“This here is Hell, Texas. Dullest blister on the planet’s ass. Can’t blame the local kids for getting excited, a
4.5/5 rounded up. Because reasons.
“This here is Hell, Texas. Dullest blister on the planet’s ass. Can’t blame the local kids for getting excited, acting silly when a bit of ground goes ‘pop'.”
Hard to disagree. Nothing happens in Hell, Texas. Getting wild in the middle of nowhere presents its difficulties but Hell's teenagers are a decent sort. Maddy, for example, starts a summer job at the local post office. Selling stamps, sorting mail, dealing with clients trying to recover letters sent to dead people in moments of deep emotion and honesty. Such letters usually end deep down in a local well.
Things get interesting when certain Tatterpatch starts writing to Maddy from the bottom of the earth in the abattoir below existence where fire and worm consume everything except that which perishes not. It seems he wants to learn about s'mores, and go with her to the mid-summer dance.
Things get even more interesting when you meet a band of (possibly) cannibal gypsies and when Maddy's "friends" fool with the well unknowingly summoning something hungry and dangerous.
I love St. Elmo's writing and I had no doubts I would enjoy his newest book. But I'm surprised at how much I did. This book is awesome, possibly his best yet*. It's both funny and serious, light and dark, emotionally engaged but humorously detached. It accepts that life sucks but instead of finding new ways to destroy everything characters touch and love, it focuses on the joy of discovery (of life, friendships, parenthood, and more).
I would describe it as a slice of life novel laced with comedy, teenage drama, horror, and coming-of-age arc. Not to forget plenty of deeper thoughts on life and witty remarks. It's a book you pick up and read when you’re tired and sad, or when you simply want to relax. It offers a balanced mix of imaginative worldbuilding, witty prose, subtle humor**, and decent people doing their best.
The plot of Letters from the Well in the Season of the Ghosts*** is both sprawling and minimalist. Most of the book is dedicated to Hell's teenager's everyday life, a (possible) murder investigation, and mysterious Tatterpatch breaking to our reality. Day after day Maddy, and her peers, face teenage problems, including low self-esteem, boredom, and insecurities, and yet somehow this manages to be endlessly intriguing. While I could have read about their lives forever, St. Elmo has something for readers who seek a feeling of the build-up towards the main event.
Maddy and her freakishly big and ugly father are fantastic protagonists. Maddy leads a double life, as an unnoticed, shy girl in everyday life and as a leather-clad Valentine the Bard admired by her online guild in virtual reality. As expected, borders between realities start to blur and dissolve so that madness can ensue. Everyone likes Rupert, Maddy's father. He's huge, ugly, and scary but he's also the best dad and the best Sheriff. Not to denigrate the Betty and Wulf, the sheriffs from neighboring cities, but where they make you laugh or roll your eyes, Rupert does all of it better. Plus, parents will easily relate to his single-parent concerns:
He wondered where she’d found that weird cloak. And the damned sheath knife. He wondered more where his lonely daughter had gotten four sudden friends that summoned her to midnight adventure. He wondered very much what story occurred. But more than anything, he wondered if he should follow. Every possible crime, death, depravity and delinquency of adolescent insanity came to his lawman mind, complete with correct numeric coding for state prosecution and autopsy.
St. Elmo's prose is elegant, imaginative, and witty and it never fails to impress. I consider reading it a treat. It's effortless and smooth and somehow manages to convey a deep understanding of life with humor and compassion (and occasional self-deprecation).
My only nitpick is rather technical and I expect most readers won't care. In a few places, the narration falls victim to head-hopping, a thing grumpy book reviewers are conditioned to sniff from far away. And when it happens in a single paragraph, things get tricky. Admittedly, though, the vignettes of inner thoughts of non-POV characters are humorous. That said, I would prefer to see them thrown deep, deep down into the well.
Other than that, I have no issues with the story and I loved it. I rounded the score up because as soon as I finished it I had the urge to immediately start reading it again from the beginning. I vigorously recommend it, and I urge you not to pay any attention to its current cover.
* Debatable, of course, but it's the one that's easiest to follow and most linear. And this makes it compulsively readable.
** I used to love humorous writing. Nowadays I rarely connect with it. I hope it has more to do with writers trying too hard to be funny than with me getting old and grumpy. St. Elmo writes subtle humor, living a lot to the imagination and never crude or gross.
*** Is Mr. St. Elmo trying to take the crown of the creator of the longest titles from Benedict Patrick? Possible. Texans are like that....more
I’m new to slice-of-life fantasy and I’m not 100% sure how to define it. People say Balam, Spring belongs to the subgenre, so I’ll trust them. It’s aI’m new to slice-of-life fantasy and I’m not 100% sure how to define it. People say Balam, Spring belongs to the subgenre, so I’ll trust them. It’s a much quieter, smaller-scale story than the ones I read recently.
Balam’s resident white mage falls ill and dies. Several townspeople display similar symptoms and that’s a bad sign. Hopefully the new mage, Aava, will find a cure and solve the mystery. An ex-mercenary, Ryckert, helps her in the case.
Two of three main characters - Aava, and Ryckert - are distinct enough, but Theo, a local schoolteacher, lacks strong personality. Ryckert is a rocyan (a sort of wolf-man) and despite his age remains fast, strong and dangerous. We get some glimpses of his mercenary past and I would say he’s the most rounded character in the book. Aava, with her sense of insecurity but also a sharp mind, is likeable. Theo, well, I find him rather boring.
Riddle excels in writing engaging vignettes of every-day life. Despite low - stakes I rarely lacked motivation to follow the story. That said, I prefer “tighter” books. The story slowed down in the middle and dragged in places. Murder mystery has a surprising and problematic explanation - figuring out the killer’s identity is part of the fun. Here, though, the final reveal came out of nowhere.
Despite minor criticism, I’ve devoured the book in two sittings. Any final thoughts? Worth a shot if you ask me. ...more