Review: Intense but worthwhile
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 16, 2013
"Bread of Fools" by Duncan McGonall was an intense read that took me some time to get into but that ended up one of the more fascinating and stimulating reading pleasures I had the luck to experience of late. The prologue introduces a fantasy world divided into Firma, where humans live, and Supra, where the Gragona live. Magick is everywhere.Our hero Bruce is unaware of all this and only over the course of the book reaches a better understanding or awareness of the powers there be. Lucky Bruce has his girlfriend Zoe to help him raise his awareness and understanding - I have my theories but am still a little unsure about the big picture. There is symbolism in the use of dimensions and the layers of consciousness, there is family history and rivalry that needs to be resolved and there are keys elemental for the balance of the two worlds that have been stolen.Like Bruce I found myself very confused and unsure what this was all about and questioned myself why I continued reading until it all became clearer in the end. The reason that I kept on was simple:From the first page it was clear to me that McGonall is a writer of great intellect and ability who understands to challenge and intellectually stimulate his readers and I took that pleasurable challenge and wanted to find out exactly what was going to happen in what essentially seems a power struggle between good and evil on both plains, which is what the title actually means.The language style varies according to who speaks and where, I must applaud the author to his versatility in that area. Despite my initial reluctance the book suddenly whizzed by in front of my eyes.Bruce and Zoe are great characters and I look forward to the next part of this story.