Grimoire

Rating:
Summary: Grimoire
Review: Excellent Gothic style novel by a young Aussie writer. Ghosts, the occult, demons it has it all. Set primarily in Melbourne but subplots have us visiting England in the late 1800's. Brilliant array of characters all connected in some way to the "Grimoire". Can't wait for the next novel the resurrectionists.

Rating:
Summary: Might have been 200 pages shorter...
Review: I had very high expectations for this book (mainly because of the raving reviews posted on the Amazon.co.uk), but literally had to force myself finish the book. In a nutshell the plot sounds promising: in 1860s a mysterious murder happens (the victim is Peter Owling - an extravagant and, as we find out later, rather repulsive gentleman), the only witness, presumingly his lover - an angelic youngster Christian drowns himself, all as a result of dabbling with demon summoning. In modern Australia the descendants of Peter's "sponsors", the Humberston clan, put all their efforts to get the grimoire that Peters used, together and summon a demon who'll betray Satan himself into the hands of Humberstons. But three fellow students in Humberstone college - Holly, Pridence and Justin - stumble upon their secrets and get involved into the plot.

The book is long, but incredibly slow-moving. First ca 200 pages we get acquainted with the young trio and they seem to be rather ordinary young adults, with their unshared love, suppressed desires, broken marriage, alcoholic mothers, uncaring parents etc. The tales of them getting drunk and splashing out their adolescent adventures become too repetitive to be exciting. Later on the author probably wants to compensate rather boring beginning and shoves so many deeds upon them, that I think for these two girls and one guy is too much to share. The narration from time to time is diluted by a story of Peter's unsightly deeds told by a ghost - Christian. Only half through the book things finally start to develop, when the grimoire is finally collected and the invocation starts...

The book left me with an impression of insipid try-of-the pen of a young author aiming to capture the minds of young adults with all the possible Gothic novel style tricks. However, due to overabundance of the latter and their misplaced usage, the story turned out to be inflated, the characters - nothing much to root for, even the baddies were unpersuasive and rather stupid. There are many words, but no essence. There was one powerful description - of Satan coming for Peter Owling, but you've probably guessed it can't save a 600+pages book. You can try reading it, but be warned that you'll be flickering through the pages and reading only those parts when something really happens. The editor would have done the author a big favor if asked to reduce the text by 1/3. Between 2 and 3 stars.

Rating:
Summary: This book is the best.
Review: I read this book twice because it was so good. It is a great msytery novel & I would recommend it too anyone interested in msytery novels. There are twists & turns, all unpredictable.
It's one of my favourite books.

Rating:
Summary: This book is the best.
Review: I read this book twice because it was so good. It is a great msytery novel & I would recommend it too anyone interested in msytery novels. There are twists & turns, all unpredictable.
It's one of my favourite books.

Rating:
Summary: Was worth ordering from England.
Review: If you are looking for great new gothic horror, this is it. Order it immediately. Far better than Anne Rice. It is long and sumptuous. If there is a fault, she, too, is over-indulgent with her protagonists, but they are real and engaging, not cartoonish like Lestat. Her other works, The Infernal, and The Resurrectionists, are also great.

Rating:
Summary: My new best friends
Review: The reviewer below has it all wrong. The wonderful thing about this book is precisely all that character building: reading this book is like making 3 new best friends as well as getting lost in a fabulous Gothic tale. And as for the writing, it's so moody and lush. This could have been 200 pages longer and I still would have enjoyed it (wallowed in it, actually)!

Rating:
Summary: My new best friends
Review: The reviewer below has it all wrong. The wonderful thing about this book is precisely all that character building: reading this book is like making 3 new best friends as well as getting lost in a fabulous Gothic tale. And as for the writing, it's so moody and lush. This could have been 200 pages longer and I still would have enjoyed it (wallowed in it, actually)!