Recent reading
Sep. 30th, 2023 08:45 pmWhen the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb (2022)
For book club. This was lovely! I am surely not the first one to say this, but it's kind of like a cross between Good Omens and The Golem and the Jinni. Which is perhaps not fair, because the book is its own thing too, and the relationship between the angel and the demon is complicated and satisfying. I enjoyed the writing style—there’s a touch of old-fashioned style with an omniscient POV, but there's also a simplicity to it. I did think the f/f love story was a bit rushed--I think either the kiss should have been skipped and left as potential for the future, or built up to more.
The New Road by Neil Munro (1924)
This is an adventure and mystery set during the building of the military roads in the Highlands in the 1720-30s. I was thrilled to see a cameo by Captain Edward Burt, whose Letters from the North of Scotland Munro had undoubtedly read as research. I found this book interesting and enjoyable, but I didn't love it. I thought it made it easy for itself by making Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, the center of all the Jacobite plotting and resistance against the encroachment of the road and all it entailed--of course he's a man easily painted as a villain. And then there's the main character’s merchant uncle, who basically goes ‘I'm going to crush Highland society with CAPITALISM’, which I cannot find sympathetic. But there's a lot to enjoy about the book, and I liked the interaction of the two main characters, though they don't hold a candle to Alan and Davie in Kidnapped (to which, as![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
regshoe says, the plot bears some significant resemblance).
For book club. This was lovely! I am surely not the first one to say this, but it's kind of like a cross between Good Omens and The Golem and the Jinni. Which is perhaps not fair, because the book is its own thing too, and the relationship between the angel and the demon is complicated and satisfying. I enjoyed the writing style—there’s a touch of old-fashioned style with an omniscient POV, but there's also a simplicity to it. I did think the f/f love story was a bit rushed--I think either the kiss should have been skipped and left as potential for the future, or built up to more.
The New Road by Neil Munro (1924)
This is an adventure and mystery set during the building of the military roads in the Highlands in the 1720-30s. I was thrilled to see a cameo by Captain Edward Burt, whose Letters from the North of Scotland Munro had undoubtedly read as research. I found this book interesting and enjoyable, but I didn't love it. I thought it made it easy for itself by making Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, the center of all the Jacobite plotting and resistance against the encroachment of the road and all it entailed--of course he's a man easily painted as a villain. And then there's the main character’s merchant uncle, who basically goes ‘I'm going to crush Highland society with CAPITALISM’, which I cannot find sympathetic. But there's a lot to enjoy about the book, and I liked the interaction of the two main characters, though they don't hold a candle to Alan and Davie in Kidnapped (to which, as
regshoe says, the plot bears some significant resemblance).
