Customer Reviews

Dutchman

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

. . . but I guess tastes change. I loved this book when I was something like 12, 13, 14, and i've had it on my shelf and remembered it fondly ever since. I kept meaning to read it, ahd it in the back of my mind as a really good book that I liked to pull off the shelf and reread one of these days.

Well, "one of these days" finally came, and I pulled it off the shelf and reread it, and y'know what? It was far from wonderful. I wouldn't go as far as to call it terrible - the fact remains, I've read worse books, far worse books, but this one's definitly up there with the bad ones.

The plot is unclear. From the start, it's unclear why the Scattered ones are scattered, why they leap - even when it's explained, later on, the explanation is weak. The motive and power and drive behind thier pursor, the Darkling, is unclear. Everything about Dutchman is unclear. And throughout the whole book you can never really get a clear grasp on whether the Scattered ones are the lucky ones, that they can live so many lives, or the cursed ones, to never get to live out one life completely, to be forced to keep moving. The explanation behind the Despair herself is weak . . . a bit of mystery in a plot is a lovely thing, even a bit that remains unresolved to the last, but at least explain properly the things you try to explain! Nothing in this book is really made clear, and as a reader and writer of fantasy, this is quite frustrating to me in a read. The surprises are unsurprising and unexciting. The characters seemed stock as well, the relationships between them one dimensional and either stagnant or too quick, developing in ways that the writer doesn't develop but rather jumps to.

The book is choppy, slow moving, amorphous, and while a clever idea, quite badly executed. In its one defense, the chapter titles made me smile.

I'm giving this book two stars because I really did like it when I was younger, enough to let me remember it fondly for a whole bunch of years. I guess once my tastes got more mature, though . . .

I recommend this book. It is very well written, and maintained my interest. I have read it three times in the last two years, and I rarely read a book more than once.

I read this book a few years ago and enjoyed it thoughly. This book is an excelent work of contemporary fantasy.