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A review by danoreading
The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith
3.0
2.5 stars. Well. First off, I did enjoy the reading experience. Glenister continues to read the heck out of these books, and it's a genuine pleasure to listen to all these familiar characters solve crimes and eat chips.
Second, JKR obviously has some THOUGHTS about Twitter. Look, Twitter is awful and I know she gets a lot of very awful comments and threats that no one should get. But unlike the murder victim in this book, JKR continues to fan the flames of her own hate brigade by a) continuing to be on Twitter and b) posting heinous things about marginalized communities. So her big statements about Twitter/hateful fans/fandom in general don't land here, not a bit. It's honestly hard to tell when she's being earnest and when she may be trying to be satirical (?) because you think surely no one is this oblivious.
Third, this book is epically long and feels it, unlike her previous Strike novels which were long but in a languid, enjoyable way, whereas this one is a slog. Kind of like this review.
Fourth, this book is ableist AF, and I again honestly can't tell if JKR knows or cares.
I do try to separate the author from the work as I've read many wonderful books by some truly garbage humans (and by some very nice humans with repugnant beliefs), but JKR's descent into whatever it is she's doing has been a very distressing disappointment. I regret that she is unable to see the harm she puts out in the world through her real life actions and I also now regret that she seems to be unable to keep that harm out of her fiction as well.
Second, JKR obviously has some THOUGHTS about Twitter. Look, Twitter is awful and I know she gets a lot of very awful comments and threats that no one should get. But unlike the murder victim in this book, JKR continues to fan the flames of her own hate brigade by a) continuing to be on Twitter and b) posting heinous things about marginalized communities. So her big statements about Twitter/hateful fans/fandom in general don't land here, not a bit. It's honestly hard to tell when she's being earnest and when she may be trying to be satirical (?) because you think surely no one is this oblivious.
Third, this book is epically long and feels it, unlike her previous Strike novels which were long but in a languid, enjoyable way, whereas this one is a slog. Kind of like this review.
Fourth, this book is ableist AF, and I again honestly can't tell if JKR knows or cares.
I do try to separate the author from the work as I've read many wonderful books by some truly garbage humans (and by some very nice humans with repugnant beliefs), but JKR's descent into whatever it is she's doing has been a very distressing disappointment. I regret that she is unable to see the harm she puts out in the world through her real life actions and I also now regret that she seems to be unable to keep that harm out of her fiction as well.