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callienicole 's review for:
The Clockmaker's Daughter
by Kate Morton
1.5/5 stars.
This was far from my favorite Kate Morton book, let's just say that.
From a plot standpoint, in the other books I've read from her there is usually some sort of mystery with a surprising twist at the end. There was really no twist to this book, except maybe how some of the (many) characters were related to each other. And there were too many characters for me to really be invested in how any of their stories turned out.
Language and sexual content were about on par with her other books - a couple of cuss words, and one brief not-too-explicit description of two characters sleeping together.
The one thing that actually made me uncomfortable was the thread of occultism throughout the book. One of the narrators is actually a ghost, who can sometimes interact with people who visit the house she is in. There are mentions of mediums, talismans, ouija boards, and occult books, including one old-English book on demonology. One character has an interaction with some sort of evil spirit in the woods and escapes to this house with a protecting "presence".
As a Christian, I actually take spiritual elements like this very seriously, because I don't think in real life these kind of spiritual interactions are the result of imagination, and they aren't innocent. I think getting involved with this kind of thing can open up a person to demonic activity, which is very serious from a spiritual standpoint. Because of that, I do not feel I could recommend a book that has occult elements like this tied into it, especially since the way it is done in the book is rather intriguing. I think some people are more susceptible to wanting to look into this kind of thing in real life, and I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending this for fear it may cause someone to be interested in New Age/occult topics. I hope this isn't a direction Morton will continue to take with her future books.
It gets the two stars because the writing was so good, but it's not a book I would recommend without a lot of care and a HUGE disclaimer because of the spiritual elements to the story.
This was far from my favorite Kate Morton book, let's just say that.
From a plot standpoint, in the other books I've read from her there is usually some sort of mystery with a surprising twist at the end. There was really no twist to this book, except maybe how some of the (many) characters were related to each other. And there were too many characters for me to really be invested in how any of their stories turned out.
Language and sexual content were about on par with her other books - a couple of cuss words, and one brief not-too-explicit description of two characters sleeping together.
The one thing that actually made me uncomfortable was the thread of occultism throughout the book. One of the narrators is actually a ghost, who can sometimes interact with people who visit the house she is in. There are mentions of mediums, talismans, ouija boards, and occult books, including one old-English book on demonology. One character has an interaction with some sort of evil spirit in the woods and escapes to this house with a protecting "presence".
As a Christian, I actually take spiritual elements like this very seriously, because I don't think in real life these kind of spiritual interactions are the result of imagination, and they aren't innocent. I think getting involved with this kind of thing can open up a person to demonic activity, which is very serious from a spiritual standpoint. Because of that, I do not feel I could recommend a book that has occult elements like this tied into it, especially since the way it is done in the book is rather intriguing. I think some people are more susceptible to wanting to look into this kind of thing in real life, and I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending this for fear it may cause someone to be interested in New Age/occult topics. I hope this isn't a direction Morton will continue to take with her future books.
It gets the two stars because the writing was so good, but it's not a book I would recommend without a lot of care and a HUGE disclaimer because of the spiritual elements to the story.