A review by erintowner
The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley

2.0

I loved the story idea and how the author wrote about long-distance friendships (how it's worth it to put effort into alleviating each other's loneliness). She knows a lot about languages and to a lesser extent, anthropology, which I enjoyed. The dialogue was just very confusing, though, not for a stylistic reason but because I think the author assumed we would be able to infer what was happening in the characters' minds. I, at least, couldn't. I usually hate books that have too much detailed world-building but this story could have benefited from filling in some of the gaps. Magical things seemed to pop up in the middle of the book to explain away plot holes without an explanation for how those magical things got there. It felt like lazy storytelling. Also, I didn't believe the voice of Merrick Tremayne. He was supposed to be a tough ex-Navy smuggler and he seemed incredibly mild-mannered and not used to dealing with criminals at all. The danger of the journey in Peru is highlighted in the beginning of the book and the worst thing that ends up happening to Tremayne is literally getting slapped. Overall, the plot of this book wasn't well thought out.