Flung

I hate not finishing books, but now and then it must be done. Sometimes twice in a row.


First I began Enslaved by Ducks, the story of a couple who move to the country and have their lives overtaken by animals. At first I'm reading along and thinking "Bunnies! Interesting!" and "Parrots! Funny!" But then the number of animals mount, and every time the author is all like "My wife did it because I have no say in my life." And then an animal dies some awful death, the author goes into a deep depression, and they get more animals. It starts to feel like animal hoarding disguised as hilarity. Not a fun read and, at least for me, not worth finishing.

Then I started Windflower with high expectations. I really liked past Nick Bantock books and their potent mix of art and mystery. This book feels like it was written by a twelve year old girl. The main character is perfection - beautiful, smart, dedicated, graceful, and all that is honorable. Not a flaw in sight. And then the point of view in this book veers around wildly. IN one paragraph its a first person point of view from the girl, the next paragraph its omniscient, and then out of the blue its the point of view of her employer. There's no sense to this! At three chapters in, I happily gave up and put it on the stack to go straight back to the library.

I refuse to let not finishing a book stop me from offering my opinion and ratings. The duck book gets a one; windflower can have half a point.