Book 1 in the Order of Darkness series
AUTHOR: Philippa Gregory
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical fiction/fantasyish
PREMISE: A boy and a girl go on a quest basically.
MY REVIEW: So this is my first Philippa Gregory book. I know, you all are going "wow, really? I thought you loved historical fiction?" and I do. I know it's ridiculous that I haven't picked up her books until now. It's just that a) I've heard way too many mixed reviews about her ranging from "she's a fantastic writer" to "she's horrible and is innacurate" and b) she writes about the tudors and I'm sorry...I have no interest in the tudors. Unheard of, I know, but so many people focus on that part of England's history that I sort of feel it's kind of overdone in historical fiction. I get it's a important part of history but at the same time...can we do something new? Like say, how about some stuff from World War I? Or the Vietnam war? Hey remember the war of 1812? Or the Great Depression? Heck, I'd even take the American Revolution at this point. I know enough about the Tudors to make my ears bleed. Seriously historical fiction authors, pick a new topic. Not everything is about the Tudors, you know. Where was I? Oh yes, review.
So my first Gregory book and...I have a feeling it may be my last, unless I manage to convince myself to give The Other Boleyn Girl a shot as it's one of "those books" that everyone looks at you like you're extremely out of touch when you say you've never read it (nor have you seen the movie despite loving Natelie Portman). Honestly though I probably won't bother because I had such a hard time getting into this book. Gregory's prose are really bad and her dialogue is godawful. That would be fine except her story is dead boring and not really worth the time it takes to make it through the bad prose. I mean, as a concept, I suppose this was okay. But really from a author who has at least ten or so books under her belt I expect much more then...this. I honestly felt like I was reading a first novel from a brand new author and that's...kind of bad when one considers how long Gregory has been around.
The book isn't horrible or anything...it's just not very great either. And call me nuts but I expect a author who has sold as many books as Gregory has to get what entertainment is. Some writers don't crossover well, and I'm sorry to say I don't think Gregory is really meant to write YA.
WHO SHOULD READ: Philippa Gregory fans, historical fiction fans, readers with lots of patience.
MY RATING: Three out of Five drooping eyelids
No comments:
Post a Comment