Dreams & Shadows

I decided my three stars was lenient and made it two stars instead. I wish I could do a half star, but such is life. It was too sophomoric to give three stars.

Very mild spoilers.

Because I liked ‘Sinister' so much, I was pumped about this book. Sadly, my three-star review is probably lenient. It was enjoyable enough, but not great. I liked the interruptions of the ‘scholarly' chapters about the fae, but I'm into that kind of thing. And the book had a strong enough beginning. But it quickly becomes a light, mildly gory novel with fairly trite relationships and events. Even the death of the heroine is something I've seen a million times. If you've seen ‘Dogma' and read Neil or Mieville, you'll probably already be familiar with this stuff. The anti-hero hero, the betrayal of a comrade, the loyal woman–they're all here. The most intriguing plot elements are Ewan's transformation into a specific type of faerie, and the fact that he is constantly Colby's damsel in distress.

So it's mildly entertaining, but not terribly original. Mostly, it reads like how I read when I was in junior high and trying to write like Tamora Pierce or Melanie Rawn. He feels like he's trying to emulate Neil or China Meiville, but without the cleverness of language. And that's a pity, because I was excited about this book, and I still really like ‘Sinister.'

Cargill effortlessly blends mythologies and fairy tales into this dark tale of friendship and destiny. Highly recommended.