Book Review: The Shock of Night

The Shock of Night by Patrick W. Carr

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


“Despite their conviction of my guilt, they weren't stupid, and the village idiot could piece the reason for the attack together.”

Willet Dura stated this over 200 pages into the book. After 300 pages, I still couldn't “piece the reason” together for why anything was happening in this story. Maybe it was because I would read this before bed, so I was tired, but I've read engaging books while being exhausted and understood them. I didn't finish this book, but I may finish it at a later time.

This book had some interesting concepts going on. Religious orders and magical gifts that enhance people's abilities were some of the biggest ones. The concepts and setting took a background to the story probably too much. World-building should contribute to the plot, but there was such a lack of world-buildling that it weakened the plot.

Points in the plot were presented briefly before jumping to another plot point, and then to another, and another. Then we would return to one of those plot points, and then jump back to another one or a new one. Characters were mentioned that I had never heard of without explanation, or hadn't read about for a while, as if I as the reader should know everything about the characters already. The story became rather convoluted and jerky, and I easily became lost in the overall plot.

Part of my problem with the story was the whole ordeal about Willet's “vault.” I guess cracking it can make a guy a vegetable, but I don't understand why it was so important that they do it except to figure out how he stumbled out alive from the Darkwater. When I put this book down I had finally gotten somewhere interesting. Another problem I had were Willet's investigations into these different murders, but I had a hard time tying their importance together because the narration didn't give me enough information. When Willet talked about the village idiot, I felt kind of insulted, because I was deep in the dark at that point.

I had a hard time understanding the role of the Vigil. They pretended to be this really secretive group of people, and for some reason their gift is really outstanding, yet they openly interact with the king and members of the religious orders. They don't bother a lot to keep themselves hidden. They can read the memories of people...and that's about it. In the book the leader of the Vigil warns about reading too many memories from multiple people to learn who's guilty...but isn't that what you would use it for, just in moderation? I didn't understand the reason for the Vigil's existence, or why they held so much sway except to shatter people's minds (while implying to be the “good guys”) and they only seemed to be there to hound the main character.

I wanted to like this book. I like a good tome of fantasy. However, this book was all over the place, and when one of the only times I can read is right before bed, I need a book that's easy to understand while still maintaining good twists and mysteries. This book strove to hold up its fantastical elements, but it was too busy stumbling around trying to piece a convoluted plot together to let those elements shine.

I think maybe if I return to this book at a later time and start from the beginning I may be able to piece things together better.

Also, there were lots of comma splices.




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