Yes, the sequel series to Duncton Wood! I'm finally giving it a look. Spoilers ahead.
Many moleyears after the original trilogy, a mole named Privet seeks to find the Book of Silence. We delve into a current conflict with a cult known as the Newborns, and also go into Privet's past, as well as the past of a mole named Rooster.
On the surface: Yes, this is a great book. The story is intricate, the world-building and lore very engaging, the characters great and well-rounded. But I have one major issue with this book. The pacing and structure.
Because boy is it, well, just odd, to be frank. The first several hundred pages are all about the present-day conflict with the Newborns and keeping the libraries safe, but then after a while we go into a flashback regarding Privet's past. And that's fine and all, but it lasts for ages. Like, several hundred pages, almost until the very end of the book. To the point we have very little focus on the Newborns plotline past the halfway point of the book and it pretty much becomes all flashback (with a few brief sections back in the present).
And then, the book proceeds to have even more flashbacks, sometimes even flashbacks within flashbacks, about another mole named Rooster. And I get it, Rooster is an important character for the story and his backstory definitely needs setup. But to go into such a huge flashback just completely disrupts the flow of the story.
I do like these characters, and I do like Rooster's backstory, it was quite interesting to read. But the structure is just so wildly inconsistent I can't help but think this could've been handled a different way. Like if this had been briefer flashbacks, or maybe written chronologically, I don't know, just something different, that probably could've worked a whole lot better.
I'm not saying this is an awful book and I do genuinely think it's pretty great, but the slow pace and very weird structure definitely made me deduct a star. I hope books two and three have less setup and more of the actual present-day plot going on.
Rating: 4/5
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