Wednesday 18 September 2013

Review: The Last Guardian


The Last Guardian
The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I'm sorry to say was very disappointed by this book. It was neither entertaining, nor particularly funny, and certainly not "criminally good" as the cover of my version suggests.

Here's why I didn't like it:
The writing style - it felt loveless for, I guess, the following reasons:
1) While reading I was told quite often by the book that the things happening were ridiculous or unreal or unbelievable. It would have been nice to experience this while reading, so you wouldn't have to be told.
2) I was never very good at understanding the show-don't-tell, but I think this book is all what show-don't-tell isn't.
3) The story is about Armageddon and a breakdown of a lot of technology above and below the earth's crust. I wonder what that would feel like, because I certainly didn't feel it while reading.
And many other reasons I find hard to put into words.
Just one minor point: a good editor would have been nice. There was, somewhere at the beginning of the book, a really stupid word duplication which you don't expect to find in a professionally published book.
What vexed me the most (editor-wise), though, is that Opal re-creates herself without finger and toe nails, but is still able to grab someone's arm and dig her finger nails into that someone's skin. How?


I can tell you that Eoin Colfer hasn't lost his talent, though. There was a preview on the new series he's working on - W.A.R.P. - at the end of my book, and that was so much better! I guess he just didn't feel like writing that last Artemis Fowl novel...



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