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A review by cloudwriter
Down Station by Simon Morden
3.0
The blurb is misleading. I quote amazon.de: "None of them have returned. Except one - who travels between the two worlds at will. The group begin a quest to find this one survivor; the one who holds the key to their return and to the safety of London.
And as they travel this world, meeting mythical and legendary creatures,split between North and South by a mighty river and bordered by The White City and The Crystal Palace they realise they are in a world defined by all the London's there have ever been."
Neither have I encountered that traveller (unless he's Crows, but he was never called that), nor the Crystal Palace. The White City is their destination at the very end of the book. So I didn't quite get what was advertised. That mysterious traveller sold the book to me - and he never turned up. I feel a little cheated. Also, by the end it becomes clear that the blurb must cover more than one book. It would have been nice to know that there will be (?) a sequel.
As for the characters, I really liked them. They are Morden's great strength. Mary grew on me as she grew herself; Dalip's journey, too, is remarkable. Stanislav, the bad Eatern European is a bit of a cliché, though.
The writing oscillates between truly brilliant narrative feats which I've highlighted and commented on to learn from in my own writing, and passages that felt as if the author had forgotten one or two sentences. And I went back to reread the passage in question once and even twice, but the missing sentence(s) - at first apparently my own fault - failed to turn up. Just like the traveller.
I really liked the magic in the world of Down. It has so much potential; for that alone I might buy the sequel, if there is one.
And as they travel this world, meeting mythical and legendary creatures,split between North and South by a mighty river and bordered by The White City and The Crystal Palace they realise they are in a world defined by all the London's there have ever been."
Neither have I encountered that traveller (unless he's Crows, but he was never called that), nor the Crystal Palace. The White City is their destination at the very end of the book. So I didn't quite get what was advertised. That mysterious traveller sold the book to me - and he never turned up. I feel a little cheated. Also, by the end it becomes clear that the blurb must cover more than one book. It would have been nice to know that there will be (?) a sequel.
As for the characters, I really liked them. They are Morden's great strength. Mary grew on me as she grew herself; Dalip's journey, too, is remarkable. Stanislav, the bad Eatern European is a bit of a cliché, though.
The writing oscillates between truly brilliant narrative feats which I've highlighted and commented on to learn from in my own writing, and passages that felt as if the author had forgotten one or two sentences. And I went back to reread the passage in question once and even twice, but the missing sentence(s) - at first apparently my own fault - failed to turn up. Just like the traveller.
I really liked the magic in the world of Down. It has so much potential; for that alone I might buy the sequel, if there is one.