So Maureen and Sinead were raving about this book. RAVING. And that's a pretty sure sign of an amazing book. It's taken me a while to get to it, but I've started and it is amazing.
For those of you who might not know, it's a YA set on a fictional island, that feels sort of like Prince Edward Island or something...but every year in November the storms push the man-eating ferocious and beautiful water horses up onto the shore and the brave men and boys of the island catch them and race them. People get killed and hurt. It's gruesome and really really cool. And different.
The world is amazing. I have no idea of the year, or exact location. But I can taste the salt air, and all the talk of sweaters and tweed makes me feel like I'm in the early part of the century.
The writing is elegant and evocative. Nothing feels wasted, everything feel fresh and important. The stakes are high - man-eating horses and all. The characters are AMAZING. It's a win on a lot of levels, but there's something...something that's not quite right. And if you've read the book please argue with me, but I feel like the pacing is off. Or if not off in total contrast to the stakes. High stakes, slow pace.
It's really strange.
4 comments:
Adding it to the TBR list now . . .
I'm not sure I'll be able to argue effectively... but there was nothing off in that book for me.
I did kind of marvel that she took a plot that could have been a short story or novella and wrote a novel, but it never slowed for me. If I had to guess, I'd say it was because of the writing. Because every word and sentence mattered to me. For me, if the pace is lagging I skim. And I never once skimmed in that book.
I'm with Maureen. I was utterly absorbed in every word. Nothing was off for me either.
Oh, I loved that book!
for me it was the kind of book that isn't even inspirational, because I could never write a similar book. It would have been twenty pages in my hands, yet she wrote a full novel that was tense with such high stakes from everyone.
I was amazed at her skill
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