James Barlow (1) (1921–1973)

It took me a long time to finish this one.

The characters and the plot were interesting enough, but the broken up structure and the sort of detached writing style made it hard to engage with either the plot or the characters. In some ways, it felt like plot and intrigue were prioritized to such an extent--over character, style, and writing--that the characters were little better than place-holders, as if the writer would have preferred telling the book as a sort of quick history of events instead.

All told, there's not much chance I'd consider giving the writer another try, and I wouldn't recommend this book. There were moments where I grew really interested by way of a character and their story, but then the book would skitter away from them for seventy pages, so that they were barely remembered once it came back to them, and that made the read more frustrating than anything. Honestly, I'm not really sure why I finished it, which I suppose says everything that needs to be said.… (meer)