A review by moris_deri
The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews
4.0
5* for the beautiful prose, 3* for the diegesis.
What’s unusual, hence implausible, about the story is that the MC did not immediately seek the service of a minister once he saw what/who had overtaken Esther. Notwithstanding his inconstant atheism, or his judgement that the presence of evil does not necessarily automate the good. In fact, he was quite prepared to abandon Esther to her own device, albeit locked up, to see that the Moore girl was fairly disposed by way of the law.
And poor little Henry too, scared of Esther and the house yet forsaken all the same. The church in which he was supposed to be hiding? How is it that Thomas, who suggested that they hid there, would seem unfamiliar with the layout when he came looking for the boy? This does not add up.
At the end of the novel, I felt that the overall plot was somewhat flat. There were many places where a potential for a big crisis could develop, but somehow left underexplored, thus rendering me blue-balled. For example, the demon was strangely impotent, only capable of whispering lies and prophetic tales. No genuine clashing between religion and evil as a narrative exploit was truly conceived, although signs of that were peppered throughout the account. The concluding chapters, while atmospheric, failed to deliver fright nor anxiety because it was a tad too unbelievable – not the leviathan itself, but the man’s struggle against the forces of nature in addition to demonic powers to save his sister, the boy, and himself.
I don’t think I will read this book again, but I have tabbed it up because of the poetic writing.
What’s unusual, hence implausible, about the story is that the MC did not immediately seek the service of a minister once he saw what/who had overtaken Esther. Notwithstanding his inconstant atheism, or his judgement that the presence of evil does not necessarily automate the good. In fact, he was quite prepared to abandon Esther to her own device, albeit locked up, to see that the Moore girl was fairly disposed by way of the law.
And poor little Henry too, scared of Esther and the house yet forsaken all the same. The church in which he was supposed to be hiding? How is it that Thomas, who suggested that they hid there, would seem unfamiliar with the layout when he came looking for the boy? This does not add up.
At the end of the novel, I felt that the overall plot was somewhat flat. There were many places where a potential for a big crisis could develop, but somehow left underexplored, thus rendering me blue-balled. For example, the demon was strangely impotent, only capable of whispering lies and prophetic tales. No genuine clashing between religion and evil as a narrative exploit was truly conceived, although signs of that were peppered throughout the account. The concluding chapters, while atmospheric, failed to deliver fright nor anxiety because it was a tad too unbelievable – not the leviathan itself, but the man’s struggle against the forces of nature in addition to demonic powers to save his sister, the boy, and himself.
I don’t think I will read this book again, but I have tabbed it up because of the poetic writing.