The Dead in their Vaulted Arches, Alan Bradley
Received to review via Netgalley
Very late, I know; I have to be in the right mood to read this series, which is the only excuse I can think to offer. Unfortunately, with this book, I couldn’t even get into it when I was in the mood, because it feels like it’s well and truly jumped the shark. It’s always been a bit of a ridiculous series, and I accept that, but this one was just too much. The whole idea Flavia had about resurrecting her mother was just… Flavia is a precocious little thing with some very odd ideas, but it’s beyond believable even for this series that she would think she could bring back someone who was, what, ten years dead? With ATP and thiamine.
Add to that the whole pomposity of the de Luce family spy ring, and the sheer casual callousness of the murder in this book — a plot device, one which wasn’t even really investigated — and the fun has gone out of this for me. I’m not going to read the next book.
Rating: 1/5
Such a shame about it jumping the shark. There’s fantasy books, and then there’s an author that’s not treating their audience seriously.
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Other people seem to have liked it, so maybe it was just me, but I really didn’t like the way it went! Thanks for dropping by.
It does sound quite odd though! It’s one thing writing fiction, another asking people to suspend disbelief too far.
Yeah, that’s true. It seemed silly to be told over and over again that the character is smart, and then have her believe something really naive and unlikely.
I finally picked up a copy of the first book in the series recently, but haven’t read it yet. Is is worth getting into?
I think the earlier books are kind of fun, but I wouldn’t regret skipping them, if that helps?