Some reviews mean more than others. This one does for several reasons.
Secondly he’s understood exactly what I set out to do when I wrote this story.
And thirdly, he has mentioned me and Tigana in the same review. Oh. My. God.
I spent almost a week inside the first volume of Glenda Larke’s new Stormlord series and I really feel like I’ve visited an arid and frightening and wholly convincing land… and I’ve loved very minute of it.
This is a splendid set up. A large cast is assembled: lords and ladies, peasants, painters, warriors and orphans. We move so easily from one to the next and – unlike in so many unwieldy fantasy novels – we’re never in any doubt who we’re with and why. We always know what’s at stake for the characters and there are – even in 600 pages – no long, dull stretches of exposition. This book keeps moving and tumbling from one fantastic set-piece to another.
I love all the textures and close-up details of this… the vividness of all that red dust, and the deliciousness of the prized drinking water… the evil chittering and buzzing of the deadly insects…
Go on, read the whole thing. Better still, read the whole book. You know you want to.
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Haven't time to read it now, but I will. Of course you got a good review Glenda, what did you expect, it is a brilliant book. Those of us who have read it already know that.
Only one thing, I personally never read reviews when chosing books and I wonder how many people actually do. I basically read the blurb on the inside cover and if I like the sound of it then…..
I wonder, therefore, how many rave reviews are actually taken notice of by the book buying public.
Interesting comment, Jo. I'm an occasional reviewer myself but I never read cover reviews when selecting a book.
I tend to read everything – the cover, the first page, proper reviews, Amazon reviews…
With Amazon reviews, I often read only the bad ones. I reckon a well-written "bad" review says much more about whether I will like it than a gushy good one.