I'm kind of glad this one will take us away from this region of the world, finally. Much as I was intrigued by 1920s Morocco (in much the same way as I was intrigued by Jerusalem and Portugal), I would like to return to Dear Old England. (Not that I'm getting that, in that the next book is set in Japan, but at least the one after that is set in Britain.)
In addition, lots of 1920s colonial politics is just... boring. It should be very interesting reading about a past that has so many ramifications in how the politics of today play themselves out. But King is not able to make that connection as there is no opportunity to make any overt conclusion about the current political climate. (Ms. Russell is not a time traveler, after all.) I'm not greatly bothered by the fact that I am left to my own conclusions, but I would prefer not to read page upon page about the minute interactions between Northern Africa, France, Spain, and ultimately at the core, Britain.
Of course, the actual thrilling bits are quite thrilling, the bad guy is as expected, and there are more layers to the reveal than just him. We end up getting the full flavor of why the title of the book is what it is. Nothing surprising there. Ultimately, satisfying to a far greater degree than her previous book about fake and real pirates. So, onwards to the next one!
No comments:
Post a Comment