A great little supernatural tale!

Really enjoyed this - enough to write a review. It's well written and well told. Sure, it has some standard cliches and archetypal characters, but to be honest, that just helps the story race along! No need to think, just sit back and enjoy a non-challenging, high speed, stories within a story trip!

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Scintillatingly mysterious and clever

A dark and clever intrigue where you are just willing the characters not to fall into the trap. Dark but fun

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I wanted to REALLY love this ...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The formula of 'hooking, capturing, disposing of' the characters - it just repeated all the time. The first time it happened it absorbed your attention with fascination, and ended with shock. But after that, the book simply repeated that formula I lost count of how many times. It meant you didn't really become attached to any of the characters or care about them because it became 'oh-oh, I know what's going to happen to them ...' and it did. The basic framework of the novel had something to it as a story, but that intricate story became fragmented by getting caught in the repeat loop of going through the characters' repeat experiences. Imagine reading Hansel and Gretel from the perspective of the stories of all the children who went before - went in woods, found house, ate candy, *died* [repeat].

It would have been more shocking had, perhaps, one character discovered lots of previous victims and the 'reveal' being that character walking in while one was going through 'the process' - particularly with the additional reveal as to who the 'final character' actually was.

I found after the first character as soon as 'Slade House' was mentioned I'd already jumped to 'their end' mentally and knew what it would be. And I never had time to bond with the final character who was very important because my mind had already prepared her as a victim. If it was me, I'd restructure the book so the final character was in at the start and was investigating disappearances of the others, that you became to passionately care about that character, and then the final 'reveal' about who that character was would have been a huge shock. But I was really disappointed after having started out really wanting to love this book.

What will your next listen be?

Currently listening to Pompei - The Life of a Roman Town by Mary Beard. I absolutely love it - the town of Pompei and it's population are very much brought to life, and you can visualise things like the water running in torrents down the middle of the road explaining why they built high pavements with stepping stone crossings in the road.

Which character – as performed by Tania Rodrigues and Thomas Judd – was your favourite?

None - the book didn't develop in a way so that you cared about the characters; they just became 'plot-fodder'. Even the final character who should have been pivotal, I didn't care about because I'd already made my mind up they were also either going to simply be fodder, or would solve the plot. Even the brother/sister didn't develop sufficiently for them to become 3-dimensional and for me to care about them in either loving/empathising/hating them - a shame also, because they also had potential to become complex characters that put you into a moral dilemma.

Do you think Slade House needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No - it's been set up that way due to what happens with one of the characters at the end. But I can't possibly read that repeat formula anymore - sorry! :o)

Any additional comments?

It's a shame, because I think if more help had been given regarding the structure/presentation of the story it would have been a complete 'Wow!' as a book. But it reads - as Richard Herring describes - like 'Ten little monkeys jumping on the bed; one fell off and broke his head ...Nine little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and broke his head ...Eight little monkeys ...'. It didn't need to be laid out like that for readers. Imagine if that became 'Ten monkeys have died under extremely mysterious circumstances and we're going to find out why ...'.

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12 people found this helpful

Unexpected.

Unexpectedly surprising. Sinister without being chilling or terrifying. Wouldn’t be surprised to find this becoming a film.

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Couldn't put it down...

For me, this was a little book that lingered for a long time - for all of the right reasons. Each of the chapters holds a similarly structured, self-contained tale, yet each also builds on those stories which come before. It was this use of time and narrative structure which convinced me to go on and buy "Bone Clocks" which is next on my To Read list. The relative simplicity of this short novel has given me an accessible route into Mitchell''s more ambitious fiction; novels that I'd previously considered too complex to function as relaxing enternment. Excellent narration of a gripping, insanely imaginative, creation by one of this era's great writers.

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WOW!

What a story. I have been a fan of David Mitchell for some time but with this, Slade House, he has excelled. Bravo. More, more.

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Quite Magical

This remarkably clever novel is a fantasy thriller, with remarkable characters and a highly unique plot.
The writing is beyond excellent, and that drew me in immediately. The beginning of the story have no clue as to the endless series of twists and delights to comma.
The humour continues although the storyline winds darker and darker, and the characters leap alive - before --- poor things/
I thoroughly enjoyed every moment - and in contrast to some books I have read recently, it does not rush down the drain towards the end.
No - this book bubbles and sizzles on until the last word.
I highly recommend this.

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good old fashioned space western

This was a great listen over half term. Fast paced, packed with cultural stereotypes and plenty of gung ho action. Like a 1950 western there was no effort to get to know the enemy, they were just out there and meaning to cause us harm. There were white hat goodies and black hatted baddies. Everyone got what they deserved. The English character was played by a space Celia Johnson from Brief encounter, an english rose in uniform....lovely stuff!
This was just one layer thick.....I wanted to know about motivations but realised I had picked the wrong novel for philosophizing over. Captain Wolf just wanted to bomb the bastards.
BUT it was not taxing and a good listen for a tired teacher brain over half term.

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1 person found this helpful

A worthy sidestep

“A companion” to the bone clocks they say,
Although For the most part it stands alone as a quirky murder mystery with a difference.

Entertaining and tense.

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Curiousity definitely killed the cat

I'm a bit sceptical when it comes to 'horror' audiobooks, however, I was pleasantly surprised by this creepy unnerving tale. With a great balance of fantastic dialogue and narration, the story was not overloaded with clichés and almost held all the way through. The narrators were fantastic, hearing a clear change between the numerous characters. As much as I enjoyed the book, it seem to lose the plot, so to speak, by the end, terminating abruptly. It would have been a full five stars otherwise.

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