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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
Well, it does what it says on the tin. It's certainly weird...
I enjoyed it well enough for the most part, but it never fully grabbed me like I'd hoped unfortunately :(
I enjoyed it well enough for the most part, but it never fully grabbed me like I'd hoped unfortunately :(
The prose are good but the story shows a lack of attention to detail which has disappearing characters and needs a final couple of chapters to get the main characters together to actually explain what was going on. Poorly handled, I'm afraid, in my humble opinion.
Very quirky, perhaps a couple too many characters. There were hints to the twist earlier in the book, but I'm not certain it fit the story.
Rotherweird and lost acre themselves are like a whimsical Hogwarts for adults.
Rotherweird and lost acre themselves are like a whimsical Hogwarts for adults.
*4.5
I really didn't expect to enjoy rotherweird as much as I did but it was an amazing listen. The ideas and plot at first seemed too outlandish and bizarre. However as the story unraveled it was very intriguing. I will definitely be reading the next installments and I would recommend!
I really didn't expect to enjoy rotherweird as much as I did but it was an amazing listen. The ideas and plot at first seemed too outlandish and bizarre. However as the story unraveled it was very intriguing. I will definitely be reading the next installments and I would recommend!
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rotherweird is a book that’s been on my radar for a while. The cover is incredibly eye-catching. The premise is unique and intriguing, and the story proved to be just that. I can honestly say that I’ve never encountered a setting quite like it. By turns charming and almost sinister, Rotherweird hides deep secrets and a dark past that is utterly unknown to any of its residents. When outsiders, one in the form of a bumbling history teacher and the other in the guise of a wealthy lord who has just purchased the rundown Manor, elbow their ways into Rotherweird and start asking questions, the town faces unpredictable threats and must be protected by some of the area’s most unusual citizens.
Rotherweird might be rooted in our world, but it undoubtedly stands alone. It’s a land apart, and its occupants are both proud of and confused by their home, and its oddities. They are quite literally outside of the law of England, allowed to maintain their independence as long as they adhere to certain rules set into place during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The oddest thing about Rotherweird is that the study of world history before 1800, and all of their own history, is strictly forbidden. The reasoning behind this brutally enforced rule is the central axis around which the story’s many mysteries orbit. To say that they’re suspicious of outsiders would be an understatement; such invaders could inadvertently dig up the past and endanger Rotherweird’s independence. There is also a mistrust and dislike that divides the townsfolk from the countrysiders, which further hinders any pursuit into the area’s history.
One of my favorite things about this book was the incredibly uniqueness of Rotherweird. Though its citizens might be ignorant of its history, they have immense pride in their home. Their events, their celebrations and festivals, are unlike any others held outside of Rotherweird. Their school is second to none, and churns out insanely bright graduates who often remain in Rotherweird and use their intellect towards the betterment of their home. The civic pride shines fiercely all throughout the story. I also enjoyed the odd, unexplained magic at the core of Rotherweird, as well as the history readers were privy to throughout the novel. Both the magic and the history felt very classical, but twisted in unexpected ways.
I’m glad that I finally got around to reading Rotherweird, but while I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it as much as I hoped I would. I found it to be oddly, sometimes confusingly fantastical. The story was indeed interesting and multifaceted and far from predictable, but I was unable to connect with story, setting, or characters on any deep, emotional level. The storytelling often felt plodding to me, and I would sometimes completely miss important details because they were buried in the bloated prose, and I’d have to backtrack to figure out what I’d overlooked. All of these complaints are incredibly subjective, and I’m sure plenty of readers have and will in the future adore everything about Rotherweird. Despite the issues I had with the book, the core story itself was intriguing enough for me to add its sequel to my reading list.
You can find this review and more at Novel Notions.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rotherweird is a book that’s been on my radar for a while. The cover is incredibly eye-catching. The premise is unique and intriguing, and the story proved to be just that. I can honestly say that I’ve never encountered a setting quite like it. By turns charming and almost sinister, Rotherweird hides deep secrets and a dark past that is utterly unknown to any of its residents. When outsiders, one in the form of a bumbling history teacher and the other in the guise of a wealthy lord who has just purchased the rundown Manor, elbow their ways into Rotherweird and start asking questions, the town faces unpredictable threats and must be protected by some of the area’s most unusual citizens.
“Imagine a new world where Man could start again. What would we preserve? What would we cut down? Would we be more careful with our discoveries?”
Rotherweird might be rooted in our world, but it undoubtedly stands alone. It’s a land apart, and its occupants are both proud of and confused by their home, and its oddities. They are quite literally outside of the law of England, allowed to maintain their independence as long as they adhere to certain rules set into place during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The oddest thing about Rotherweird is that the study of world history before 1800, and all of their own history, is strictly forbidden. The reasoning behind this brutally enforced rule is the central axis around which the story’s many mysteries orbit. To say that they’re suspicious of outsiders would be an understatement; such invaders could inadvertently dig up the past and endanger Rotherweird’s independence. There is also a mistrust and dislike that divides the townsfolk from the countrysiders, which further hinders any pursuit into the area’s history.
“An old rage burned –so many startling gifts, so much knowledge gleaned along the way, and yet what a mess Mankind had made of everything.”
One of my favorite things about this book was the incredibly uniqueness of Rotherweird. Though its citizens might be ignorant of its history, they have immense pride in their home. Their events, their celebrations and festivals, are unlike any others held outside of Rotherweird. Their school is second to none, and churns out insanely bright graduates who often remain in Rotherweird and use their intellect towards the betterment of their home. The civic pride shines fiercely all throughout the story. I also enjoyed the odd, unexplained magic at the core of Rotherweird, as well as the history readers were privy to throughout the novel. Both the magic and the history felt very classical, but twisted in unexpected ways.
“He liked it when fact out-coloured fiction.”
I’m glad that I finally got around to reading Rotherweird, but while I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it as much as I hoped I would. I found it to be oddly, sometimes confusingly fantastical. The story was indeed interesting and multifaceted and far from predictable, but I was unable to connect with story, setting, or characters on any deep, emotional level. The storytelling often felt plodding to me, and I would sometimes completely miss important details because they were buried in the bloated prose, and I’d have to backtrack to figure out what I’d overlooked. All of these complaints are incredibly subjective, and I’m sure plenty of readers have and will in the future adore everything about Rotherweird. Despite the issues I had with the book, the core story itself was intriguing enough for me to add its sequel to my reading list.
You can find this review and more at Novel Notions.
Čím víc jsem z téhle knihy přečetla, tím nadšenější jsem z ní byla. Nenechte se odradit lehce pomalejším tempem a faktem, že vůbec netušíte, co se z toho vyklube, a prostě čtěte dál. Bude to stát za to, fakt. Avšak pro každého to není, to musím uznat. Během čtení mi ale na mysl neustále přicházel Neil Gaiman a jeho román Neverwhere (Nikdykde). Opskurno mi vážně připomínalo tohle Gaimanovo podivné dílo, zároveň však zůstalo naprosto své. Zkrátka věřím, že pokud máte Neverwhere rádi (nebo obecně Gaimanovu podivnost), Opskurno by pro vás mohlo být to pravé.
Jestliže hledáte něco nového, něco jiného a nevadí vám fantastika, určitě Opskurno omrkněte. Opravdu vás to může jedině překvapit. Já osobně jsem v téhle nenápadné knize objevila skrytý poklad a vskutku se těším, až se mi do ruky dostane pokračování.
Celá recenze je na blogu: https://yours-fantasy.blogspot.com/2018/11/co-se-skryva-v-historii-tajemneho.html
Jestliže hledáte něco nového, něco jiného a nevadí vám fantastika, určitě Opskurno omrkněte. Opravdu vás to může jedině překvapit. Já osobně jsem v téhle nenápadné knize objevila skrytý poklad a vskutku se těším, až se mi do ruky dostane pokračování.
Celá recenze je na blogu: https://yours-fantasy.blogspot.com/2018/11/co-se-skryva-v-historii-tajemneho.html
I'm not entirely sure this book deserves the four stars I've given it, but three just seems far too harsh for a book I enjoyed reading as much as this.
But even though I, personally, enjoyed it a great deal, there are a number of glaring issues that prevent me from singing it's praises totally and from recommending it to everybody.
I'll preface with this: I enjoyed this book. A lot, actually. It was a fun and immersive read and I haven't felt connected to a fictional world to this extent for a long time. I love its characters and the potential in the idea of a small town isolated from the rest of England isn't wasted one bit.
But the problem lies in that these things are my favourite things about the book. I love the cast - particularly Orelia Roc, Gorhambury and Oblong, and the premise and world are fascinating. But the actual narrative doesn't quite reach the same heights, and in this way I feel this book is less than the sum of its parts.
This is a book that suffers a fair bit from overindulgence. The characters are compelling, but the number of them grows throughout the book to a borderline intimidating degree; I had to frequently refer to the cast list at the beginning of the book to reacquaint myself with the character who's point of view the story was now being told through (the existence of this cast list makes me wonder if the author is actually aware that the number of characters is so high as to be confusing.)
This is bad in itself, but it leads to a great many interesting characters like Vixen Valourhand and Oblong himself being under-utilised to make way for duller and thinly sketched characters like Salt and Boris, who's sequences I suffered through. Oblong himself was nowhere near as vital to the narrative as his early prominence implies him to be, kind of annoying as he presents as a main character and then our attachment to him and investment in him feels unwarranted, though this is more of a personal nitpick than a genuine flaw, as it is a stylistic choice that just happens not to be to my taste.
I can't claim to be a fan of the ending either; it feels less like the grand culmination of a story and more an anticlimactic stage setting for the sequel. The handling of the antagonist's death in particular left me wondering if I'd missed a page in that his death was utterly inconsequential and was over in two paragraphs. This, in combination with the oversized cast and slightly convoluted mythos, is my biggest complaint.
The book makes a point of showing, telling, and then telling again just in case it went over the head of the reader - and to be fair, a lot of the plot may do, as there is so much of it delivered through the perspectives of so many characters. This can grate especially if the particular plot point is of no interest - I cannot pretend to care about Salt's plants or the Midsummer Fair nearly as much as I did about the Great Equinox Race or Slickstone's party.
Also, some bits like the unnecessary Latin and twee 'stereotype fantasy' names of the characters (Vixen?) do ring a little false and 'look how clever this is!' But on the whole I recognise the necessity of odd names for this cast, in that they need to be distinguishable somehow and it points to the town's disconnection from the rest of England.
This review reads like a harsh critique, but to describe the positives in too much detail would be to rob anybody who reads this of discovering them for themselves. This is a book that has many flaws, but if is still a very good book, a worthwhile book that I enjoyed a great deal and that engaged me to the point where I am eager to read the sequel and the eventual third instalment. But I still feel that a sizeable amount of content would be better off on the cutting room floor, not only because of its dullness but because then we could instead spend more time on the interesting plot points with the interesting characters - since these characters and plots are immensely, vividly interesting and engaging.
I would not recommend this book to everyone. But for somebody with an appetite for immersive fantasy with a little bit of everything, from a taste of a historical and a mystery to cold science fiction, I recommend it wholeheartedly, because it is all of these things and more. Despite my gripes, I'm still looking forward to reading the next instalment, and this is a sign, to me, of a job well done by any author.
Can we not have 10000+ characters with names beginning with 'F' next time though thanks
But even though I, personally, enjoyed it a great deal, there are a number of glaring issues that prevent me from singing it's praises totally and from recommending it to everybody.
I'll preface with this: I enjoyed this book. A lot, actually. It was a fun and immersive read and I haven't felt connected to a fictional world to this extent for a long time. I love its characters and the potential in the idea of a small town isolated from the rest of England isn't wasted one bit.
But the problem lies in that these things are my favourite things about the book. I love the cast - particularly Orelia Roc, Gorhambury and Oblong, and the premise and world are fascinating. But the actual narrative doesn't quite reach the same heights, and in this way I feel this book is less than the sum of its parts.
This is a book that suffers a fair bit from overindulgence. The characters are compelling, but the number of them grows throughout the book to a borderline intimidating degree; I had to frequently refer to the cast list at the beginning of the book to reacquaint myself with the character who's point of view the story was now being told through (the existence of this cast list makes me wonder if the author is actually aware that the number of characters is so high as to be confusing.)
This is bad in itself, but it leads to a great many interesting characters like Vixen Valourhand and Oblong himself being under-utilised to make way for duller and thinly sketched characters like Salt and Boris, who's sequences I suffered through. Oblong himself was nowhere near as vital to the narrative as his early prominence implies him to be, kind of annoying as he presents as a main character and then our attachment to him and investment in him feels unwarranted, though this is more of a personal nitpick than a genuine flaw, as it is a stylistic choice that just happens not to be to my taste.
I can't claim to be a fan of the ending either; it feels less like the grand culmination of a story and more an anticlimactic stage setting for the sequel. The handling of the antagonist's death in particular left me wondering if I'd missed a page in that his death was utterly inconsequential and was over in two paragraphs. This, in combination with the oversized cast and slightly convoluted mythos, is my biggest complaint.
The book makes a point of showing, telling, and then telling again just in case it went over the head of the reader - and to be fair, a lot of the plot may do, as there is so much of it delivered through the perspectives of so many characters. This can grate especially if the particular plot point is of no interest - I cannot pretend to care about Salt's plants or the Midsummer Fair nearly as much as I did about the Great Equinox Race or Slickstone's party.
Also, some bits like the unnecessary Latin and twee 'stereotype fantasy' names of the characters (Vixen?) do ring a little false and 'look how clever this is!' But on the whole I recognise the necessity of odd names for this cast, in that they need to be distinguishable somehow and it points to the town's disconnection from the rest of England.
This review reads like a harsh critique, but to describe the positives in too much detail would be to rob anybody who reads this of discovering them for themselves. This is a book that has many flaws, but if is still a very good book, a worthwhile book that I enjoyed a great deal and that engaged me to the point where I am eager to read the sequel and the eventual third instalment. But I still feel that a sizeable amount of content would be better off on the cutting room floor, not only because of its dullness but because then we could instead spend more time on the interesting plot points with the interesting characters - since these characters and plots are immensely, vividly interesting and engaging.
I would not recommend this book to everyone. But for somebody with an appetite for immersive fantasy with a little bit of everything, from a taste of a historical and a mystery to cold science fiction, I recommend it wholeheartedly, because it is all of these things and more. Despite my gripes, I'm still looking forward to reading the next instalment, and this is a sign, to me, of a job well done by any author.
Can we not have 10000+ characters with names beginning with 'F' next time though thanks
This is Rotherweird: an autonomous enclave of England where cutting-edge technology rubs shoulders with rural magic; a region inhabited by geniuses who somehow cling on to a neo-Elizabethan way of life. It does not take long to realise that Rotherweird is, well... rather weird...
Jonah Oblong, an "outsider from wider England" has just been employed as history teacher at Rotherweird School. He soon learns that the residents of Rotherweird town and the surrounding countryside are barred from enquiring into the region's past and, particularly, from researching the dark reasons for which Elizabeth I granted Rotherweird its special status. Oblong also discovers that his predecessor Robert Flask disappeared after showing an unhealthy interest in this forbidden subject. Desperate times, however, require desperate measures. "Outsider" Sir Veronal Slickstone has strangely been invited to purchase the town Manor, and his arrival brings with it the threat of ancient evil. Will an ill-assorted bunch of anti-heroes manage keep these dangers at bay?
I often read supernatural fiction although I generally avoid fantasy. This might soon change thanks to this highly entertaining novel, the first of a projected trilogy. The plot is dense but gripping, occasionally threatening to burst at the seams (like the Town's tangled buildings), but somehow managing to remain on track. What impressed me most (apart from the diverse case of eccentric characters) is the way in which various genres are seamlessly combined. Nominally a "fantasy novel", it also involves elements of crime/mystery, steampunk (courtesy of the curious inventions of Boris and Bert Polk), historical fiction/alternative history and various shades of horror (including body horror in the shape of a man-eating spider, eco-Gothic and folk-horror). There is also an underlying streak of good-natured English humour of the Wodehouse type, featuring witty wordplay and inept bachelors besotted with strong-willed women. On paper it shouldn't work. Somehow, it does.
The text is complemented by imaginative illustrations by Aleksandra Laika, which help to put the reader in the mood of this strange book.
Allow me three questions...
- It turns out that author Andrew Caldecott is a high-flying QC. When does he manage to write novels this complex? Any time-management tips welcome.
- when is the sequel out? I'm already looking forward to it.
- And the movie?
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in return for an honest review
Jonah Oblong, an "outsider from wider England" has just been employed as history teacher at Rotherweird School. He soon learns that the residents of Rotherweird town and the surrounding countryside are barred from enquiring into the region's past and, particularly, from researching the dark reasons for which Elizabeth I granted Rotherweird its special status. Oblong also discovers that his predecessor Robert Flask disappeared after showing an unhealthy interest in this forbidden subject. Desperate times, however, require desperate measures. "Outsider" Sir Veronal Slickstone has strangely been invited to purchase the town Manor, and his arrival brings with it the threat of ancient evil. Will an ill-assorted bunch of anti-heroes manage keep these dangers at bay?
I often read supernatural fiction although I generally avoid fantasy. This might soon change thanks to this highly entertaining novel, the first of a projected trilogy. The plot is dense but gripping, occasionally threatening to burst at the seams (like the Town's tangled buildings), but somehow managing to remain on track. What impressed me most (apart from the diverse case of eccentric characters) is the way in which various genres are seamlessly combined. Nominally a "fantasy novel", it also involves elements of crime/mystery, steampunk (courtesy of the curious inventions of Boris and Bert Polk), historical fiction/alternative history and various shades of horror (including body horror in the shape of a man-eating spider, eco-Gothic and folk-horror). There is also an underlying streak of good-natured English humour of the Wodehouse type, featuring witty wordplay and inept bachelors besotted with strong-willed women. On paper it shouldn't work. Somehow, it does.
The text is complemented by imaginative illustrations by Aleksandra Laika, which help to put the reader in the mood of this strange book.
Allow me three questions...
- It turns out that author Andrew Caldecott is a high-flying QC. When does he manage to write novels this complex? Any time-management tips welcome.
- when is the sequel out? I'm already looking forward to it.
- And the movie?
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in return for an honest review
Quite enjoyed. Something about the title and cover made me worry it would be a dull Terry Pratchett, but this is a fully realised fantasy world with loads of compelling characters. Eccentric but anchored, with laugh out loud scenes and worrying dark forces, recommend.