The Narrows

The Narrows by Alexander C. Irvine

For a book that I picked up on a vague recommendation, and saved as filler when I didn't have anything else to read, this turned out to be one of the better reads I've had in quite a while. It did not let me down. I would recommend this book to anyone, it was well written and the character of Jared was developed and complex.

I'm not a genius by any means, but I think I have this nack for predicting the endings of movies and books. Not through and sort of attention to detail, or close observance of the details, because in fiction, the details are just the authors whims and completely malleable. Instead, I think that this useless super power comes from a realization of how the author wants his work to end. You can get a feel for how the author feels about his characters, and more importantly how he feels about his story, and more often than not this can lead you to a pretty good guess at how he wants it to end.

Which is partially why I'm getting tired of the god versus evil clash with the inevitable outcome. I swar, one more book with an evil brother and a good brother.... ug...

But The Narrows has a real characters in a very real world (and there's the part that amazes me, how does an author create such a real world with golems, frost giants and fire imps?) where real things happen to them.

Married couples have problems, but still love each other. People work long days and cherish their weekends. Men stand around talking about sports scores. The boss at work is a jerk. I think that even the racial tensions in the book, set in the 1940s, are portrayed well. Given, I wasn't alive in the 40s so I can't say for sure.

So finally, instead of just being a book that will get you by between Meiville or Gaiman works, this book should be recommend along with them. It's going on my favorite books shelf. 9.0/10