Not really to your mother, who is a dear lady, I don’t doubt (and neither does Vanilla Ice). Unless she’d like to read the book of course, in which case they are words to your mother as part of a wider audience… Anyway, I’ve been writing a lot today, dragons and fireballs and old flames, and lots of words have been writ. Good.
Moving right along! Book review time:
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My first Neil Gaiman book (aside from Good Omens with Terry Pratchett) and I wasn’t disappointed. Ever so awesome execution of themes, with the bird thing alone making it worth reading. Liked how gently I was eased into the idea of the main premise. Yeah, there’s a supernatural element, but you’re not smashed over the head with it from page one.
Only thing I didn’t really like was the amount of coincidence. There’s a really cute bit where Gaiman explains the whole world only having a small cast of characters that run into each other no matter how far afield they roam. Nice idea. Not believable. Especially not believable on this scale.
Loved the ending, though I think it helped that I actually had the physical copy of the book in my hands. That way when things wound up so suddenly, I could at least sense the end approaching.
Best bit? I’ve mentioned this in a previous blog post – he makes a simple story and then weaves in an important message, and lifts the stakes extremely high. He is praising the importance of the thinking, compassionate human, over that of the physical, the strong, the violent. Good message for the times, ey?
Best regards,
D.R.Sylvester
D.R.SYLVESTER FICTION 