Fascinating. "consid @ 2001-08-29
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$7.99 |
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This book drew me in at the beginning with its lush poetic imagery that allows one to believe in the possibility of the world of fairy tales. Marillier spends a lot of time establishing her settings and characters, and she does it with relentless beauty. And yes, as some readers have pointed out, this is often at the expense of the plot. However, the slow pace is worth it, as it generates both greater believability and empathy for the characters. The first third or so of the book is the best; it is tightly written and powerful. At about the time of the Lady Oonagh's curse, however, I began to feel that the author was switching genres; the story morphs from the panoramic retelling of a legend to having all the conventions of a historical romance novel, replete with new-age oversimplifications and a few anachronisms, as well. However, no matter what genre the author is writing in at the moment, and a few queasy political-correctnesses aside, the whole book is very thorough and well-written. It is hard to put down, although I went from feeling like I was learning something (at the beginning) to making frequently accurate predictions as to what was going to happen next. One thing I did notice as being curiously absent from the narrative was any plan being made on the parts of any of the seven siblings as to how to deal with Lady Oonagh when the spell was finally broken. Surely that would have been a concern for anyone. Were they just thinking they would go home and tell on her, and everything would be all right? Was she at one moment a powerful sorceress who could change people into swans, and the next moment weak-willed and impotent? What was to prevent the Lady Oonagh from changing everyone into pink flamingoes the moment they reappeared? It was strange that no one thought to worry about that. I also found myself wondering what exactly had happened to Lord Richard of Northwoods. We never do get to find out. Even within a trilogy context, this is sloppy and unexcusable. After reading about his overdone-but-amusing Snidely Whiplash villainy for this long, we want to know where he is at this point in time, at the close of the story. I know this is very petty, and I don't hold it against the author, but there are also lots of typos in this book. So why did I give it four stars? I believed in the characters, the story was engrossing and the evocative atmosphere the author managed to conjure up was bewitching.