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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Fell" down at the end,
This review is from: The Books of Fell (Paperback)
M.E. Kerr's "Fell" trilogy is now compiled in one book, covering all three: "Fell," "Fell Back," and "Fell Down." While it's now commonplace to put old trilogies in one book, it doesn't really work out in this case. Though Kerr's vaguely fantastical prose and tense plotting are a delight to read, the story falls short in the last third, where everything seems to come unraveled.In "Fell," John Fell is an ordinary guy in a semi-ordinary town, with a shopaholic mother and a wealthy WASP girlfriend whose father is doing everything he can to break them up. His life takes an unexpected turn when a man he knows offers to send him to a wealthy prep school, pretending to be his own son. Needless to say, Fell jumps at the chance. At first he adjusts well into the rhythms of his new school, even being inducted into the elite Sevens group. But then he discovers that his benefactor's motives aren't all benevolent, and there may be murder in the air. "Fell Back" takes place directly after "Fell," in the aftermath of a seeming suicide. But Fell doesn't believe the boy's death was suicide -- he heard a scream. As he delves deeper into the mystery, he's also enlisted to divert a local townie girl from the man she is besotted with -- and this involvement leads him to a clash with the FBI. "Fell Down" follows the finale of "Fell Back," when one of Fell's friends dies in a suspicious car crash. Fell is, unsurprisingly, determined to find out the truth, but he's seriously contemplating leaving the school forever. After encountering his ex-girlfriend Keats, Fell begins to delve into a twenty-year-old mystery -- the mystery of the driver in the crash, Lenny Last, who was once a member of Sevens himself. Lenny's best friend mysteriously vanished many years before, and it seems to be linked to a malevolent ventriloquist's dummy... In the first two thirds of the book, Kerr proves herself to be an outstanding writer. The pace is quick, the prose is simple but evocative, and the characterizations are excellent. Unfortunately, the last third doesn't quite match up to the beginning. Kerr seems to drop many of the threads she had wound together in "Fell" and "Fell Back," in favor of a story that seems more than a little surreal compared to the stark realism of the first two. Too much focus is on Lenny and Nelson, and not enough on Fell and his friends, enemies and schoolmates; additionally, the idea of an evil inanimate dummy is somehow hard to swallow. It will also be rather disappointing to readers who want a slam-bang conclusion to the Fell Fell is an endearing everyman, an ordinary cop's son who has few misconceptions or genuine flaws. He may be a little naive, but he remains steady and reliable throughout the book. Some characters, like his mother, his teachers, and some of his classmates remain as insubstantial as ghosts. Others are as vibrant -- or even more so -- than real people. And Kerr does not pretend that anyone is uncomplicated. Almost every person in this book has their hidden thoughts, motives, and actions; an example would be the older girl that Fell dated, and who was secretly having an affair with his benefactor. The writing style has a slightly fantastical edge to it. While the plot is more of a murder mystery, there is a slight feel of unreality to the proceedings, as if anything could happen. The frequent changeovers -- where a seedy lowlife can be revealed as an FBI agent -- make this feeling even more prominent. And she manages to mingle romance, action, mystery, murder, surreal edges and a dash of the teen angst vibe. Though the last third is deeply flawed and not entirely satisfying, overall the Fell trilogy is an intriguing, slightly surreal read. Fans of murder mysteries and coming-of-age stories will find a good, if not entirely solid read here.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Good, But Strange,
By Katie (Annapolis, MD USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Books of Fell (Paperback)
The Books of Fell is a 595 page long book (three stories combined) about a young man named John Fell. A car accident with a stranger changes his life, and soon he finds himself in a fancy prep school. He gets tangled up in a strange fraternity-type group in the school whose members pledge to look out for each other, for life. It seems like good luck at first to get into the group, but soon things get complicated. A student is found dead, and Fell doesn't know if it's murder of suicide.The Books of Fell is a combination of a murder mystery, a romance, and an action book. There is one problem - it's confusing. I could barely understand what was happening. (That's the reason for only four stars) Everything is incredibly complicated. I would reccomend this book to mystery lovers but only if you have a couple of hours of free time. It's very long, and you might have to read some parts twice so that you know what's going on. It is a very clever plot, with plenty of strange twists. And it's original - it isn't at all like any book I've ever read. I would reccomend to ages 12&up. It's way too confusing for anyone younger. The Books of Fell is three stories combined- Fell, Fell Back, and Fell Down. (Haha, very clever). The first tells of Fell's entrance into the school, the second is a murder mystery and the third is the action part. Fell Down (the third part) is veeerrryyy strange and confusing and almost totally different from the first two sections. So if you like mysteries or M. E. Kerr's other books, read it. Otherwise skip it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
WANTING,
By
This review is from: The Books of Fell (Paperback)
Ok, i have the three in one version of the Fell books, and I love it .....sort-of. The first two as you may have read above are wonderful and kept me up late at night so I wouldn't be stuck wondering about the characters the next day. The book was also good, I didn't find it too confusing, but i did find it somewhat misleading. the transition from book two to three was somewhat week and it kind of made me feel as though I was entering one of those neverending series. Mostly because the plot was still so thick and no where near an ending, so i thought. But lo & behold the story ended. I flipped through the last few pages to be sure I hadn't missed anything. If the pages were stuck together or if there were some kind of announcement of the next book in the series, and when it was to come out. Plus there was a twist that now doesn't make any sense it almost seems as though she was about to tie it all up when she changed her mind. I wish that M.E, Kerr would write a last book in this series, to end it or to send Fell out of this circle of people so that one would understand that he is happy or something along those lines. I guess I like books that end with at least most of the story lines tied up. Now it seems silly that I stayed up late those nights to finish because I accomplished nothing, I am still wondering about those characters and what the conclusion of the story should be. Apart from the drop-off ending (which i know that i may be the only one to see this as a bad thing) The books were excellent and to quote millions of reviewer, "it was a real page turner"
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