Tuesday 11 August 2009

TW: The House That Jack Built

The last of the set, and it definitely is a set, is The House That Jack Built by Guy Adams.

More of a concept book, in that there is a House where weird things are happening... and that's about it. The author pads things out a little by retelling sequences from different character's perspectives, but it's mainly about coping with the surreal house (and not to give things away, but Jack didn't actually build the house in question, just some remodelling). Fortunately, I like weirdness, so am willing to give it a go.

The story is more about how people react to the weirdness, so Guy gets to spend time inside people's head, giving us passages of reaction without needing to actually move the story along. That said, given the thinness of the actual plot, I can see why.

Rob and Julia are an attempt at a typical couple with problems, although Rob doesn't ever make us care about his point of view. Alexander Martin is just annoying. The rest of the Torchwood crew again don't get development (even Jack, although it's a lot about him), and just are there to be in the story.

By the way, these authors did have at least some chat between each other. Alexander was introduced in the previous book, and Nina Rogers makes a cameo appearance here, and there are references to the previous stories, including an older book. Huh.

A decent enough book, gives it a good go, doesn't quite reach epic heights though.

[END]

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