Thursday 31 December 2020

Ransom Riggs: Library of Souls (2015)

    A boy with extraordinary powers. An army of deadly monsters. An epic battle for the future of peculiardom (Goodreads).

Better than the second, but still fails to recapture the magic of the first installment. At this point in the series, the photos do come off a bit gimmicky and some seem forced. It's not difficult to read; the prose is satisfying and the pacing is good, but I found myself just not caring about any of the characters. Our two protagonists have lost all charm and they don't really develop in any major way (Jacob's new ability is well-handled, though). Stuff just seems to happen to them, without their having too much involvement. The supporting cast does nothing to support them, either, at one point they just leave a character to die on a train and when that happens, I should be asking "oh, boy, what will they do about him" rather than, at the end of the book saying, "oh, yeah. I totally forgot he was in this. Huh." All that being said, when the intensity is ramped up in any scene with excitement, Riggs writes brilliantly and makes me forget all of that. I do wish the author leaned into the lovecraftian elements a bit more, because when there are hints, I am left wanting more. All things considered, yeah, I liked it. 7.6/10

 

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