The discovery of a two thousand-year-old body perfectly preserved in peat has excited the academic world. But to many he is more than the simple historic relic scholars see. He is central to the ancient spiritual traditions of the locals and his removal from the Moss precipitates a series of tragedies for the isolated community where he was found. They want him put back. While fundamentalist Christians and satanic cultists have both put their own interpretation on the discovery and seek to use it for their own ends eventually bringing disaster down on the town.
I am a fan of Phil Rickman, having discovered him through his Merrily Watkins series, and am slowly working my way through his back catalogue. The Man in the Moss is one of his earlier works and while I enjoyed the story I really don’t think it was one of his best.
I found the dialogue had an extensive use of dialect, which is one of my pet hates. I find it breaks up the flow and can become difficult to read.
He also felt the need to introduce a huge cast of characters, many of which were not central to the story. As a result every so often a name would pop up and I would be pulled out of the story trying to remember who that person was. When he had already drawn good strong primary and secondary characters I thought the additional details of insignificant characters, or indeed the inclusion of these characters at all, unnecessary.
I can certainly see the beginnings of what has since become Phil Rickman’s literary voice. Complexity of plot, good strong characterisation, great sense of atmosphere and supernatural elements grounded in reality enough to make them believable and hence scary are all here. But this early work does lack that certain something and I found it a mediocre read. If you are already a fan of Phil Rickman’s work I would recommend it for the sake of completeness. If you are interested in trying Rickman, start with one of his later works. - Lynn
No comments:
Post a Comment