Reviews and Comments

P. E. T. Conroy

petconroy@bookwyrm.social

Joined 11 months, 1 week ago

Perpetual University Student Startup Novelist Lapsed Podcaster Academic Theologian, Historian and Communications LinkTr.ee/PETConroy

This link opens in a pop-up window

Echo (2022, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom) 5 stars

A delightfully painful read: TOH is Stephen King for this generation.

5 stars

I recently read Children of Húrin. A challenging read. Last year I read @Olde_Heuvelt's HEX, that was a difficult read. This, is a painful read, a page-turning fight with every word. You feel every rock & slip on that mountain. WOW. TOH is Stephen King for this generation. ❤️&💔

A Brightness Long Ago (2019, Berkley) 5 stars

International bestselling author Guy Gavriel Kay's latest work is set in a world evoking early …

A sensitive book with a tapered rather than concluded ending

4 stars

The writing here is primarily first person throughout - the narrator changes; but this is a well written first person novel. Initially I picked this up as a standalone - seems it's a prequel set about a thousand years before it's predecessor. The main character is an old man looking back on his life; with a rather special love affair relating to the second main character; who in turn keeps requiring the assistance of the third main character who has the most 'supernatural' ability in the book - seeing Ghosts, but not entirely as we think of ghosts, more impressions of the dead around people they're connected to. The other fantastical element used is the first person thoughts of the recently deceased for just a few moments after their physical death, as the ascend to the spiritual. For those who are fans of historical fiction, this would be a good …

The Library at Mount Char (Hardcover, 2015, Crown) 4 stars

Carolyn's not so different from the other human beings around her. She's sure of it. …

Let down by weak writing

3 stars

The writing isn't it's strongest part. The story is strong, the characters quirky, but the ending is weak if mostly satisfying. Resurrection seems to be the main fantastical tool used with few archaic Arabic sounding words that just feel thrown in. The size of the library becomes a little too Warehouse 13 or those TV movies and series 'The Librarian' or 'The Librarians' - where this story diverges is not in missing artifacts or books, but rather in the focus on 'The Librarians' being criminally insane and it's an adopted-family feud. I did enjoy this book, but it lacked something in the story, the writing was the weakest part, dialogue was fine, but the actual writing was the weakest part.