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timinbc's review against another edition
2.0
"Heart-thumpingly perfect"? Good golly, that's exactly what this book isn't.
I only gave it two stars because for 100 pages or so it looked as if it had a chance to be good.
Don't be fooled.
This is the work of an author who read a book about rooks, then read A Christmas Carol, then woke up with an idea for a book. Too bad it wasn't a GOOD idea.
Many pages are spent showing us in great detail how capable William is in learning about the mill.
Then many more go by as we see that he is also capable at imagining and running a new business.
And at excluding anything resembling humanity. Why is that, you wonder.
He is obviously burdened by the enormous guilt of something he did long ago, or at least might have been if he hadn't forgotten about it an hour after it happened.
But the rooks, nyah hah, heh heh, THEY haven't forgotten. THEY are Thought and Memory. And incidentally they appear to be the Illuminati or something, secretly controlling everything that happens. The failing well, the sniffle, the banana peel, ... in earlier eras the masses would blame the gods for that, or the fairies, or fate. Now it's pissed-off birds.
And they are going to get their revenge by making their victim successful. Oh-kay.
This is where the reader has one chance to view this novel in a way that's a win.
(If you haven't read the book, stop here. I don't want to make it a huge spoiler block.)
Suppose the birds DID make him successful, knowing they'd have their sweet revenge when he finally had his Scrooge moment and realized how he'd thrown his life away. Now see him thinking that, going "Nah" and returning to his work just before "ack, I'm ded" Who has won, really? He was unhappy for maybe an hour or two total. Big deal.
Ya know where this author really, really lost me? It's where I think that might be the stinkingest, reekingest, inexcusablest bit ever of making the reader go, "Really? REALLY? I waded through 300 dull pages for THIS? THIS is your payoff? That Pfui, I say, pfui.
You'd have to turn to religion to find a less plausible storyline than that.
What next? Did the Seahawks lose the Super Bowl because Russell Wilson was once mean to a crow? Did Rooney's shot go over the crossbar because he yelled at a raven once?
I'm going to back to my usual science fiction, where the author is allowed one unlikely assumption but thereafter has to be logical and thorough in following out its implications.
p.s. crows, rooks and ravens are all corvids, but different. People ranting on that theme are going to have to decide whether to allow Thought and Memory on the field of play, because Odin's birds were ravens.
I only gave it two stars because for 100 pages or so it looked as if it had a chance to be good.
Don't be fooled.
This is the work of an author who read a book about rooks, then read A Christmas Carol, then woke up with an idea for a book. Too bad it wasn't a GOOD idea.
Many pages are spent showing us in great detail how capable William is in learning about the mill.
Then many more go by as we see that he is also capable at imagining and running a new business.
And at excluding anything resembling humanity. Why is that, you wonder.
He is obviously burdened by the enormous guilt of something he did long ago, or at least might have been if he hadn't forgotten about it an hour after it happened.
But the rooks, nyah hah, heh heh, THEY haven't forgotten. THEY are Thought and Memory. And incidentally they appear to be the Illuminati or something, secretly controlling everything that happens. The failing well, the sniffle, the banana peel, ... in earlier eras the masses would blame the gods for that, or the fairies, or fate. Now it's pissed-off birds.
And they are going to get their revenge by making their victim successful. Oh-kay.
This is where the reader has one chance to view this novel in a way that's a win.
(If you haven't read the book, stop here. I don't want to make it a huge spoiler block.)
Suppose the birds DID make him successful, knowing they'd have their sweet revenge when he finally had his Scrooge moment and realized how he'd thrown his life away. Now see him thinking that, going "Nah" and returning to his work just before "ack, I'm ded" Who has won, really? He was unhappy for maybe an hour or two total. Big deal.
Ya know where this author really, really lost me? It's where
Spoiler
we see that the business's sales curve over umpteen years has been the Very Same Shape as the flight of the stone that killed the rook all those years ago.Spoiler
BIRDS were making Timmy fall down the well and Old Roy die of consumption and stray arrows implausibly bounce off rocks so that people would DIE sooner so that bleep-bleeping Bellman would be SUCCESSFUL, just so they could snatch it from him later?You'd have to turn to religion to find a less plausible storyline than that.
What next? Did the Seahawks lose the Super Bowl because Russell Wilson was once mean to a crow? Did Rooney's shot go over the crossbar because he yelled at a raven once?
I'm going to back to my usual science fiction, where the author is allowed one unlikely assumption but thereafter has to be logical and thorough in following out its implications.
p.s. crows, rooks and ravens are all corvids, but different. People ranting on that theme are going to have to decide whether to allow Thought and Memory on the field of play, because Odin's birds were ravens.
dayamarie's review against another edition
1.0
I was really hoping to enjoy this book since I loved the Thirteenth Tale. I did not enjoy it. It dragged on and on and was so miserably sad. I still don't get the ending.
imogenoakes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
bookph1le's review against another edition
2.0
There are glimmers of a brilliant story here, but this book was overlong and dull for long stretches because there's not enough plot for a full length novel. More complete review to come.
aceinit's review against another edition
2.0
This is another one of those books I wanted to like more than I actually did. Like most readers, I was mesmerized by Setterfield's previous work, "The Thirteenth Tale." Though "Bellman & Black is a thoroughly readable book, it never really pulled me in, never mesmerized me, never made me care about Will Bellman or his clockwork life, about the tragedy that surround him, or the mysterious business partner who plagues him.
The problem with a character like Bellman, who is at all times a step removed from his own story, is that caring about such a character (and subsequently their story) is difficult. I always felt like I was watching the narrative unfold from behind a foggy pane of glass: I could see enough that was happening and understand enough to get the story, but I never connected with the story.
And while Setterfield's narrative was enough to make me keep turning the pages, it was nowhere near enough for me to be impressed.
The problem with a character like Bellman, who is at all times a step removed from his own story, is that caring about such a character (and subsequently their story) is difficult. I always felt like I was watching the narrative unfold from behind a foggy pane of glass: I could see enough that was happening and understand enough to get the story, but I never connected with the story.
And while Setterfield's narrative was enough to make me keep turning the pages, it was nowhere near enough for me to be impressed.
jen_jacob's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book, although after reading the entire thing it isn't as good as The Thirteenth Tale. Until about half way through I couldn't put it down but somewhere in the last quarter it fell flat where it could have taken on a more macabre, gothic feel. I guess I had higher hopes because The Thirteenth Tale was great, Setterfield could have done better with the ending on this one.
rhianreads14's review against another edition
Beautiful writing but entirely unengaging story
mrsdryoder's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed the story all the way up to the end, but there it fell flat to me. I read it on my nook, which makes it difficult to read the ending first as I like to do. Hard to say if I would have read this one if I had known the ending first. I liked the author's first novel better.
madmooney's review against another edition
4.0
Quick thoughts: I enjoyed Setterfield's ability to give her story a placeless and timeless feel (much like she did in The Thirteenth Tale) Its difficult to effectively describe the plot of the book without describing the 1st half of it. Basically, it is a "man makes a deal with with force(s) he doesn't understand when tragedy strikes" sort of story...but it is so much more than that. I never would have guessed an author would have been able to make the textile industry sound interesting enough to read about...good on you, Diane!