The Spleandour Falls: How To Love And Hate A Book Simultaneously

The Spleandour Falls by Sunanna Kearsley

When I first started reading this book, I thought I was reading an Otome game script. This plain Jane gets invited on this amazing adventure to France, which for some reason she doesn't want to go on, where she meets a slew of beautiful men. Of course these men all flock to her like she's some kind of Aphrodite in the flesh. For the first couple chapters I was tempted to close the book and do something more useful with my time. But I kept reading because I hate abandoning books, and I'm glad I didn't.

Don't get me wrong, this book is far from perfect. There are flaws, but after the characters are all introduced, and the relationships start developing, it's actually a pretty good read.

What I Loved:

The Passion. It was obvious that Kearsley was passionate about what she was writing. Particularly when it came to the setting. I'd never heard of Chinon before reading this book, but her attention to detail and gorgeous descriptions made me add it to my list of future travel plans. That's how amazing this woman is at imagery. If she ever decides to quit writing novels, she could have a pretty good career writing travel brochures. I could see the steps leading up to the chateau, the hotel bar that the characters regularly gathered in, and the cramped roads of the city, along with just about everything else she described throughout the book. Honestly, it was probably that passion that made me finish reading this book, and want to visit Chinon.

Simon. Simon, despite not being the main character, was the best developed. He had quirks that made him seem realistic, like his obsession with Ulysses, and a tendency to run off and smoke in private so his brother wouldn't find out.

The history. I love when a fiction novel has real history tied in. I love it even more when it teaches me something new. I found myself Googling all sorts of things while reading this book, and I was amazed by how accurate her history was, when I did my own little research. By the end of the book I had actually learned a lot about

Little lines of poetry. At the beginning of every chapter, there was always a little snippet from Tennyson's The Princess, which usually tied nicely into what was going on in the chapter. I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan of poetry. I was required to take a poetry class in college for my major, and ever since then I find it hard to read a poem unless I can figure out what it's about.

Not so much:

Character development. While some of the characters were pretty well developed (Simon, Harry, and Martine were some of the better developed characters) others seemed pretty static, which is a shame, because these characters had a lot of potential. It's interesting that Emily and Neil were pretty underdeveloped. There were times when their personalities shined, but a lot of the story they seemed to just be there, despite being main characters. While Harry, who only shows his face a few times in the entire book, was an incredibly believable character.

The language. Apparently no one in this story knows what a contraction is. I'm not saying this is an actual problem, but it is a personal pet peeve. There were times when I felt like I was reading a book set in the Victorian era. Keep in mind, though, that I was born and raised in the United States, where slang is the norm, and proper grammar is a thing of the past. There could be several reasons characters talk the way they do. For one, a lot of the dialogue is supposed to be an English translation of French speech.

The romance. I'm not too into romance, but I don't have a problem with it, either. I prefer my romance to be a sort of sub plot rather than the whole reason the book is being written. In this case, it definitely was a sub-plot, but it was executed pretty poorly. There was a lot of potential for romance, what with her constantly being surrounded by gorgeous men, and every now and then one of them would show some interest, but nothing actually developed until the very end. I mean the, very, end. You could tell they would get together, maybe halfway through the book, but Emily was too stubborn and acting like an elementary school girl, and the guy (not giving spoilers here!) was... no idea. Shy maybe? Waiting for her to make a move that took an entire book to happen? And then when Emily finally does come around, it's far too abrupt to be realistic.

The ending. I had a feeling that the main antagonist was, in fact, the main antagonist pretty early in the story. There was definitely something unnerving about him, but there were no real clues as to why he would be the culprit behind the crimes happening throughout the book. Just because someone is vaguely creepy doesn't mean they're a murderer. When it was revealed he was, it wasn't all that surprising, but the abrupt way it was revealed was a bit upsetting. Or maybe this was just me missing important clues and foreshadowing.

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