Review: Disappointing characterisation.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 11 30, 2011
Critique should always have both good and bad points. I'll try.The premise looked so promising. Although, I'm not a fan of fairies in general I thought this just might be the book to change my mind, and in that Heart of the Druid Laird succeeded. The fairies were easily the best part of this book.See, it's working. Good news comes first and there's more.I also really liked the structure of the plot. The author obviously knows how to plan events ahead while to give herself some room for manoeuvring. All the plot twists were well set up and logical and the pacing was decent. There were no out of the blue surprises behind the corners, but there was that telltale glow that warns about a speeding car.And I really enjoyed Tommy and Zoe and their little side romance. They made the perfect addition so as not to burden the main couple with too much of the background reveal. Info dump nicely avoided and a golden star to the author.Unfortunately, this was it. Now on to the bad.Let's start with the ridiculous. For a while now I've been aware of the fact that historical fiction is just that, fiction. As much as I'd like to think all men of old were nearly two metres tall and build like muscle towers, I know they weren't. Their nutritional status wouldn't have allowed it. I can suspend belief for one or three exceptionally well-built historical heroes at the time and enjoy the fluffy romance while they swoop their tiny, fragile heroines of their feet. But there's a limit to this good will of mine, and that limit is five. I find five 1650-year-old, extra tall hunks walking down the street in formation ridiculous. When the number is upped to thirteen, it becomes absurd.Shall we move on to the language then? Longley didn't overdo the Scottish accent apart from a handful of lines in dialogue, but the little touches she chose to use to imply the accent didn't work well for me. I stumbled over every single no' (not) even when I managed to get through the lines of heavier brogue.This, however, was not my pet peeve. That honour falls on the cursing with all the e**ings and so**ings and such. For majority of the book everyone acts like their mother is eavesdropping just behind the corner ready to rap them on the knuckles for saying a rude word. Then when things get tense and the climax approaches they suddenly start dropping as**s, ar**s, and s**ts. A few pages later, after the threat has been resolved, they go back to being prissy. Continuity, this book has none.None of these little mishaps are as dire failure as is the utterly botched characterisation. I'm at a loss what to make of these characters. They continuously say and claim to think one thing, and then go on acting in the exact opposite manner. Dermot is supposed to get Sidney to Scotland to lift the curse and not get tangled up and hurt the girl's feelings, but he promptly starts wooing her. Later on, he blames her for distracting him before he could tell her the truth, which, might I add, would have simplified the plot substantially. She's supposed to be this hard boiled single woman who doesn't date or even look at a man twice, but she melts into a puddle of goo just from looking at him. You can imagine the level of sexual attraction when he starts to speak.Yeah, not so much. Didn't work for me. Sidney's crying fits and whiplash reactions to the truth (once finally shared with her) make her the first character to earn a place on my new vapid-insipid-divas-and-ingénues shelf. Until her, I hadn't felt tempted enough to make one.The bad characterisation extends to Zoe and David, Sidney's friend, and brother, who basically act like a deus ex machina to get the unhappy couple together. Aside from Tommy, the muscle gang doesn't win in the personality lotto. Lachlan gets closest with few hits.What really ends up killing this book for me, though, is the manufactured drama. With a set up like this, a reincarnation, a cursed immortality, and a choice between loving and letting go, there's no need for all the fights originated from miscommunication. Dermot and Sidney have enough on their plate with a fairy princess and their growing feelings for each other interfering with the lifting of the curse, so they don't really need to be getting their wires crossed too.A good critique should always end up on a positive note.I can't complain about the grammar or editing.You can also read this review on Sandra's My Reading Nook-blog.**I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.**EDA: Cursing watered down due to Amazon guidelines, even though all the original curse words used in this review can be found in the book itself.