Dragons and Disappointment
Jul. 8th, 2025 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI had high hopes for I Know It's You by Susan Lewis, as I loved the other book of hers I read earlier this year and this one was about writers and publishers which is always a draw for me. And it was certainly compelling for the most part. It follows Marina, a senior editor at a publisher, who starts receiving instalments of a book by an anonymous author, the story of which closely resembles a rather dramatic time in her past that she'd rather not revisit. The main problem was that the 'book within the book' really wasn't very good... And Marina actually points this out multiple times in some blatant lampshading - which I guess is fair enough, but it doesn't explain why the agent who brings it to her didn't just reject it immediately! And it also means we, as the reader, have to wade through an awful lot of not very good prose to find out the most pertinent aspects of the story! I will say the book does a very good job of portraying how Marina gradually spirals into desperation and paranoia, and the way she ends up questioning her own memory of events is very relatable. But the police procedural aspect of the story is absolute nonsense - the case would never have developed in the way it's described... The other Susan Lewis book I read was sharply observed and emotionally impactful, but this one is all melodrama. I was engaged throughout most of it (to the extent of shouting at the book multiple times as I was reading it!) but the ending was very disappointing and rather ruined the overall experience.
Miss Percy's Travel Guide to Welsh Moors and Feral Dragons by Quenby Olsen continues the story almost exactly from where the first book left off, and I was very happy to be back in this world with these characters. The audiobook narrator is very good, so it was a pleasant listening experience overall. But it did feel rather dragged out, with not an awful lot happening for most of the book. I did love the continuation of the commentary on language and the meta aspects of discussing the book itself. But I felt the reintroduction of the 'bad guys' was a bit weak - though the eventual climax was pretty exciting and leads very well into the final instalment of the trilogy. So, I will finish the series before too long, but I didn't enjoy this middle book as much as the first one.
Miss Percy's Travel Guide to Welsh Moors and Feral Dragons by Quenby Olsen continues the story almost exactly from where the first book left off, and I was very happy to be back in this world with these characters. The audiobook narrator is very good, so it was a pleasant listening experience overall. But it did feel rather dragged out, with not an awful lot happening for most of the book. I did love the continuation of the commentary on language and the meta aspects of discussing the book itself. But I felt the reintroduction of the 'bad guys' was a bit weak - though the eventual climax was pretty exciting and leads very well into the final instalment of the trilogy. So, I will finish the series before too long, but I didn't enjoy this middle book as much as the first one.
