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A review by booklogblog
Ferney by James Long
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
Without getting too spoilery, this is a reincarnation-y, destiny, multiple lives love(?) story set in the Wiltshire countryside. I started reading it as it was on the bookshelf at my Airbnb (not my usual rigorous book-choosing process).
Overall it didn't really work for me. It contains bunches of historical information, a lot of which is genuinely interesting, but unfortunately Long often slips into that voice (you know the one) - where an author has done lots of research and needs to give characters research monologues... It needed an edit.
Also, the story revolves around these people destined to be together in the face of so many struggles and complex situations, but I didn't really care if they ended up together. Why are they so special? In fact, their lives together seemed kind of gloomy and solitary. Just couldn't root for them. I love a well-done romance but I've got to like the couple in some way. (I think Our Flag Means Death might have ruined me for romances for a while tbh.)
Couple of twisty bits near the end were fun! But too little too late to really save it for me. In fact, the tone near the end almost felt more horrorish in terms of the uncanny, odd things happening, kids saying weirddddd stuff - again, this is nonsensical if you haven't read the book, this is just me ranting at this point. It made me think what a weird, fun book this could have been if the core destiny reincarnation concept was kept but it was all made CREEPY.
Also - and the book's from the '90s, so this is probably why - it just felt very heteronormative and, as someone with history degrees, the historian takes were kind of off and old fashioned. But the '90s were thirty years ago now, so. That's time for you
Overall it didn't really work for me. It contains bunches of historical information, a lot of which is genuinely interesting, but unfortunately Long often slips into that voice (you know the one) - where an author has done lots of research and needs to give characters research monologues... It needed an edit.
Also, the story revolves around these people destined to be together in the face of so many struggles and complex situations, but I didn't really care if they ended up together. Why are they so special? In fact, their lives together seemed kind of gloomy and solitary. Just couldn't root for them. I love a well-done romance but I've got to like the couple in some way. (I think Our Flag Means Death might have ruined me for romances for a while tbh.)
Couple of twisty bits near the end were fun! But too little too late to really save it for me. In fact, the tone near the end almost felt more horrorish in terms of the uncanny, odd things happening, kids saying weirddddd stuff - again, this is nonsensical if you haven't read the book, this is just me ranting at this point. It made me think what a weird, fun book this could have been if the core destiny reincarnation concept was kept but it was all made CREEPY.
Also - and the book's from the '90s, so this is probably why - it just felt very heteronormative and, as someone with history degrees, the historian takes were kind of off and old fashioned. But the '90s were thirty years ago now, so. That's time for you