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Trish's Reviews > The Camelot Shadow
The Camelot Shadow (Camelot Shadow, #1)
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A book with the word "Camelot" in its' title and a promising quest according to the summary? I'm in!
However, the book turned out to be quite different from what I had expected.
...
Let me begin my review by saying how much I liked the book's "tone" by which I mean the author's ability to match what I consider to be very authentic dialogues and descriptions of Victorian England. This made it very easy for me to slip back into the story in no time (even while surrounded by yelling people on the train), with vivid images of the characters' surroundings and encounters. This is a huge plus because it made me feel extremely comfortable, especially whenever Alfred's library was described. :-D
But it wasn't just England (London in particular) that was described wonderfully; the same can be said for Lucca (which really is a wonderful city).
Moreover, the fact that people's gut feelings turned out to be wrong quite often, was very funny to me. I don't know if it was intentional (Sean?) or not, but it made certain happenings more believable (I often find a string of "lucky right guesses" too unrealistic and annoying).
However, there are several reasons why I "only" gave 3 stars:
1. The book often has lenghty passages. While I wouldn't mind in general, also because the protagonists aren't the youngest anymore so IronMan-ish action would be unrealistic, it was a bit too slow for me.
2. I didn't actually care who would succeed in the end. Now, this might be attributable to the fact that, for some reason, I couldn't actually root with anyone other than a certain green-cloaked, grumpy man (and why I kind of liked him I'll probably never know). The only thing I did care about was (view spoiler)
3. (view spoiler)
Unfortunately, that did it for me. I just couldn't reconcile the clash of all these elements.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy the book, thanks also to some funny discussions amongst the characters or their clumsy-but-kind-of-adorable ways. So it's 3 stars from me.
However, the book turned out to be quite different from what I had expected.
...
Let me begin my review by saying how much I liked the book's "tone" by which I mean the author's ability to match what I consider to be very authentic dialogues and descriptions of Victorian England. This made it very easy for me to slip back into the story in no time (even while surrounded by yelling people on the train), with vivid images of the characters' surroundings and encounters. This is a huge plus because it made me feel extremely comfortable, especially whenever Alfred's library was described. :-D
But it wasn't just England (London in particular) that was described wonderfully; the same can be said for Lucca (which really is a wonderful city).
Moreover, the fact that people's gut feelings turned out to be wrong quite often, was very funny to me. I don't know if it was intentional (Sean?) or not, but it made certain happenings more believable (I often find a string of "lucky right guesses" too unrealistic and annoying).
However, there are several reasons why I "only" gave 3 stars:
1. The book often has lenghty passages. While I wouldn't mind in general, also because the protagonists aren't the youngest anymore so IronMan-ish action would be unrealistic, it was a bit too slow for me.
2. I didn't actually care who would succeed in the end. Now, this might be attributable to the fact that, for some reason, I couldn't actually root with anyone other than a certain green-cloaked, grumpy man (and why I kind of liked him I'll probably never know). The only thing I did care about was (view spoiler)
3. (view spoiler)
Unfortunately, that did it for me. I just couldn't reconcile the clash of all these elements.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy the book, thanks also to some funny discussions amongst the characters or their clumsy-but-kind-of-adorable ways. So it's 3 stars from me.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
April 15, 2015
–
Started Reading
June 30, 2015
–
Finished Reading
September 22, 2024
– Shelved
Comments Showing 1-2 of 2 (2 new)
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Miriam wrote: "It always strikes me as unrealistic how practically always fictional people guess rightly no matter how little they have to go on. I guess authors do this to make their jobs easier or save the reader from down time."Yup. It was refreshing that Sean didn't do the same thing.
Miriam wrote: "(In one of Barbara Hambly's novels the characters traverse the entire continent not once but twice because they misread the clues about the bad guy's location.)"
*lol* That is funny as hell.
Yeah, I liked that they kept deducing things wrongly. It always strikes me as unrealistic how practically always fictional people guess rightly no matter how little they have to go on. I guess authors do this to make their jobs easier or save the reader from down time.
(In one of Barbara Hambly's novels the characters traverse the entire continent not once but twice because they misread the clues about the bad guy's location.)