Started: 22/09/20
Finished: 28/09/20
Spoilers: No
Not gonna lie, I bought this because it sounded like a fantasy Peaky Blinders, and I love me some Peaky Blinders. For books about gangs and dirty politics, I’m pretty lenient when it comes to standards. It’s so my jam that I’m willing to overlook a lot. What I couldn’t overlook in this instance, however, was the pacing – but more on that later.
I put this book on hold around page 97 while I read four other books cause the thought of picking it back up was exhausting. But it’s only a short book, and one I was really excited for, so I made myself do it.
I then managed to get halfway through before putting it on hold again. One year later, I got the audiobook for cheap off of audible and figured this was literally the only way I was going to finish the book. And if not for the audiobook, I likely would have DNF’ed altogether.
Characters
So this is very Peaky Blinders in regard to the characters.
Tomas Piety, calm and controlled but dangerous, is basically Tommy Shelby.
Jochan Piety, younger brother, brawler, erratic and irrational is basically Arthur and John Shelby rolled into one.
Aunt Enaid, a no bullshit matriarch of the family who ran the business while the boys were at war, is basically Aunt Polly.
And Ailsa, a government spy working in Tomas’s pub as a barmaid, is basically Grace.
As much as I don’t want to say this, the characters couldn’t be any more ‘copy-and-past’ if they tried. Even the fact that the base of the gang is a pub.
The overall dynamic of the group is very fun, but I can’t tell if my enjoyment stemmed from the novel itself, or my love of Peaky Blinders.
That’s the problem, where does one end and the other begin?
Plot
So for a long time, the plot is basically Peaky Blinders season 1.
The men arrived home from war, return to their normal lives, take back their businesses that were previously being run by the women. The gang strengthens, they build a reputation, people are scared of them. Then a female spy gets a job in Tomas’s pub as barmaid and he gets roped into government shit he wants nothing to do with. He also ends up developing feelings for her. There’s a few differences later on, thankfully, but not many.
At over three-quarters into the book, I still felt like I was waiting for the meat of the story to begin. Even though plenty of fights and explosions were going on, none of it truly felt like the ‘main course’ so to speak. It just felt like a lot of little strikes against other gangs. The main conflict was a little like a goose. It did a lot of aggressive flapping around on the ground, but never actually seemed to take flight.
Having the audiobook to listen to made me more invested… but not really. Even though I was listening to it every night, I still had little enthusiasm for the plot, and didn’t really care about the characters.
Setting
I’m left with so many questions about the setting I don’t even no where to begin. We’re given so little in regard to world-building, that I struggled to visualise the setting. I know it’s a fantasy world, but when is it meant to be set? What era inspires it? What country and culture? For the most part it feels very turn of the century, but then I get completely thrown every time chain mail and swords are mentioned. I really don’t know what this book wants to be, and I don’t think the book does either.
This war they’ve all returned from, for instance; where was it? What started it? I assume they won cause they’re returning home, but how was it won? We’re literally given no backstory to anything regarding the world in which this is set, and world-building is a very important thing to me when reading, and unfortunately, I felt its absence deeply.
Writing Style
Okay, so thing is, the writing is great, however this really shouldn’t have been first person. Being stuck inside Tomas’s head for 300+ pages was almost painful. It’s not that he’s a bad character, but his constant inner monologue is a cure for insomnia. There are so many redundant sentences, I very nearly gave up before reaching 100 pages in.
He constantly reminds us he’s a soldier, he’s a businessman, he’s a priest. YES, I KNOW, THANKS.
He constantly reminds us that Bloody Anne is his second and not Jochan. YES, I KNOW, THANKS.
So many phrases, along lines like these, are repeated to the point where I’m just bored reading the same thing over and over. Please, Tomas, darling, tell me something I don’t know.
Now, the pacing… the pacing was sloww. I love a slow burner but, fuck me, this all but stopped burning entirely. It sat stagnant for so long, by the time the action came around, I’d lost interest.
I do have to say though, I greatly appreciate the amount of swearing in this book. Bloody love a good vulgar vocabulary.
Final Impression
So look, I know this review sounds harsh, but it’s about a year and a half in the making. And for the record, I would absolutely give the TV show a go when it’s out. This could be really great minus Tomas’s internal dialogue.
Even though this book has so many buzzword for me and, in theory, has everything I should want from a book, clearly, this book wasn’t written for my personal reading tastes. This book has endless positive reviews, so my opinion really isn’t going to hurt it. One could argue whether my opinion even matters, when a book as this many 4 and 5 stars reviews. But for me personally, this wasn’t exactly what I wanted from it… but it wasn’t terrible either.
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