The Plague Charmer

''Owls know when death is coming.''

Yes, beautiful sentence. It hooked my attention from the start. However, it is said that first impressions are usually deceiving, and in the case of ''The Plague Charmer'' I was deceived and disappointed.

It is hard to write a review about a book that made you feel nothing. All the premises were there, after all. A mystery set in England during the era of the Great Pestilence, a strong heroine, a witch, a clever dwarf (Tyrion seems to have inspired one or two writers...) That is why the disappointment was even greater.

There are four main points of view. Of course, every recent book of the genre has the ambition to follow on the steps of A Song of Ice and Fire, but let us face it, it will fail miserably. Anyway, here we have Sara, Will, Luke and Lady Christina. There is a common denominator that links the paths of these people, something which is revealed soon in the story. The central theme is prejudice. The well-known medieval prejudice of holy relics, the charlatanes that claimed to know how to drive the sickness away....

There are many elements of magical realism. Too many, in fact, that make me think we are rather on Fantasy ground here. It is quite far-fetched, it doesn't make the story better and I ended up not taking it seriously at all. It is a pity, really, because the beginning of the story leads the reader right into the action, and it's very engaging. However, the narrative stales after about the 50% mark. It seems we are stuck in the same place forever, watching the same debates, and the ending is predictable and anti-climactic.

The characters are nothing to write home about. Matilda and Eda win a rightful place in the squad of the most annoying characters, Luke and Christina have their own clichéd subplots, Will is the stereotype of the clever, mistreated dwarf, and Janiveer is a character that had some potential, but the mysticism associated with her was quickly turned into the Evil Witch. The character of Sara, though, was the reason I kept on reading. She is a well-written, strong heroine with strong principles and a fierce love for her sons.

The language and the dialogue were uneven. There were some examples of beautiful prose, but there was also much repetition, and many internal monologues that slowed the story down and not in a positive way. Too much length with no significance.

I feel this is a cold review, cold like the feeling I had when I finished the novel. It didn't stay with me,it left me distant and indifferent as to the fate of most of the characters, and this is never a good sign, right? So, if we look at it as an example of medieval fantasy, it may be interesting to some. However, seen under the light of the historical fiction genre, it falls short. I have read The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland and I had the same problems, though the Icelandic setting was a great advantage. Perhaps, this author isn't for me.