Scan barcode
A review by holly_h_b_
The Axeman's Carnival by Catherine Chidgey
3.0
I was excited by the premise of this book, but I don’t think it delivered for two reasons.
First, though it’s narrated by Tama the magpie, this often felt really forced because Chidgey kept slipping back into an obviously human voice/perspective. Eg. at the beginning when Tama is still a chick he refers to the sky as a blue coin, describes things as dandelions - but he’s never seen a coin or a dandelion! This might come across nit-picky, and I might not have minded it so much if it didn’t keep happening.
Second, the whole human plot just felt really half-hearted and predictable. I think if you’re gonna do something like have a human woman adopt a magpie as a surrogate child, you should go really balls to the walls with it, or at least try to subvert some expectations.
First, though it’s narrated by Tama the magpie, this often felt really forced because Chidgey kept slipping back into an obviously human voice/perspective. Eg. at the beginning when Tama is still a chick he refers to the sky as a blue coin, describes things as dandelions - but he’s never seen a coin or a dandelion! This might come across nit-picky, and I might not have minded it so much if it didn’t keep happening.
Second, the whole human plot just felt really half-hearted and predictable. I think if you’re gonna do something like have a human woman adopt a magpie as a surrogate child, you should go really balls to the walls with it, or at least try to subvert some expectations.