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A review by luckbe
The Barrow by Mark Smylie
2.0
I wanted to like this book. I really, really wanted to. I loved that it was sexy, and dark, and gritty, and brutal, and terrible. It was like a filthy trip into the dark parts of the human mind, and I was eager to see where it would go, and what would happen when it got there.
Unfortunately, it failed to live up to its promise. The plot was inconsistent, and it left the book feeling like two halves of a whole that just didn't quite fit together in the middle. The first half is a dark, erotic adventure novel. The second half is just dark, not erotic, and ends in an orgy of horror that seems to serve no actual purpose except to be edgy and brutal. The middle of the book is too much description about every last detail of every person's clothing and not enough of anything else (I don't need to know all about every person's buttons. I don't. I love costumes but this was too much.) Some people die, and eventually the story moves forward, but a lot of other stuff happens that doesn't further the plot and just creates loose ends that are never followed up on.
I originally picked this book up at the library and returned it before finishing it. Later, I special ordered it at the bookstore because I moved and the new library didn't have it. I wish I'd never ordered it, not because I hated it, but because the half of the book that I read before was so much better than the book as a whole. That said, I still love Stjepan, and I may yet read a sequel now that Mark Smylie has had some time to mature as an author.
Unfortunately, it failed to live up to its promise. The plot was inconsistent, and it left the book feeling like two halves of a whole that just didn't quite fit together in the middle. The first half is a dark, erotic adventure novel. The second half is just dark, not erotic, and ends in an orgy of horror that seems to serve no actual purpose except to be edgy and brutal. The middle of the book is too much description about every last detail of every person's clothing and not enough of anything else (I don't need to know all about every person's buttons. I don't. I love costumes but this was too much.) Some people die, and eventually the story moves forward, but a lot of other stuff happens that doesn't further the plot and just creates loose ends that are never followed up on.
Spoiler
Because all of those characters die.I originally picked this book up at the library and returned it before finishing it. Later, I special ordered it at the bookstore because I moved and the new library didn't have it. I wish I'd never ordered it, not because I hated it, but because the half of the book that I read before was so much better than the book as a whole. That said, I still love Stjepan, and I may yet read a sequel now that Mark Smylie has had some time to mature as an author.