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bdhoffmeister 's review for:
A Passage to Shambhala
by Jon Baird
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. On its face, it's completely in my wheelhouse: Globetrotting adventure, mysterious supernatural phenomena, well-thought-out aesthetics. But ultimately, my third star is just for the latter, because the story didn't deliver on its promise.
Indeed, this book gets major style points for its faux-worn pages, mannered prose style reminiscent of 19th- and early 20th-century authors like, say, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the quite often beautifully illustrated graphic novel segments. But it was those things that kept me interested more than what happened to the characters, because despite this book being a bit of a doorstopper at 750+ pages, it never conveyed exactly why anyone was doing anything they were doing until far too late, and at that point, the stakes weren't high enough for the payoff to be worth it. It was a whole lot of worldbuilding, which I loved, but can only go so far without being in the service of an engaging story or characters. And the style itself, while appealing to me, may not be to readers looking for a more modern, straightforward mode of storytelling.
At the end, we are promised a Volume 2, but I wouldn't be surprised if we never see one. Despite Kevin Costner and company apparently having a master plan for a whole multimedia "Explorers Guild" platform, with books, movies, TV shows, and whatnot, after reading Volume 1, it's not surprising why this book didn't exactly set the world on fire.
Indeed, this book gets major style points for its faux-worn pages, mannered prose style reminiscent of 19th- and early 20th-century authors like, say, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the quite often beautifully illustrated graphic novel segments. But it was those things that kept me interested more than what happened to the characters, because despite this book being a bit of a doorstopper at 750+ pages, it never conveyed exactly why anyone was doing anything they were doing until far too late, and at that point, the stakes weren't high enough for the payoff to be worth it. It was a whole lot of worldbuilding, which I loved, but can only go so far without being in the service of an engaging story or characters. And the style itself, while appealing to me, may not be to readers looking for a more modern, straightforward mode of storytelling.
At the end, we are promised a Volume 2, but I wouldn't be surprised if we never see one. Despite Kevin Costner and company apparently having a master plan for a whole multimedia "Explorers Guild" platform, with books, movies, TV shows, and whatnot, after reading Volume 1, it's not surprising why this book didn't exactly set the world on fire.