and now, a book review

[smg01]

I just finished reading the Secret Country trilogy by Pamela Dean. I'd only learned of the books recently when I was reading through some historical wanks at fandom_wank. The trilogy figures prominently in a Cassandra Clare plagiarism affair. Intrigued, I ordered and read the books.

I'm not sure what to think. It's a really interesting premise: five children playing a fantasy game find themselves in the world and stories that they thought were their own creation. I liked the story quite a bit, but I can't help feeling that it needed a pass from a really strong editor. The author's writing style is a little distracting. Ironically (to me) it has some of the excesses that I'm prone to myself: rambling sentences and comparative descriptions that left me feeling like she was trying too hard. There were a number of times that I had to go back and reread sentences just to parse what she was actually saying. And sometimes the descriptions sounded a bit self-indulgent, like she was a little too pleased to have come up with whatever comparison she was using. Sometimes a really elegant turn of phrase creates just the right mood for the story, or, at least leaves me pleased to read have read the clever wording. Too often, I was pulled out of the story by her turns of phrase. Reading it was actually wound up being an instructive exercise for me in what I like and don't like in writing styles.

All of the above is not to say that I feel like I wasted my time in reading the books. It is a good story and I was happy to keep reading to find out how it would all turn out. I just feel like it just missed being as good as it could have been. And that's a little disappointing. I'd give it two and a half or three out of five stars.

Comments

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

I liked the first book, despite the quibbles you list above (which also bugged me a little, but whatever). Mostly, I just really loved the premise. Kids Discover Their Play World Is Real was something that I'd always wanted to write, but never felt equal to, so it was cool to see Dean pull it off. The second book just went to a weird place for me, though, and I just felt like I wasn't completely getting it, or something. Maybe it's just because the POV characters are always so out of their depth, but I felt like Dean was saying something that I wasn't hearing. I can't express it any better than that, so hopefully that sort of makes sense. Anyway, I never got the last book, just because I sort of ran out of interest toward the end of the second.

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

No, I know what you mean. I think the third book is fairly decent, but I felt like I should have been more satisfied by the conclusion. And, I kind of felt like she was leading toward some sort of intrinsic connection between the kids and Fence and Randolph, but that never materialized.

It felt like she just missed creating something really, really good. It's always a little disappointing when potential isn't fully realized.