Laura and I (Guinevere) are often reading very different genres when we catch up and compare notes. Laura reads way more nonfiction and Agatha Christie than I do, while I mix literary sobfests with romcoms. But we also enjoy a lot of the same books.
Under the Whispering Door, by TJ Klune, was a recent one that we both read and loved… with a catch. I spent the entire book frustrated that I had no grasp of how old the protagonist was—30? 45? 60? This is a character-driven fantasy that demands the reader become emotionally invested in the story. The fact that I couldn’t paint a portrait of one of the main characters in my mind (while the others were fully drawn!) made it difficult to stay in world. If that was intentional on the part of the author, it was annoying.
We both loved Klune’s first book, The House in the Cerulean Sea, but Laura pointed out that many of the same tropes from his first book show up in Whispering Door. Klune is a talented storyteller, so here’s hoping that he breaks out of the same mold and expands the structure of his next book.
How about you? Read anything good lately? Have any thoughts on TJ Klune? Comments are open!
Another Laura here :) I also usually enjoy non-fiction. I just finished Madeline Milers’s Circe and loved it. What a great revival of the Greek classics.
Another Laura here :) I also usually enjoy non-fiction. I just finished Madeline Milers’s Circe and loved it. What a great revival of the Greek classics.