dangerousbeans 's review for:

The Owl Service by Alan Garner

3.25

emotional mysterious

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I was recommended this book by someone who described it as “a retelling of Blodeuwedd, Llew, and Gronw”, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t been told that. I went into it with the expectation that it would turn into some epic story of love and jealously and betrayal, and so I was always waiting for the story to begin, even when I was 10 minutes from the end! I’m not sure if that’s why the plot felt weirdly paced or if it actually was weirdly paced, but either way, I think it could have been done a bit better. The writing wasn’t bad, if a little archaic, and the plot was simple but decent (although I think it had a lot more potential that wasn’t explored — and I detested Roger, which felt a bit disappointing, since he was one third of the protagonists; he could have had more depth), but I would describe it more as a sort of “Blodeuwedd’s curse” type story than a retelling or a “cyclical replay”. Alison felt much more like a plot device than a character, and a lot of plot threads that could have been interesting were left strangely unexplored (Alison’s mother? Gwyn’s father? Why is Roger such an arsehole?). I did enjoy the musings on classism and Welsh xenophobia, though. The moment where

Gwyn reads the tag on the supposedly “Celtic” present from Alison and it says “Made in England”

will stick with me for a while.