Reviewed
by: Pete Barber
Genre:
Sci-fi
Approximate
word count: 55-60,000
words
Availability
Click
on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes &
Noble, or Smashwords store
Author:
Ashley is an Australian novelist, poet & teacher. He is the author of three other novels and six poetry collections. City of Masks is his debut novel and it's available right now. A sequel, The Lost Mask is due mid 2015. His latest is a novella set in Japan, a ghost story called A Whisper of Leaves.
Description:
“The
Fairy Wren
is a contemporary fantasy set in Australia, where Paul, a bookseller,
struggles to juggle attention from a strange bird, a shady best
friend, an Italian runaway and a missing ex-wife, all the while
struggling to cling to a long-buried dream.”
Appraisal:
This
was a mixed bag for me. The writing was excellent, easily good enough
to carry me through to the end, but my engagement with the story was
patchy—at times fully involved, at others, wondering why the plot
had wandered into a certain place.
The
main character, Paul, was likeable and believable as were his life
challenges. The town in which he lived and the fellow business owners
and the family members he interacted with were compelling enough to
make me want him to do well—I was rooting for him.
However,
the magical realism associated with the wren, and the odd
on-again-off-again episodes featuring a young Italian girl popped me
out of the story. Would the police really be that blaze about her? I
struggled to understand what role she and the wren played within the
plot. It seemed that all of the events could have unfolded without
their involvement. Also, the scenes with his friend, Jon, and Paul’s
ex-wife stretched my suspension of disbelief.
I
can’t say I didn’t enjoy the story, but, like Chinese takeout, it
didn’t keep me satisfied for long.
Format/Typo
Issues:
Clean
copy. Australian idiom.
Rating: *** Three stars
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