, and just found the chemistry and issues somewhat more plausible despite the setup and finale being slightly more contrived.

Absolutely incredible. One of the most well-crafted, thematic voices I’ve encountered in recent memory. The narrative skips around, hunting the dearest memories of an old Irishman. In the recounting of five people, five toasts at his mainstay bar, the story of Maurice is revealed and, often, beautifully interwoven with those around him.

This book is powerful and elegant in how ostensibly effortless it is to tap into a rich, deeply human experience. I can’t think of a thing I didn’t like about it. Even it’s length was perfect.

This book gets a lot of hate from Tolkien fans, and I can see why it would irk people that it be maybe the most blatant use of LotR tropes. But it does feel pretty distinct apart from them to me. Plenty of fantasy books predating Tolkien and afterward have a similar setup. And after which it grows quite distinct in every respect.

I really liked that sign language was incorporated into trolls, and that they’re intelligent and knowledgeable and go completely against type. I also quite liked that the two brothers are foster brothers and have a pretty healthy relationship, also going against type for foster children. The sword itself and the relationship to the Warlock king is completely different than Sauron, and far more satisfying. It’s a bit more gritty and realistic of a young adult book in contrast to Tolkien, but retains some of the soft masculinity in some of the characters that is the main draw of the fellowship, for me.

What is pretty undeniable though, is the writing quality is far less literary and stylistically disparate. There is a lot of exposition and large issues with Show Don’t Tell. The pacing is a bit laborious at some points as well. It’s a huge book, and it does feel like a lot happens, but the interiority of the characters, while present, still feels like it’s only helping the plot feel like it’s spinning wheels. I think a large part of it is the expectations of young adult readers, possibly. Some publishers and writers don’t trust readers in the demographic to pick up on things, and so make everything blatant. And this puffs the piece up substantially because it’s constantly reiterating. Clearly it worked for most readers though, as it was/is extremely popular.

I do think it’s more accessible and sometimes more engaging than Tolkien. Not quite commercial fiction but leaning there. It was pretty readable to me, and I enjoyed most of it; primarily after the setup, which is almost perfunctory for epic fantasy at this point. Though it does predate the figurative avalanche of Tolkien clones somewhat at ‘77. Some pleasant surprises saved this for me and made it enjoyable. I’ll read the next one at some point.

Clever in structure and premise and style. Highly effective at conveying stereotypes, micro aggressions, systemic racism, and exoticism. There’s a lot going on here and I can see that a lot of it works. The problem is the stylistic choices are exactly what I don’t like, so it was difficult to appreciate it beyond the themes and appreciation of its craft.

I can’t say I enjoyed reading it because in audio, the annoyances of the point of view and what I imagine to be written like a script? are only accentuated.

It is innovative and effective at what it’s doing though.

These are the prose I’m looking for. What a well executed book in every respect. A pleasure to consume, fantastic at conveying interiority of characters, and deft at swapping tone - a rare gift. It also manages to have quite a few things to say in a straight forward, but, I think, not simplistic narrative. Setting up the story by having Janie return home and sitting down with a friend to discuss what had happened to her was pretty effective for me. I always seem to like that framing. Though, the narrative does not actually look or feel as though she’s conveying her story in that way, to her friend. It does a time jump to those events. It felt surprisingly cinematic, actually.

My one complaint most often seems a stylistic one. I felt this could stand to further breath in some parts. As beautiful as it’s told, I didn’t feel a sense of place all that much, and that seems to be, I’ve learned, a pretty central component to my 5 star reads. I have a mind that likes specificity when setting scenes and expounding on character. Without it, the world feels nebulous. I had this problem with Wolf Hall even, where the dialogue and prose are top notch, yet it refused to paint a scene and it bugged me to no end. This isn’t quite that bad. But it certainly made it somewhat difficult to populate the world sometimes. Some people won’t be bothered by this at all, and I can see why it has so many 5 star ratings from the people In my circle here.

Fairly charming and especially strong on theme. I didn’t get on with the humour in most cases, but still found it compelling despite it being such a large aspect of the narrative. It does read like the prose is aimed at children, but I wouldn’t say it treats the reader like one. It’s pretty complex and I would say fairly dark. Reminded me of Coraline somewhat in that respect.

An interesting premise, especially when coupled with the strange rules surrounding this time travel experience, which acted as a bit of a carrot for me.

Some of the stories worked for me and some didn’t, and the carrot was not as meaningful as I’d have liked, so I’m very divided on what to ultimately rate this. The most compelling stories are rooted in the specificity of a certain situations. Yet, much like The Midnight Library, it is far too prescriptive for my tastes for them to resonate in the ways the text clearly hopes. The stories would have more impact if we are not told about every thought and emotion of the people experiencing their time travel stories, but rather evaluate the story means for ourselves. It feels overly solipsistic and much too adjacent to self-help writing to package the plot in this way.

But I think I’m also an outlier in that respect. After all, The Midnight Library enjoy great success, as does this, apparently. So I think it’s an issue of just not getting on with a particular style and not liking prescription. And, probably, I shouldn’t fault an author for conveying notions I disagree with, as that is a slippery slope (so long as it’s not problematic). I landed on 3 stars because it does seem to do what it has set out to, has a compelling premise, and certainly succeeds in being About something, which I find to be maybe the most pivotal thing about any book.

This has a narrative structure I wish The Emperor of all Maladies would have had. I found this captivating and engaging. Fantastic theme work, good dialogue. Not to mention prescient in these pandemic times.