(no subject)

[winterbadger]

Finished one more: Yarrow by Charles de LInt (29). *sigh* There are some things I like about his writing, but... In this one, there are too many characters too clumsily introduced (until I got to the end of the book, I didn't realize that what one of the characters kept referring to was not a generic nickname that I didn't know but his own name). They are badly fleshed-out and without real individuality or character. The underlying concept, the message the story is supposed to be conveying, is handed over to the reader like a poorly-wrapped package in the final pages of the story. All sorts of events and rationales never come close to being explained, as if the writer thought, "Well, I'll go back later and write all the bits that make those part of the fabric of the tale later" and got bored with writing the book or distracted by something shiny before that ever got done. This is one of the first half-dozen books he wrote, and based on this I don't think I'll be looking for any more of his early work.

In Progress

The Battle of Midway by Craig L. Symonds
How Can Man Die Better: The Secrets of Isandhlwana Revealed by Mike Snook
Dunkirk: Retreat to Victory by MG Julian Thompson
Empire of the Mind: A History of Iran by Michael Axworthy
Boer Commando by Denneys Reitz