Wednesday 14 November 2012

FICTION REVIEW: The Casual Vacancy - JK Rowling

Release Date: 27/09/12

SYNOPSIS:

'Don't look back. It wants you to look back.' London's soul has gone missing. Lost? Kidnapped? Murdered? Nobody knows - but when Sharon Li unexpectedly discovers she's a shaman, she is immediately called upon to use her newfound powers of oneness with the City to rescue it from a slow but inevitable demise. The problem is, while everyone expects Sharon to have all the answers - from the Midnight Mayor to Sharon's magically-challenged self-help group - she doesn't have a clue where to start. But with London's soul missing and the Gate open, there are creatures loose that won't wait for her to catch up before they go hunting. STRAY SOULS is the first novel in the Magicals Anonymous series, set in the same fantastical London as the Matthew Swift novels.


REVIEW:

Its always going to be hard to follow a hugely successful series and to be honest I wouldn’t have been surprised had JK not picked up the pen again, yet she has done and it was always going to be a struggle to present something different to readers expecting something similar.

Whilst this book does bring the Rowling abilities to the fore, it was a book that due to its rapid change of direction was going to upset quite a few readers. It does have an interesting premise, it is solidly written but when you compare it against what has gone before you’re going to be disappointed. That’s not to say that it isn’t well written or that it hasn’t got its own arc that has the ability to thrill but for me, Harry Potter was Rowling’s Hancock’s Blood Donor Sketch.

All in its acceptable but nothing more than that.



1 comment:

Susan Mann said...

Interesting and honest review. I'm just not sure this book is my cup of tea. x