Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North

1 review

aardwyrm's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A lot of the prose is very evocative and the worldbuilding is lovely both in the fantastical and sociopolitical realms. That gets the book a pass. But it's a complete failure in terms of both plot and character. The story lurches along at an erratic, stuttering pace, with things happening more or less at random. The main character is a blank space, the  J. Alfred Prufrock of the apocalypse. I am not a purist when it comes to reactive protagonists; sometimes that's the story you're telling. But Ven doesn't seek or react, doesn't seem to want or believe anything. It preserves a sort of artificial suspense, since his absolute lack of a character means anything he does (to serve whatever the plot needs next, with no other apparent motives) is unpredictable. George (sp? I had an audiobook) is almost interesting as an antagonist sometimes, but the story seems convinced he is a supernaturally charismatic mastermind and not a creepy little libertarian dudebro. The great secret reveals all fall flat because the characters are all cardboard cutouts being marched along zigzagging little tracks. (Also, Ven and George's only actual interests seem to be in each other, and the most natural read of the book is about two ineffective philosophy majors who have the hots for each other and do a war about it.)

There's a tradition of apocalyptic novels in particular that are all about ideas. This is not something to strive for, but fine. (There is also a tradition of litfic writers deciding to tackle spec fic stories and doing it with amateurish foolishness.) But as a novel of ideas, it fails, too. The good side asks nothing of people but that they live comfortable middle class lives with some roommates and a largely vegetarian diet. The bad side cackles and makes speeches about how they want to destroy all of nature because their dad was a bad parent. I am barely paraphrasing. If you want a war of philosophies, a villain who seems to know he is a satire of alt right wannabe demagogues isn't exactly a bold statement. Nothing bold or interesting ever happens with the questions of gender, society, religion, and roles within it; it's all just sorta thrown at the wall.
And the conclusion "this character is complex because they did a war crime and are sad about it" never really works, does it? Certainly not twice.


There's a good book in here, I think. A complete rewrite to focus on the world (multiple POVs would be good here) and a ruthless editor to take out all the badly written extended action scenes that go nowhere and the pointless tense changes would do it.
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