swordsncarrots 's review for:

The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs

3.0

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I really wanted more from this book, because there was a lot of potential. The descriptive writing, for one, is EXCELLENT. John Bellairs does an amazing job with setting tone and building a growing sense of unease and tension. The chapter in the fake Five Dials was great. The beginning with Prospero, his mirror, and the building creepiness is great. This is definitely some of the best descriptive prose I've ever seen. The narrative and characters, as is with most high fantasy, however, is where the novel is weak. Prospero and Roger Bacon are enjoyable enough—I kept imagining them as Gandalf and Bilbo in my head—but I felt like I still knew very little about them by the end of the book. This is a story of comings and goings and getting from point A to point B that doesn't ruminate on thoughts or motivations. Side characters briefly pop in here and there and just when you become interested in someone quirky, he disappears. And yes, "he"—women are noticeably and almost entirely absent from the narrative, almost eerily so, even for a book that was written in the 60s. It was a fun little read, and maybe the only high fantasy novel I've ever read that desperately needed to be longer in order to achieve a greater sense of depth.