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rcsreads's review against another edition
5.0
The pleasure and pain of love, once breathed upon the air, rose but to fall again, like blossom or like rain, infecting all things living with pain and ecstasy.
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Another book with unexpected time travel. It took me a bit to get into this one but that's probably because the beginning wasn't written by Daphne. Due to her ability to write in every genre this turns from a story of an affair between a Bretton onion seller and the pub landlady into a strange time travel fantasy novel where they replay the romance of Tristan and Isolte.
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Beautifully written, sad and romantic.
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Another book with unexpected time travel. It took me a bit to get into this one but that's probably because the beginning wasn't written by Daphne. Due to her ability to write in every genre this turns from a story of an affair between a Bretton onion seller and the pub landlady into a strange time travel fantasy novel where they replay the romance of Tristan and Isolte.
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Beautifully written, sad and romantic.
beccajdb's review against another edition
Something about knowing the trajectory in advance (as it’s based on Tristan and Iseult) made it seem a bit pointless. May have been more to do with the fact that I started this, put it to one side to read Jonathan Franzen’s Crossroads and then just wasn’t in the mood for this sort of historical novel
earlgreybooks's review against another edition
3.0
Definitely not my favourite du Maurier. It didn't have that same magic for me like the rest of her books.
hayleyashal's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars really.
I had just started this book when I had read a trawl of the reviews on here and was surprised at the number of three/two star ratings. This is the first book in a long time that I felt at ease to just sit back and take in, and I loved it. The setting was beautiful, the writing (as always from du Maurier) was poetic and a joy to read, and the use of local legends will always capture my attention. I enjoyed seeing the story from other perspectives as opposed to the main characters, it made the story more well rounded, but I did feel like something was missing. We never saw any of the plot or context from Linnet's point of view, which I feel like would have been interesting. Overall, however, du Maurier does it again and I loved it.
I had just started this book when I had read a trawl of the reviews on here and was surprised at the number of three/two star ratings. This is the first book in a long time that I felt at ease to just sit back and take in, and I loved it. The setting was beautiful, the writing (as always from du Maurier) was poetic and a joy to read, and the use of local legends will always capture my attention. I enjoyed seeing the story from other perspectives as opposed to the main characters, it made the story more well rounded, but I did feel like something was missing. We never saw any of the plot or context from Linnet's point of view, which I feel like would have been interesting. Overall, however, du Maurier does it again and I loved it.
sophiaannew's review against another edition
I found this book in a shop in England. I mean, it's Daphne du Maurier, right?! So cool! Turns out the story was odd and boring. I guess even du Maurier can't make Tristan and Isolt interesting.
sarah12345's review against another edition
4.0
If you like the Tristan & Isolde series, you might like this .[bc:Isolde, Queen of the Western Isle|24674|Isolde, Queen of the Western Isle (Tristan and Isolde, #1)|Rosalind Miles|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320544879s/24674.jpg|3148549]
lnatal's review against another edition
3.0
In my opinion, Athur Thomas was able to write only the first part of this book, since I recognized the unmistakable style of Dame du Maurier in the beginning of part 2. Any other guess??
annyway47's review against another edition
2.0
Castle Dor turned out to be a retelling of the Tristan and Isolde legend, only set in XIX century Cornwall.
It was written, though never finished because of his death, by [a:Arthur Quiller-Couch|3124559|Arthur Quiller-Couch|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1263132627p2/3124559.jpg]. I first found out about him because he was mentioned in [b:84, Charing Cross Road|368916|84, Charing Cross Road|Helene Hanff|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1287338794l/368916._SY75_.jpg|938626] as [a:Helene Hanff|58918|Helene Hanff|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1263552274p2/58918.jpg]'s mentor. Quiller-Couch's daughter, after his death, asked [a:Daphne du Maurier|2001717|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1422444467p2/2001717.jpg] to finish the novel. I couldn't tell where his writing stopped, and hers began. Which is a good thing, considering.
Still, I was not impressed by the book. The plot didn't grip me. The retelling was too straightforward to be particularly interesting; there wasn't much of a twist to it. If you have any familiarity with the legend, you know what's going to happen, and it just - happens. To make things cheesier, a side character keeps pointing out the similarities of every situation in the novel with the Tristan and Isolde legend. Why I'll never know. There was a feeble attempt to create some suspense at the end, but it failed.
The characters were weak, too. Linnet was shallow and vain, her husband cartoonishly despicable, Amyot seemed just hot and dull-witted. None of these characters inspired sympathy. To me, Daphne du Maurier's strongest trait is her ability to write insightful, complex, ambiguous characters. Castle Dor completely lacked these. The doctor side-character never justified occupying pages of the book - I kept waiting to discover a compelling reason for him being there, but it never arrived.
The star-crossed romance was lackluster as well. It felt less like a story of love, and more like a story of two attractive young people meeting a hot person their age for the first time, and immediately applying all their energy to get into each other's pants before even getting acquainted. They didn't get to know each other, and there wasn't much to know anyway since they were both flat and boring characters.
The book didn't offer anything else either, so I have no redeeming qualities to list. It wasn't torturous to read, that's all.
It was written, though never finished because of his death, by [a:Arthur Quiller-Couch|3124559|Arthur Quiller-Couch|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1263132627p2/3124559.jpg]. I first found out about him because he was mentioned in [b:84, Charing Cross Road|368916|84, Charing Cross Road|Helene Hanff|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1287338794l/368916._SY75_.jpg|938626] as [a:Helene Hanff|58918|Helene Hanff|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1263552274p2/58918.jpg]'s mentor. Quiller-Couch's daughter, after his death, asked [a:Daphne du Maurier|2001717|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1422444467p2/2001717.jpg] to finish the novel. I couldn't tell where his writing stopped, and hers began. Which is a good thing, considering.
Still, I was not impressed by the book. The plot didn't grip me. The retelling was too straightforward to be particularly interesting; there wasn't much of a twist to it. If you have any familiarity with the legend, you know what's going to happen, and it just - happens. To make things cheesier, a side character keeps pointing out the similarities of every situation in the novel with the Tristan and Isolde legend. Why I'll never know. There was a feeble attempt to create some suspense at the end, but it failed.
The characters were weak, too. Linnet was shallow and vain, her husband cartoonishly despicable, Amyot seemed just hot and dull-witted. None of these characters inspired sympathy. To me, Daphne du Maurier's strongest trait is her ability to write insightful, complex, ambiguous characters. Castle Dor completely lacked these. The doctor side-character never justified occupying pages of the book - I kept waiting to discover a compelling reason for him being there, but it never arrived.
The star-crossed romance was lackluster as well. It felt less like a story of love, and more like a story of two attractive young people meeting a hot person their age for the first time, and immediately applying all their energy to get into each other's pants before even getting acquainted. They didn't get to know each other, and there wasn't much to know anyway since they were both flat and boring characters.
The book didn't offer anything else either, so I have no redeeming qualities to list. It wasn't torturous to read, that's all.
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