Shaunna

I enjoyed it, but it's unlikely I'll reread this

My Favourite book for a quick read.

Simple with a lovely story.

This is the third and final book in the David Ash series by James Herbert. It is also the last book published by James Herbert before he passed away in 2013.

Before reading this book, I would highly recommend reading the other two books first, as events from those a referenced regularly. Further to this, I would also highly recommend not reading this as your first James Herbert book, if you have never read any of his books before.

My feelings for this books were very mixed. I enjoyed it, however I have so many issues with this book that it really affects how much I enjoyed, and further question if I even liked it at all.

The plot started off hopeful. It followed very similar line to other books in the David Ash series. You could easily tell it they were part of the same book series by the characters personalities and interactions along with the atmosphere created within the story itself. This didn't last very long, however.

Inner Court was a very interesting concept. I really enjoyed reading about the patients that were protected by them and lived at Comraich Castle. I also really enjoyed the controversial topics it talked about. Despite this, I felt it just didn't fit with this series, and the paranormal themes that took place. If there was no paranormal content to this story, I believe it would have been a better book. The story takes place over the course of three days and in those three days David Ash meets a woman tells her he loves her and she tells him she loves him back. It became this bizarre romance novel rather than a paranormal horror. About 60% of the way through I felt like I was reading a very extreme Nicholas Spark novel and considered DNFing as the plot became more predictable and unbelievable (particularly this weird romance that was occurring, and ended becoming the main plot). One particularly predictable scene was the scene involving Ash and the wildcats. It was extremely long and drawn out and ultimately ended exactly how you knew it would. It felt like pointless filler. I wanted to skip through it, but I was worried I might miss something important. I didn't, very little of what happened had any effect on the rest of the plot. There were some interesting things, like when as was unable to pass through the dense spider web and having no idea what lay beyond it. These events all had a lot of build up with very little payoff, which was extremely. Another example of this, where a plot point seemed key was the USB sticks, nothing ever came of them. They seemed interesting and important, however they were never really mentioned again and made that entire scene seem pointless and again feel like filler.Herbert also referenced is own books within the story. I'm all about self-promotion but it had no relevance other than there were rats in the cave with them. It felt misplaced and, once again, more filler.He just gave the impression that he was going for more of a shock factor than a horror factor, with references to the catholic church, the royal family (Princess Diana particularly), incest and other famous people and incidents. James Herbert's books have always had that but this one seemed particularly excessive and extreme. There were so many inconsistencies, for example the Bishop was on medication to stop him feeling any need for sexual arousal, however he was later seen with the nun. I would assume this is because of the ""haunting"" however, the other ex-priest said it had been going on for years, or that the nun was administering his medication to him. None of this is ever really explained or delved into. In fact the bishop and the nun are not really munch much after the initial introduction, unlike some other patients. Compared to James Herbert's previous books within this series, there was no tidy ending and no real explanations for the hauntings except speculation. You could question if there even was a haunting, considering the only part even remotely "paranormal" was the second to last chapter. Even that could have been chalked up to another explanation Cedric Twigg's insanity, for example (he did blow up a castle, after all and the book even stated that to be an assassin you had to be insane). Was he hallucinating? Similarly with the shapes in the smoke, fear could have caused the brain to see shapes within the smoke, like how people see faces in the bark of a tree. Maybe this was the point? However, the way it read and with the knowledge of previous books clouded my judgement. Maybe the insta-love between Delphine and David, and is adamant that there was a haunting, was just his own insanity. A result from past events.I could believe this if the characters didn't seem so 2D. Both the reoccurring and main characters from previous books didn't seem to have the same personalities or viewpoints. I understand that people change but they don't become different people, or regress in maturity (the insta-love), or all simultaneously lose all personality.This book was entertaining, but too long. It wasn't intriguing like his previous books, and I think what really did it for me was the insta-love, as it made absolutely no sense. The horror aspect was minimal, I was only ever slightly frightened (more uncomfortable) because it tapped into some things I do fear (like spiders and drowning).

When I reread the David Ash books in the future (which I will do as I love the other two, particularly the 2nd one) I think I will give this one a miss, the 700+ pages are not worth spending anymore of my time on.

My Ratings out of 10:Quality of writing - 8Pace - 7 Plot Development - 6 Characters - 6Enjoyability - 7Insightfulness - 4 Ease of reading - 3 Total Average Rating - 5.86Star Rating based on this 2.93Personal Star Rating - 3.5

Why do books do this to me? I hate the cliches but for some reason I always want the happily ever after

3.5 - It was enjoyable but not something I would ever reread, although I would recommend others to read it.