Patricia Lee

A strange and very long book. Thrilling, well-told central plot but I agree with another reviewer who said she needs someone strong to edit, Edit, EDIT! Rowling dwells too much on and returns too often to some details such as the pig photos and has too many sub-plots, with the final chapters being rushed and the denouement unconvincingly achieved. It’s as though even JK herself realised it had all gone on just too long! Robin’s courage and internal monologues are gripping and the many, many characters vividly drawn. Some things, however, just did not make sense, like Mazu and her sons’ lack of personal hygiene (unless this was just an obscurely elaborate build-up to the stomach-churning foot-kissing episode). I was baffled that hundreds of severely undernourished and broken church members could suddenly smile radiantly and confidently attract new recruits at the temple. It made no sense there would be outside-world newspapers left lying around Jacob’s bedroom and was completely implausible that Becca Pirbright could spout about Ofsted in an interview when she was a product of the very limited education given to the children at Chapman Farm. As with the later Harry Potter books, it seems to me that publishers know Rowling’s gripping storytelling will keep people coming back for more, but sometimes Less is More. This book is a page-turner but spoilt by disappointingly avoidable flaws.