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A review by speakingskies
The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley
3.0
This is a book with a mystery at it's very core.
Our protagonist, Joe, doesn't even know who he is, so how can we? It's a shame that, despite some attempts to cast doubt on the situation, that the answer becomes blindingly obvious fairly quickly into the book, and we spend most of our time waiting for Joe to catch up.
The first quarter or so of The Kingdoms is beautiful: mysterious and atmospheric and unsettling, as amnesiac Joe settles into what he is told is his life, but which he remembers nothing of. The scenes in the lighthouse are marvellous, and I would have loved to have seen more of the locals.
Pulley is wonderful at atmospheres and building tension, but now having read three of her books I'm unconvinced about her touch with characters. The Kingdoms is part mystery, part exploration of the butterfly effect, and part naval adventure story. This is something that, on paper, is entirely up my street, but something about the characters just fell flat for me. Joe is faint, confused, which makes sense given his situation, but the attempts to make our other MC a complex, interesting, conflicted character came off, to me, as making him seem merely inconsistent. There is a great love story at the heart of this book, but it didn't grab me by the shoulders and graft itself into my soul, the way I feel it should have done.
I did enjoy The Kingdoms: I loved the time travel aspects and the adventure side of things, but I'm afraid the characters just fell a bit flat for me, and the mystery was too obvious too early for it to keep me guessing.
Our protagonist, Joe, doesn't even know who he is, so how can we? It's a shame that, despite some attempts to cast doubt on the situation, that the answer becomes blindingly obvious fairly quickly into the book, and we spend most of our time waiting for Joe to catch up.
The first quarter or so of The Kingdoms is beautiful: mysterious and atmospheric and unsettling, as amnesiac Joe settles into what he is told is his life, but which he remembers nothing of. The scenes in the lighthouse are marvellous, and I would have loved to have seen more of the locals.
Pulley is wonderful at atmospheres and building tension, but now having read three of her books I'm unconvinced about her touch with characters. The Kingdoms is part mystery, part exploration of the butterfly effect, and part naval adventure story. This is something that, on paper, is entirely up my street, but something about the characters just fell flat for me. Joe is faint, confused, which makes sense given his situation, but the attempts to make our other MC a complex, interesting, conflicted character came off, to me, as making him seem merely inconsistent. There is a great love story at the heart of this book, but it didn't grab me by the shoulders and graft itself into my soul, the way I feel it should have done.
I did enjoy The Kingdoms: I loved the time travel aspects and the adventure side of things, but I'm afraid the characters just fell a bit flat for me, and the mystery was too obvious too early for it to keep me guessing.