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contemporarymeepsie 's review for:
Dark Tides
by Philippa Gregory
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Dark Tides is the second in Phillippa Gregory's Foulmire series about a poor family surviving in a world that seems set against them. After the trials of book one, Alinor and Alys are now in London maintaining a small wharf that deals with excess trade that doesn't need to go through the legal docks. After a time jump we see the family still struggling to make ends meet when an Italian stranger claiming to be Rob's widow turns up on their doorstep. What follows is a grand plan that drives the family further in to poverty. Whilst on the other side of the world Ned starts his life anew in the New World of the America's.
I found this book to be very slow. There was a certain point about halfway through where I had a real sunk cost fallacy realisation. I normally give books 50 pages to hook me. The premise was interesting but at 50 pages I wasn't hooked, however I'd enjoyed the first book so much and I knew I liked Gregory's writing style that I had faith it would get better. It continued to be really slow and quite dull and as I said at the halfway point I really had to make a considered decision whether to continue or not. The plot only picked up at around 4/5 of the way through. Which was frustrating. Another frustrating factor for me was that whilst Alinor remained astute in regards to insighting other characters such as Livia, she really didn't play that big of a role in this story. Which is fine, however, Alys who seemed to be more of a main character always annoyed me in the first book because she was abrasive and obtuse. In this book she became a wet lettuce and a bit of a doormat which did not fit her younger character in my head. Ned's story (which had not interested me at all in the first book) was my favourite chapters to read. I pushed through mainly because the third book was called Dawnlands which suggests his story will play a bigger part in the third. Gregory's writing style remained good quality if a little dialogue heavy. Her research in to the time period is outstanding. But I did not like the decisions she made to progress her characters timelines. I'm hoping the third book will pick back up. But if I get to 50 pages and I'm not convinced then I will definitely DNF, almost 500 pages is too many pages for something I didn't fully enjoy. I wouldn't recommend this book. But might reconsider if the third is worth it.
I found this book to be very slow. There was a certain point about halfway through where I had a real sunk cost fallacy realisation. I normally give books 50 pages to hook me. The premise was interesting but at 50 pages I wasn't hooked, however I'd enjoyed the first book so much and I knew I liked Gregory's writing style that I had faith it would get better. It continued to be really slow and quite dull and as I said at the halfway point I really had to make a considered decision whether to continue or not. The plot only picked up at around 4/5 of the way through. Which was frustrating. Another frustrating factor for me was that whilst Alinor remained astute in regards to insighting other characters such as Livia, she really didn't play that big of a role in this story. Which is fine, however, Alys who seemed to be more of a main character always annoyed me in the first book because she was abrasive and obtuse. In this book she became a wet lettuce and a bit of a doormat which did not fit her younger character in my head. Ned's story (which had not interested me at all in the first book) was my favourite chapters to read. I pushed through mainly because the third book was called Dawnlands which suggests his story will play a bigger part in the third. Gregory's writing style remained good quality if a little dialogue heavy. Her research in to the time period is outstanding. But I did not like the decisions she made to progress her characters timelines. I'm hoping the third book will pick back up. But if I get to 50 pages and I'm not convinced then I will definitely DNF, almost 500 pages is too many pages for something I didn't fully enjoy. I wouldn't recommend this book. But might reconsider if the third is worth it.