There’s a very good chance there’s something in Moreno-Garcia contract that has her writing one romancey garbage for each two or three solid thrillers. Or else, it’s just her own weird preference. But inexplicably, for a writer who is so immensely talented and so good at producing terrific supernatural and otherwise thrillers, every so often she feels the need to put out crap like The Beautiful Ones or The Return of the Sorceress or The Lover or now this.
Maybe she is trying to branch out or prove to herself and the world she can do other genres. Sure, that’s admirable. But it also seems like a monumental waste of talent, especially talent that has a very specific genre lean. And yes, this is also from a reviewer who dislikes fantasy and romance as genres, so take that under consideration. There might be some people out there who only know the author through her romance work. Pity that, but to each their own. Anyway, onto this book: The Seven Veils of Salome is a book I would have never picked up without Moreno-Garcia’s name on it. The laughably cheesy bodice ripper cover alone would have put me off. But it did have her name on it, and I do very much love books about movies, so I read it. And here’s the thing: yes, the book by and large lives up to the cheesiness of its cover—it’s all about young love, past and present. It’s a romance, but a kitchen sink of one, because the author took a rather manic, let’s-see-how-many-perspectives-we-can-cram-in-here approach. There’s no need for this—this isn’t World War Z—but it’s there anyway. When it reality there ought to be only three POVs. One of them is that of Salome. Because Moreno-Garcia is ambitious enough to cram deeply historical fiction into an already historical fiction. So not only do you get to spend time on movie sets in 1950s but also in palaces of antiquity. It’s all very, very girly with strong vibes of women’s lit. But then there’s the undeniable fact that Moreno-Garcia is good enough of a writer to even make that work and be compelling enough. So the book ends up being a perfectly readable if frustrating mess. Books about movies are all the rage now. The weird thing is that the author just put out a novel about a movie. And Silver Nitrate is an amazing novel. This is like doubling down to show that she can write about movies for everyone. And I suppose she can, the question is more along the lines of, should she? Either way, it’s entertaining and certainly much more intelligent than that terrible cover suggests. Now, with that nonsense out of the way, hopefully, the author can return to form. Thanks Netgalley.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2023
Categories |