Friday, October 28, 2016

Flatland

Valley of the Moon by Melanie Gideon
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: I thought the premise of this book was really great, and I wasn't even too put off by the poor plot mechanism (a fog that seems to have a mind of its own in that it comes and goes as needed at exactly such intervals that will create maximum plot tension, really?) that Gideon uses to make it happen.  No, what bothered me about this book is that all the characters seemed completely affectless.  This seems strange to say since many of the characters demonstrate great emotion, from joy to extreme grief, but I never bought it.  Characters appeared grief-stricken over a death of someone who was "like a sister," except that up until that point, I'd thought the characters didn't even like each other that much.  About 25 pages from the end of the book, I was caught up in one character's emotions, but it only lasted for about 3 pages, and then I was back to Flatland again.  For all that, I liked the book, and read on to find out what would happen and how it would all be resolved (out of curiosity, rather than any concern for the characters), but this was not a book that kept me up at night.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

No comments: