Published September 3, 2009.When Echo the Crat's mistress dies, he is compelled to sign a contract with Ghoolion the Alchemaster. This fateful document gives Ghoolion the right to kill Echo at the next full moon and render his fat, which he hopes to brew into an immortality potion. But Ghoolion has not reckoned with Echo's talent for survival and his ability to make new friends. (book back blurb)
This was another BEA grab I made. Really, I need to learn to be much more selective the next time around. Ok, so I thought the cat (which is actually a Crat) was cute. So I snagged it. Do you blame me? Could you resist? Plus it sounded like a really interesting world so I wanted to try it out.
And you know what, it was good. Actually, it was better than that despite how dense in description it was. And I mean really dense. That was why I stopped reading it. Not because I got bored or didn't enjoy what I was reading. I just didn't have the patience to get through it all. It's long. 372 pages. It's a trade paperback so it's bigger than a mass market size. The font is tiny and so are the margins. And the plot progresses excessively slowly because of all of the description.
But the thing is, it's really fun description. And I love the tone. It's quirky and darkly humorous and you can't help but pity this little Crat for the situation he's in. Right when I stopped was when the plot regarding Ghoolion was starting to get pretty interesting (not that it wasn't already) and I wanted to read on but by that point I'd already spent a week on the book and I hadn't even broached 100 pages yet. See what I mean? It's going to take some patience to get through this.
It's such a rich world. I would say enchanting but there isn't anything all that enchanting about it thanks to the alchemaster. Grotesque would be more like it. Every single character, even those in passing, are insanely well-developed from the second they're mentioned that you can't help but picture them in your head. The illustrations in the book don't hurt either! They're great and at times unnerving but you can't take your eyes away from them. They just make the words that much richer.
If I didn't have such a huge TBR pile with a bunch of time-sensitive books still left to read, I would have read this one to the end because, at the end of the day, I really wanted to. But I just don't have the patience to take 3 weeks to read one book right now. No rating for this one since I didn't finish it.
Contest Time!!!
Want my ARC? It's all yours. Just leave me a comment with your email and answer this question--
What makes you ultimately stop reading a book even though, deep down, you want to keep reading to the end?
No answer, no entry. Period.
Contest ends October 13th at midnight, EST. US residents only. Good luck!
What makes you ultimately stop reading a book even though, deep down, you want to keep reading to the end?
No answer, no entry. Period.
Contest ends October 13th at midnight, EST. US residents only. Good luck!
