Blackstone: Drawing the Circle (from here on referred to as BDTC) by Jason Beineke is one of those hit or miss novels. He does some things really well - incredibly well, even - but then other things are largely bunk. The first third of the novel for me was sort of like watching a really awesome movie with someone texting in the audience; while it didn't ruin it, per se, the errors that I noticed were definitely distracting.
But let's get on with specifics, starting with The Bad. My biggest complaint was that I wanted to chuck a copy of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style at Beineke with a desperate plea to read. I mean, grammatically speaking, the novel has quite a few issues, not to mention a desperate need for commas. As a result, a lot of the sentences are long run-on sentences, and I found myself getting lost once or twice.
I also had some issues with the writing style. It can get redundant and quite clunky; I found myself really wishing that an editor had a chance to get to it. Here is an example:
As the sorcerer had approached the city he could feel her sorcerous presence, growing strong and strong as he approached. He considered himself a powerful practitioner of the sorcerous arts ...
I don't know about you, but that made me wince a little.
In addition, Beineke sometimes uses a little too much tell and not enough show, which puts a definite barrier between the reader and the work.
Okay, so now, we're going to move on to the good.
It is beyond clear that Beineke has but a ton, and I mean a ton, of research and thought into the world he creates, considering everything from minor mannerisms to geography. For example, when the town warden is discussing the idea of going to war with the sorcerers, he actually tells his troops to warn the fire brigade. That kind of attention to detail lends the work a stunning realism that often supercedes the bad grammar and clunky writing. In additional, a lot of the terms are archaic, which meant that I was pretty grateful for my kindle's instant dictionary function. At first, I didn't like it, but as I got into the swing of the novel, I found myself appreciating Beineke's attention to detail in the little things like vocabulary (and the man's vocabularly is astounding.)
Kind of running hand-in-hand with the amount he has obviously thought about his world is the way he describes it. There were a lot of moments where I thought ... wow, that is some great imagery. For example:
...The knights recovered themselves quickly, ... each wearing the black battle mask that covered all emotion, leaving only the surety of death on his face.
"The barracks!" one of knights barked, a hint of despair in his voice.
In addition to the immersive, detailed world and descriptive imagery, BDTR also has some truly great characters. They're a trio of unlike beings with different moralities, sensibilities, and desires, and none of them trust each other very much. Yet you definitely find yourself drawn into their world and lives, watching their evolution from heartless to something more complex, or from the easy boundaries of innocence to the grayer lines of an adult. Their motivations are usually clear and make a lot of sense to me personally (except for one or two spots in the beginning).
The last thing I would like to mention about this book is a spoiler, so if you don't want to read one of those, you can skip ahead now.
*** Beginning of spoiler ***
About 70% of the way through the book, Beineke uses the character of a dream-reaver to create an alternate reality. The device isn't very well foreshadowed, and as a result, I thought the characters had actually just jumped 10 years into the future, major character dead, no explanation of the war or anything. And I was pissed. That's when I realized that the novel, warts and all, had really started to grab me - the idea of missing that part of their journey was so infuriating, I almost just ended my reading there. Luckily, I persevered through that and found out it was just a side-track.
*** End of Spoiler ***
Overall score: 3.8 stars. Definite potential, with a compelling plot, likeable/loveable characters, and a detailed, vivid world. Unfortunately, the novel is also in dire need of better grammar and a sharper, crisper writing style.
Reviewed for Maria Violante's review site, [...]
