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juushikaTitle: Murcheston: The Wolf's Tale
Author: David Holland
Published: New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2000
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 349
Total Page Count: 63,589
Text Number: 182
Read For: reading books about werewolves, checked out from the library
Short review: Edgar Lenoir, Duke of Darnley, survives a wolf attack only to discover, on the next full moon, that he is a werewolf. His diary tells the story of his lycanthropy, from his first transformation and his research on his affliction, through his slow descent into bestial nature. With a dark Victorian setting and careful themes of human nature, animal nature, and morality, Murcheston tries to be an unusual and intelligent werewolf novel. Unfortunately, it is bogged down by redundancy and a lengthy, unbelievable narrative style. I didn't enjoy it, and I don't recommend it.
Murcheston is an unusual, historical, intelligent werewolf novel, quite outside the contemporary genre. It is told in a combination of personal accounts, Darnley's dairy, and transcribed fictional documents, and it takes place in a detailed Victorian setting. Most interesting by far are the theories and themes. Darnley describes his mental states and his time as a wolf, theories about the causes and results of lycanthropy, and his changing views on human morality, human nature, and animal nature. These aspects show careful thought and slow development, and the contrast between Darnley's convincing argument for amorality and the judgment of the narrator is compelling and horrifying.
All of these factors are promising and well-intended—but they all falter and fail. The thoughtful, careful themes of the book are hobbled by predictability (the plot developments are blatantly predictable, Darnley of course turns into just the sort of monster that he initially scorns) and redundancy. Over and over, via diary and description and transcribed text, Darnley repeats his thoughts on morality and man's bestial nature until it becomes banal, obvious, and therefore meaningless. Furthermore, the writing style is lengthy, slow going—I could only slog through twenty pages at a time before growing bored and taking a break. Holland's narrative choices are poor and unrealistic: the third person narrative which ends Darnley's story conflicts with the first person narrative which begins it, and Darnley's diary and the transcribed texts are unbelievably lengthy, full irrelevant descriptions and precisely quoted dialog. The unbelievable storytelling is frustrating to read, and it makes the themes even more meaningless.
I love the concept and intentions of this novel, and I tried hard to like the book itself. I still appreciate some of Darnley's insights into man's animal nature. Nonetheless, I grew increasingly frustrated as the book dragged on—first with the unrealistic narrative, and then with the increasingly predictable and repetitive themes. I don't regret reading it, and the interested reader (and werewolf fan) may still want to pick it up—for the book's attempt, at least, if not its execution. But I ultimately did not enjoy and do not recommend Murcheston, and the casual reader would do better with a different werewolf novel.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Interesting tidbit:
total page count (63,589)
divided by text number (182)
is the current text page count (349).
It seems that this book completely average in more than one way.
Author: David Holland
Published: New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2000
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 349
Total Page Count: 63,589
Text Number: 182
Read For: reading books about werewolves, checked out from the library
Short review: Edgar Lenoir, Duke of Darnley, survives a wolf attack only to discover, on the next full moon, that he is a werewolf. His diary tells the story of his lycanthropy, from his first transformation and his research on his affliction, through his slow descent into bestial nature. With a dark Victorian setting and careful themes of human nature, animal nature, and morality, Murcheston tries to be an unusual and intelligent werewolf novel. Unfortunately, it is bogged down by redundancy and a lengthy, unbelievable narrative style. I didn't enjoy it, and I don't recommend it.
Murcheston is an unusual, historical, intelligent werewolf novel, quite outside the contemporary genre. It is told in a combination of personal accounts, Darnley's dairy, and transcribed fictional documents, and it takes place in a detailed Victorian setting. Most interesting by far are the theories and themes. Darnley describes his mental states and his time as a wolf, theories about the causes and results of lycanthropy, and his changing views on human morality, human nature, and animal nature. These aspects show careful thought and slow development, and the contrast between Darnley's convincing argument for amorality and the judgment of the narrator is compelling and horrifying.
All of these factors are promising and well-intended—but they all falter and fail. The thoughtful, careful themes of the book are hobbled by predictability (the plot developments are blatantly predictable, Darnley of course turns into just the sort of monster that he initially scorns) and redundancy. Over and over, via diary and description and transcribed text, Darnley repeats his thoughts on morality and man's bestial nature until it becomes banal, obvious, and therefore meaningless. Furthermore, the writing style is lengthy, slow going—I could only slog through twenty pages at a time before growing bored and taking a break. Holland's narrative choices are poor and unrealistic: the third person narrative which ends Darnley's story conflicts with the first person narrative which begins it, and Darnley's diary and the transcribed texts are unbelievably lengthy, full irrelevant descriptions and precisely quoted dialog. The unbelievable storytelling is frustrating to read, and it makes the themes even more meaningless.
I love the concept and intentions of this novel, and I tried hard to like the book itself. I still appreciate some of Darnley's insights into man's animal nature. Nonetheless, I grew increasingly frustrated as the book dragged on—first with the unrealistic narrative, and then with the increasingly predictable and repetitive themes. I don't regret reading it, and the interested reader (and werewolf fan) may still want to pick it up—for the book's attempt, at least, if not its execution. But I ultimately did not enjoy and do not recommend Murcheston, and the casual reader would do better with a different werewolf novel.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Interesting tidbit:
total page count (63,589)
divided by text number (182)
is the current text page count (349).
It seems that this book completely average in more than one way.
