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A review by blandrea_reads
The Dangerous Kingdom of Love by Neil Blackmore
5.0
Ok so I was going to try for a coherent review, but honestly.... I'm neither erudite nor eloquent, so what you get are raw emotions....
I am bad at identifying unreliable narrators and everytime I got into a book I think "yup, I'm being extra vigilant this time" and then this book comes along and just SLAPS me in the face at like 90%.
So the book that I THOUGHT I was reading for 90% of the book turns out to be totally different from the book at the end. I thought I was reading a slightly toungue in cheek schemy historical rompy kind of book told by a self effacing man who had had a bit of a tough go of it, and really should get more recognition and love. Basically, I put on my "historical drama ethics" goggles and just took him at his word. And then, and THEN we hit the last chapter, and we hear most of the book replayed through another characters perspective and it just flips the entire narrative!
So while I thought I was reading a light hearted schemy story with a touch of romance was ACTUALLY the story of a man who talked about himself as an outsider, but was very much in a position of power, who used people in his schemes with very little regard for any impact on them (occasionally even going so far as to feel like he is benefiting them by including them in the scheme), and was just oblivious to anyone's experience but his own. So I has my "historical drama ethics" goggles knocked off and realised I'd just read a book about a person who did horrible things to other people for his own benefit, and then seemed absolutely dumb founded when they were upset about it.
So just, wow. The craft to construct a story that just blindsided me so effectively, that takes me through a narrative leading me in one direction before flipping the script. It's just brilliant.
It's been 3 months since I finished and I'm still a bit flabbergasted.
Bravo, Neil Blackmore! This is brilliant!
I am bad at identifying unreliable narrators and everytime I got into a book I think "yup, I'm being extra vigilant this time" and then this book comes along and just SLAPS me in the face at like 90%.
So the book that I THOUGHT I was reading for 90% of the book turns out to be totally different from the book at the end. I thought I was reading a slightly toungue in cheek schemy historical rompy kind of book told by a self effacing man who had had a bit of a tough go of it, and really should get more recognition and love. Basically, I put on my "historical drama ethics" goggles and just took him at his word. And then, and THEN we hit the last chapter, and we hear most of the book replayed through another characters perspective and it just flips the entire narrative!
So while I thought I was reading a light hearted schemy story with a touch of romance was ACTUALLY the story of a man who talked about himself as an outsider, but was very much in a position of power, who used people in his schemes with very little regard for any impact on them (occasionally even going so far as to feel like he is benefiting them by including them in the scheme), and was just oblivious to anyone's experience but his own. So I has my "historical drama ethics" goggles knocked off and realised I'd just read a book about a person who did horrible things to other people for his own benefit, and then seemed absolutely dumb founded when they were upset about it.
So just, wow. The craft to construct a story that just blindsided me so effectively, that takes me through a narrative leading me in one direction before flipping the script. It's just brilliant.
It's been 3 months since I finished and I'm still a bit flabbergasted.
Bravo, Neil Blackmore! This is brilliant!