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A review by hackjuber
Malpertuis by John Flanders, Iain White, Jean Ray
3.0
"The gods are born of men's belief..."
One of the more peculiar books I've read. I honestly didn't have any idea what was happening for the first 80% of the novel. A clunky framing device of a researcher is used in order to contextualize the placement of multiple character perspectives all in one book and these perspectives are referenced by other characters as literal written memoirs, even when some of the events the characters undergo would have prevented them from writing. Imagine George R.R. Martin deciding to contextualize the multiple perspectives of A Song of Ice and Fire by telling it from the perspective of a Maester 50 years later who gathered various journal entries from throughout the Seven Kingdoms. That's basically what happens here. I'm not sure why this choice was made to contextualize the book in this way. Perhaps Jean Ray thought that readers wouldn't follow shifting perspectives? That aspect didn't work for me at all and consistently ruined the pacing.
When I first heard about this book it was recommended that it be read with no outside knowledge. After reading it completely blind other than knowing it was a Gothic horror novel, I'm not sure that I agree. The big twist works well in that explains nearly all of the weird shit that goes on inside the old house of Malpertuis, but I'm not sure if its worth the slog through 150 pages of nonsense just to find the key that explains it all. In fact, I expect that many people would be much more inclined to read the book if you explained the big twist first.
This twist was also delivered in an incredibly dramatic and drawn out way. It's essentially a several-page exposition dump in which a dying man reveals all the secrets he learned. Long exposition dumps usually suck but in the Gothic horror genre it honestly works well and I enjoyed it.
I'm glad I read this one but I can't say I'd recommend it.
One of the more peculiar books I've read. I honestly didn't have any idea what was happening for the first 80% of the novel. A clunky framing device of a researcher is used in order to contextualize the placement of multiple character perspectives all in one book and these perspectives are referenced by other characters as literal written memoirs, even when some of the events the characters undergo would have prevented them from writing. Imagine George R.R. Martin deciding to contextualize the multiple perspectives of A Song of Ice and Fire by telling it from the perspective of a Maester 50 years later who gathered various journal entries from throughout the Seven Kingdoms. That's basically what happens here. I'm not sure why this choice was made to contextualize the book in this way. Perhaps Jean Ray thought that readers wouldn't follow shifting perspectives? That aspect didn't work for me at all and consistently ruined the pacing.
When I first heard about this book it was recommended that it be read with no outside knowledge. After reading it completely blind other than knowing it was a Gothic horror novel, I'm not sure that I agree. The big twist works well in that explains nearly all of the weird shit that goes on inside the old house of Malpertuis, but I'm not sure if its worth the slog through 150 pages of nonsense just to find the key that explains it all. In fact, I expect that many people would be much more inclined to read the book if you explained the big twist first.
This twist was also delivered in an incredibly dramatic and drawn out way. It's essentially a several-page exposition dump in which a dying man reveals all the secrets he learned. Long exposition dumps usually suck but in the Gothic horror genre it honestly works well and I enjoyed it.
I'm glad I read this one but I can't say I'd recommend it.