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A review by cher_n_books
The Last Days of Magic by Mark Tompkins
2.0
1.5 stars - I didn't like it.
Between the blurbs and the eye-catching cover, the publisher did a phenomenal effort with this novel. Few synopses have grabbed my attention and set off my "definitely want to read this" bells as much as this one. It has all the wonderful, fantastical things:
An epic novel of magic and mysticism, Celts and faeries, mad kings and druids, and the goddess struggling to reign over magic’s last outpost on the Earth.
Unfortunately, it all fell apart in execution. There was an overabundance of characters, yet a dearth of character development. The novel is plot driven, yet central plot points are rushed and undeveloped. The story unfolds in a non-linear manner, jumping abruptly forwards, sideways and backwards, but was done in a style that felt like an incohesive tangle of short vignettes. It comes across like writing geared towards a juvenile target audience, but with nonessential adult sexual situations randomly thrown in, as if to remind the reader that this book is for grown-ups.
The author had a brilliant idea and fascinating subject matter, but the writing style killed it all for me. Sadly deciding to DNF this one at 50%.
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First Sentence: When Sara Hill’s body washed up on shore, the police concluded—logically, given the lack of injuries—that she must have accidentally fallen overboard and drowned.
Between the blurbs and the eye-catching cover, the publisher did a phenomenal effort with this novel. Few synopses have grabbed my attention and set off my "definitely want to read this" bells as much as this one. It has all the wonderful, fantastical things:
An epic novel of magic and mysticism, Celts and faeries, mad kings and druids, and the goddess struggling to reign over magic’s last outpost on the Earth.
Unfortunately, it all fell apart in execution. There was an overabundance of characters, yet a dearth of character development. The novel is plot driven, yet central plot points are rushed and undeveloped. The story unfolds in a non-linear manner, jumping abruptly forwards, sideways and backwards, but was done in a style that felt like an incohesive tangle of short vignettes. It comes across like writing geared towards a juvenile target audience, but with nonessential adult sexual situations randomly thrown in, as if to remind the reader that this book is for grown-ups.
The author had a brilliant idea and fascinating subject matter, but the writing style killed it all for me. Sadly deciding to DNF this one at 50%.
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First Sentence: When Sara Hill’s body washed up on shore, the police concluded—logically, given the lack of injuries—that she must have accidentally fallen overboard and drowned.