false 2994708 0330435523 9780330435529 2 1 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2994708.Angel_Isle 5345 Peter Dickinson 1772 239 3 0 false Mon Aug 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 06:45:17 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 06:55:40 -0700 2009
Angel Isle is the sequel to The Ropemaker, which I read some time ago. Immediately afterwards, I started Angel Isle but couldn't get into it because it lacks some of the immediacy of The Ropemaker. This time I got to the end but I still had my reservations.

Dickinson is a strikingly original writer and the quality of his fantasy is never in doubt but structurally this book is a bit ramshackle and some of the writing struck me as careless. There was too much tell rather than show; there were pages of unmediated dialogue in which it was possible to lose track of who was speaking so that I had to go back and count out the paragraphs; and some of the characterisation was a bit heavy-handed.

Nevertheless, despite these rather trenchant criticisms, it's an exciting and entertaining read and there was always enough of Dickinson's unique vision to keep me reading to the very end.

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