I love David Mitchell’s writing. He can sure string a sentence together.
In this eerie novel, reminiscent of The Bone Clocks, Mitchell brings his fantasy world of shape-shifting, immortal, benders-of-time to life, using much the same language as his other books. It’s very clever.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get scared from this book. I don’t handle “horror” themes very well. Not that this is exactly horror… but creepy stuff doesn’t sit well with me. And it is creeeepy.
Nevertheless, I loved it 🙂
Slade House is a mysterious house that appears in Slade Alley every 9 years to lure an unsuspecting person with a certain type of devourable soul inside. A beautiful garden, a massive mansion and seemingly friendly people greet our array of protagonists, but still they are drawn into the exact same trap every 9 years to keep the cycle of existence alive for the two twins who live in Slade House.
Mitchell explains the mechanics of the system in detail, outlining just how Norah and Jonah Grayer have been alive for over a hundred years and how they exist in a house that is in the past. I find that he often links his books to the magical/spiritual realm in some way, even if it’s somewhat subtle like in The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. There’s also another constant in Mitchell’s books – a character named ‘Marinus’.
This book is no exception. Marinus brings down the cruel reign of the Grayer twins, ending their decades of devouring innocent souls… but not before too many are drawn into the trap.
Read this book if:
- You like creepiness
- You’re a fan of science-fiction, timey-wimey, immortality stuff
- You love beautiful, elegant descriptions and well rounded characters
- You’re into fantasy
- You can’t say know to a classic ‘haunted house’ tale
Reviews and Excerpts 