Official Review: Blackstairs by Angela Gait
Posted: 31 Jul 2014, 01:48
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Blackstairs" by Angela Gait.]
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Blackstairs, By Angela Gait is set in a small town outside of London. In this town Tom Hobson, the main character, is running away from his responsibilities in London by staying at his uncle’s ruined mansion, Blackstairs. The premise of this novel is that while Tom is running away from his pregnant girlfriend, he stumbles upon some information about a hidden treasure that resides at Blackstairs. The book description on Amazon writes that this novel is “both a mystery and a romance, Blackstairs is about hunting for treasure: what it is and where you find it”. Though this novel does feature an attempt at mystery and romance, as well as an actual hunt for treasure, the book description is completely misleading. In actuality this novel is about Tom trying to figure out his life, and find his place in the world through writing a novel based on the “treasure hunt” that he is a part of.
The novel that Tom is writing is about the life of Isabel Kelland, the treasure owner, and her sister. This serves as a story within a story. Normally I enjoy stories within stories where the reader experiences different time periods, but in this case it didn’t quite work out. To begin with, the story within a story begins abruptly with no type of indication that the author has switched characters and periods completely. I was in the middle of reading a chapter and then the story changes to Tom’s novel out of the blue. Once I got over the first switch in stories, I was disappointed because throughout the entire novel there was no indication of which story you were in. Normally this would be fine to do in a novel, but Angela Gait is not consistent in how she switches stories. In some instances she switches off every other chapter, but then she will have one story continue for chapters at a time.
I also had a problem with the author’s pacing. With her advertising this novel as a mystery and a romance, I expected a fast paced exciting novel. I was thoroughly disappointed. It started off slow, and continues its slow pace till the end. Because of this, I didn’t find the novel very interesting. I mean there would be bits that are interesting scattered through the text that you expect the author to expand on, but she seems to drop the point and move on to something else. This, among other things, made me as a reader feel as if the author did not really know where she was headed in her story. It didn’t seem as if there was neither a purpose nor an end goal. This made the novel difficult to read. It was more of a chore.
Another thing that I didn’t particularly enjoy about the novel is that it ended abruptly, especially compared to the fact that a lot of the book was drawn out. To me it felt as if the author was tired of writing, or like she was just trying to find a way to end the novel. There is a lot of conflict that goes unresolved, as well as characters that were dropped of without any explanation. To me it was like these issues were swept underneath a rug with the hopes that the reader would forget about them.
One thing that I did like about this novel is that there are multiple answers for what the true treasure can be. The reader gets to choose based on their individual feelings. I also somewhat liked that the reader is able to decide for himself or herself how some things ended in the novel. Lastly the writing wasn’t bad and overall the plot had some interesting factors, even if they weren’t expanded upon. Though there are some good aspects that come out near the end of the novel, I don’t think it is worth reading to the end to get to those good aspects.
The sad part is that I really wanted to enjoy this novel. With its promise of mystery, romance, and treasure hunting, I knew that this was going to be a thrilling book that I wouldn’t be able to put down. Unfortunately, this was not the case. With its lack of focus, inconsistencies, and my struggle to find interesting subject matter in this novel, I would give this novel 2 out of 4 stars. The reason why I decided to give this novel 2 stars instead of less is because I think I could have enjoyed this novel more if it had an accurate description of what it was going to be about. If I wasn’t expecting a fast pace and thrilling mystery and romance, I may have felt differently about it as a whole. I believe that this book will appeal to people who like reading about internal struggles that we go through. I also think people who enjoy books of existential crisis would enjoy this book because I believe that Blackstairs is borderline.
***
Buy "Blackstairs" on Amazon
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The novel that Tom is writing is about the life of Isabel Kelland, the treasure owner, and her sister. This serves as a story within a story. Normally I enjoy stories within stories where the reader experiences different time periods, but in this case it didn’t quite work out. To begin with, the story within a story begins abruptly with no type of indication that the author has switched characters and periods completely. I was in the middle of reading a chapter and then the story changes to Tom’s novel out of the blue. Once I got over the first switch in stories, I was disappointed because throughout the entire novel there was no indication of which story you were in. Normally this would be fine to do in a novel, but Angela Gait is not consistent in how she switches stories. In some instances she switches off every other chapter, but then she will have one story continue for chapters at a time.
I also had a problem with the author’s pacing. With her advertising this novel as a mystery and a romance, I expected a fast paced exciting novel. I was thoroughly disappointed. It started off slow, and continues its slow pace till the end. Because of this, I didn’t find the novel very interesting. I mean there would be bits that are interesting scattered through the text that you expect the author to expand on, but she seems to drop the point and move on to something else. This, among other things, made me as a reader feel as if the author did not really know where she was headed in her story. It didn’t seem as if there was neither a purpose nor an end goal. This made the novel difficult to read. It was more of a chore.
Another thing that I didn’t particularly enjoy about the novel is that it ended abruptly, especially compared to the fact that a lot of the book was drawn out. To me it felt as if the author was tired of writing, or like she was just trying to find a way to end the novel. There is a lot of conflict that goes unresolved, as well as characters that were dropped of without any explanation. To me it was like these issues were swept underneath a rug with the hopes that the reader would forget about them.
One thing that I did like about this novel is that there are multiple answers for what the true treasure can be. The reader gets to choose based on their individual feelings. I also somewhat liked that the reader is able to decide for himself or herself how some things ended in the novel. Lastly the writing wasn’t bad and overall the plot had some interesting factors, even if they weren’t expanded upon. Though there are some good aspects that come out near the end of the novel, I don’t think it is worth reading to the end to get to those good aspects.
The sad part is that I really wanted to enjoy this novel. With its promise of mystery, romance, and treasure hunting, I knew that this was going to be a thrilling book that I wouldn’t be able to put down. Unfortunately, this was not the case. With its lack of focus, inconsistencies, and my struggle to find interesting subject matter in this novel, I would give this novel 2 out of 4 stars. The reason why I decided to give this novel 2 stars instead of less is because I think I could have enjoyed this novel more if it had an accurate description of what it was going to be about. If I wasn’t expecting a fast pace and thrilling mystery and romance, I may have felt differently about it as a whole. I believe that this book will appeal to people who like reading about internal struggles that we go through. I also think people who enjoy books of existential crisis would enjoy this book because I believe that Blackstairs is borderline.
***
Buy "Blackstairs" on Amazon