Dax's Reviews > Small World

Tastes change over time. I don’t get to re-read many books (there are just too damn many that need reading), but if I did I am sure many of the books I previously loved would probably fall short of those fond memories. I really liked Evison’s ‘West of Here’. I loved that the central character was the land itself and I remember being impressed with the writing.

Either Evison’s writing has gone to shit or my tastes have changed significantly. ‘Small World’ bored me to no end and I couldn’t stand Evison’s insistence on explaining every comment and thought from his characters. I suppose I’ve grown to enjoy writing that leaves much to interpretation; writing that doesn’t feel the need to hold our hand to help us understand characters.

The structure of the book is actually quite good. I liked that Evison tells us straight from the get go what is going to happen to the present day characters, but I was disinterested in the personal stories of both the modern day characters and those of the 19th century. I found them flat and, dare I say, cliche.

Evison was on to something with the general concept of this novel, but the execution was not there. I didn’t like it at all, and now I need to re-read ‘West of Here’ to find out just how much my tastes have changed. A book that is not totally devoid of merits, but a one star read for me.