I found it very much like the parson's egg - good in parts. Some of the writing was exquisite, as Angelfish's writing often is. On that front I cannot fault her. She has some beautifully evocative scenes and emotional moments that truly touch the soul.
But there's also some real clangers.
Unlike you, I didn't get a good sense of place. Not because of the weather and the scenery - which were well painted - but because the people just felt very very wrong. There was no depth to them, no consistency in characterisation during the story (to whit, where the hell did the pass the doc made at Doyle come from?) and no real attempt to make them anything more than stereotypical local colour.
Added to this, and also on the subject of characterisation, was the lads. Oh god. Where are my down and dirty, hard living, hard drinking, womanising, tough guys? These two would make your average encounter group look macho. This was fainting flower Doyle (a pet hate) at his worst, and to add insult to injury Bodie was at it as well. No, I'm sorry, but these were not my lads. These two were not CI5 agents, or even ex-CI5 agents, however battered and bruised they might have been by life.
But, you know, I might have forgiven all this - and have been known to - if the plot had been good. It wasn't. It sucked. The thing about the curse and the standing stones at the end? Where the hell did that come from? I realise that there's such a thing as over flagging a twist, but some kind of warning would have been nice. As it was, there was nothing. Not even really a hint of the supernatural right up to the end when it was all explained by the local colour.
In some ways would have been nice to have had the supernatural themes explored more fully as it would have given the lads something to do that didn't involve breast beating and angsting like teenagers.
So, yeah, all in all I was very disappointed. I've been fond of the author's previous work, but she's gonna have to change her tune if she wants me back a reader.
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But there's also some real clangers.
Unlike you, I didn't get a good sense of place. Not because of the weather and the scenery - which were well painted - but because the people just felt very very wrong. There was no depth to them, no consistency in characterisation during the story (to whit, where the hell did the pass the doc made at Doyle come from?) and no real attempt to make them anything more than stereotypical local colour.
Added to this, and also on the subject of characterisation, was the lads. Oh god. Where are my down and dirty, hard living, hard drinking, womanising, tough guys? These two would make your average encounter group look macho. This was fainting flower Doyle (a pet hate) at his worst, and to add insult to injury Bodie was at it as well. No, I'm sorry, but these were not my lads. These two were not CI5 agents, or even ex-CI5 agents, however battered and bruised they might have been by life.
But, you know, I might have forgiven all this - and have been known to - if the plot had been good. It wasn't. It sucked. The thing about the curse and the standing stones at the end? Where the hell did that come from? I realise that there's such a thing as over flagging a twist, but some kind of warning would have been nice. As it was, there was nothing. Not even really a hint of the supernatural right up to the end when it was all explained by the local colour.
In some ways would have been nice to have had the supernatural themes explored more fully as it would have given the lads something to do that didn't involve breast beating and angsting like teenagers.
So, yeah, all in all I was very disappointed. I've been fond of the author's previous work, but she's gonna have to change her tune if she wants me back a reader.
And on that happy note, I'll rest my case.