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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
DNF - 25% in. I wanted to love this, and I gave it a good try. It’s not that the characters were unlikable so much as they were bland. The most memorable thing about them was generally their ridiculous names. I was excited by the concept and massively let down by the execution.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Clever, funny, and charming. A surprising gem!
Rotherweird? More like ridiculously weird. Too many characters and several had similar names, flittered between them too quickly making the nonsensical plot difficult to follow. If you need a scooby doo ending, something has gone very wrong.
Welcome to the rather weird, mysterious but delightful town of Rotherweird.
To enter, tourists must leave behind their 21st-century gadgets as readers should their literary prejudices or expectations.
This is a town devoid of modern technology, but has a surprisingly high number of mastermind-children with affinity to sciences like maths, physics, astronomy.
Learning about the town's history is outlawed and there are a number of other bizarre rules governing the general and day-to-day life of its citizens. The why-s are buried in obscurity.
And then there is a most unfathomable place in the valley of the river Rother and if you happen to find it and enter, you may not be the same again after your return. Yet it seems to hold the key to Rotherweird's secret origins and history.
This book has been a delightful reading experience: it has an almost Dickensian streak of weirdness, which I found very appealing. It is a curious, but very intriguing kaleidoscope of historical fiction, fantasy, children's fiction and even Biblical elements.
Reading it was like getting a lovely ice-cream sundae with all my favourite ingredients + the paper umbrella on top: I dived in and did not come up until finished the last spoonful and licked the dish clean. :)
Some elements of the story reminded me of other, well-liked books, but this is a unique story, the author, Andrew Caldecott, has his own voice / style which is special to Rotherweird. The writing is simple yet potent- sometimes it felt like reading a dramatic play rather than a novel.
There are 2 alternating timelines and weirdly enough the present tense is used for the historical timeline and the past tense for the contemporary which creates a powerful and seductive atmosphere. The show-rather-than-tell method is applied to perfection & it hooks you right from the start.
What is also peculiar in a positive sense that there is no single protagonist as such, but a diversity of likeable / weird / hateful / compelling characters, all with their own secret agenda and parts to play, which gives a strong dynamism to plot.
Recommended: to everyone who likes books by Neil Gaiman, Ben Aaronovitch, Susannah Clarke.
Netgalley Arc, received from Publisher, Quercus Books, in exchange for an honest review.
To enter, tourists must leave behind their 21st-century gadgets as readers should their literary prejudices or expectations.
This is a town devoid of modern technology, but has a surprisingly high number of mastermind-children with affinity to sciences like maths, physics, astronomy.
Learning about the town's history is outlawed and there are a number of other bizarre rules governing the general and day-to-day life of its citizens. The why-s are buried in obscurity.
And then there is a most unfathomable place in the valley of the river Rother and if you happen to find it and enter, you may not be the same again after your return. Yet it seems to hold the key to Rotherweird's secret origins and history.
This book has been a delightful reading experience: it has an almost Dickensian streak of weirdness, which I found very appealing. It is a curious, but very intriguing kaleidoscope of historical fiction, fantasy, children's fiction and even Biblical elements.
Reading it was like getting a lovely ice-cream sundae with all my favourite ingredients + the paper umbrella on top: I dived in and did not come up until finished the last spoonful and licked the dish clean. :)
Some elements of the story reminded me of other, well-liked books, but this is a unique story, the author, Andrew Caldecott, has his own voice / style which is special to Rotherweird. The writing is simple yet potent- sometimes it felt like reading a dramatic play rather than a novel.
There are 2 alternating timelines and weirdly enough the present tense is used for the historical timeline and the past tense for the contemporary which creates a powerful and seductive atmosphere. The show-rather-than-tell method is applied to perfection & it hooks you right from the start.
What is also peculiar in a positive sense that there is no single protagonist as such, but a diversity of likeable / weird / hateful / compelling characters, all with their own secret agenda and parts to play, which gives a strong dynamism to plot.
Recommended: to everyone who likes books by Neil Gaiman, Ben Aaronovitch, Susannah Clarke.
Netgalley Arc, received from Publisher, Quercus Books, in exchange for an honest review.
Some oddball characters and an alternative world thrown together makes an interesting read.
A rather underwhelming tale, I expected something well, a bit more 'weird' than I got. Sort of Harry Potter meets Gormenghast with added Lovecraftian elements, but the latter being sprinkled thin throughout. Not that intrigued that it makes me want to read the next one in the series. Sadly disappointing.
DNF
I hate to DNF a book, as it plays havoc with my OCD, so it is very rare indeed.
In this case, it's not that this was a terrible book; it is well-written, with an interesting plot premise and a very appealing title/cover combo.
I just found myself unable to fully engage with the plot or characters, to the point I was having to force myself to pick it up, instead of my usual reverse.
With so many books piling up to be read, I just can't justify keep kidding myself I'm ever going to finish this one!
I hate to DNF a book, as it plays havoc with my OCD, so it is very rare indeed.
In this case, it's not that this was a terrible book; it is well-written, with an interesting plot premise and a very appealing title/cover combo.
I just found myself unable to fully engage with the plot or characters, to the point I was having to force myself to pick it up, instead of my usual reverse.
With so many books piling up to be read, I just can't justify keep kidding myself I'm ever going to finish this one!
This book took me forever (for me) to read. I loved it, in the beginning and through most of it, but it got to the point where it was just dragging on at times. It was so wordy and so dense, that it felt like I was reading for hours at a time to discover I'd only read 2%.
I liked it, but I wish I had read it outside of a time of reading it for a challenge (when I wanted to be quick and it still took a week) and I would have liked to have taken notes on it. There were so many characters and so much going on. There were 10 characters with last names that started with the letter F, that was unfortunate.
It was good, the town was unique, the story different. I just wish it had been a little less dense, maybe a little shorter, and the characters given more names to go by cuz damn, I could never remember who was who between Finch, Ferdy, Fanguin and Flask. :/
I liked it, but I wish I had read it outside of a time of reading it for a challenge (when I wanted to be quick and it still took a week) and I would have liked to have taken notes on it. There were so many characters and so much going on. There were 10 characters with last names that started with the letter F, that was unfortunate.
It was good, the town was unique, the story different. I just wish it had been a little less dense, maybe a little shorter, and the characters given more names to go by cuz damn, I could never remember who was who between Finch, Ferdy, Fanguin and Flask. :/
One of the better books I've read this year. Shades of Mervyn Peake and Ben Aaronovich.