The Darkest Part of the Woods

Now, I love me a good slow, wordy book. I'm thoroughly enjoying Moby Dick, and I loved The Terror. And I had a hard time debating on a rating for this book. But I had to go with two stars, even though I didn't hate it. It was all right. But the creepy description is basically a one-trick pony. By which I mean that, at least in this novel, Campbell builds suspense by using the same descriptors for the same things numerous times, and he makes phrases and clauses needlessly awkward and difficult to interpret. It might be a writing quirk, but an editor should look out for it.

As for the characters, they're fine. I think Sam was almost the best-rendered of any of them.

I found some of the action dissatisfying, however. Almost anti-climactic in the end, which is a pity, because there was a lot of potential, and I love the scenes where Sam and Sylvia are going into the cavern of Selcouth. I just wish more of the book could have been like that.