A review by anneklein
The Bellwether Revivals by Renaud Morin, Benjamin Wood

3.0

This was entertaining, but not outstanding. The concept was brilliant and the setting richly built, and I thought a good balance between poetic, descriptive language and accessible prose was achieved successfully. However, as others have pointed out, what weakened the book were the characters. They felt like archetypal ghosts. Sometimes there would be certain moments or scenes where one would glimpse a bit of true personality, but most of the time it was a sketch of what these characters could be. I, as a reader, had to imagine and supply way too much detail for it to feel like these characters were well built from the start.
In addition, the pace didn’t quite pick up until the end, and by then it was too late and all the plot got crammed into very few pages. It’s a book that could have done with the shedding of at least a hundred pages.
If you’re intrigued by the concept, I would give it a try, but if you’re a character-driven reader I suggest you do not pick up The Bellwether Revivals.