11 August, 2005

The Resurrectionists (Kim Wilkins)

Kim Wilkins is a Queensland author, whose usual genre sits around the fantasy/horror mark. The Resurrectionists is desribed on the cover as chilling horror, but I think I'd classify it more firmly as fantasy. Somewhat scary fantasy, certainly, but I don't think it contains enough gruesome detail to call it horror. And that's a good thing - I'm not a big fan of horror.
Maisie, dissatisfied with her career, her partner, and her life, heads to England to find her grandmother, who has been long estranged from Maisie's mother. From those beginnings, the story veers headlong into witchcraft, sorcery, ghosts, ancient diaries and good-looking gypsies.
Unfortunately, my excitement in the story began to wane two-thirds of the way along. Maisie can be an irritating character - she never knows what she wants, and she's not appealing enough in other ways to make up for the constant vacillating. The story she's living is set up well, but suddenly races towards what I found to be a dissatisfying conclusion. It's a 3 out of 5 book - exciting, but not well plotted enough to sustain it til the end.

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