Review: Reminiscent of 19th Century Gothic Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 3, 2013
Disenchanted is very reminiscent of old-school (19th century) Gothic literature - which is perfect for me since I am both a student of Gothic literature and count a number of 19th century novels among my favorites. I did find some of the juxtaposition of old-school and modern dialogue somewhat jarring, but for the most part, author C.K. Farrell did a fantastic job of marrying the two. He is also very much in command of an impressive vocabulary that makes me envious.The story begins with a scene that makes it clear Faelynn is to kill Nathaniel, but we don't know why. We don't really know anything about either of them yet, and I found this a perfect lead-in to the story. We come to find out that Nathaniel is a vampire who has retained his soul and subsequently reined in his savage side. He is also arrogant, smug, and a bit of a prig. He has little use or patience for his more "typical" vampire brethren. For Faelynn's part, she is human, but has preternatural skills that make her more than typical. She also hates vampires, so it makes perfect sense that she and Nathaniel would eventually form a partnership of sorts. I would have liked to have seen more tension and struggle before they reached that point; it felt to me that it occurred far too quickly and without the amount of effort it would take to get them there given their personal viewpoints.What I loved most about Disenchanted was the flow of the narrative language - some people have a hard time following it because it's not short and succinct like most modern books, but I found it to be a refreshing change from what I've most recently been reading. If you like 19th century fiction with all its flowery prose and beautifully-crafted sentences, you will probably enjoy this book.