Harris's Reviews > Accursed

Retro review*

Content warnings: (view spoiler)[rape, incest, suicide (hide spoiler)]

I recall feeling ambivalent towards this book when I read it some years ago. Finding it at the library after watching all of the fun little BBC flash animations online (remember those?), I thought that it might be interesting. On the one hand, I felt that the main characters introduced in the web series, such as siblings Tamora and Will and even the ghosts, were very well portrayed in the novel, with their personalities and motivations very distinct and believable, and more or less true to the early 19th century English setting (at least for a silly novel about superhero ghosts). The plot, on the other hand, was so cliched and rather over the top at times it seemed more like the set up for a video game.

While some disturbing and out of place cursed statues led to some grim scenes (to say the least, see content warnings), the monster overload with various beasts from Indian folklore popping up in hoards was a little much, even in a book where ghosts show up all the time. I felt that the main villain could have been interesting, but was left pretty one dimensional. In the end, I felt that the book was a little two sided; on the one hand, the main characters were likable, and the scenes without reference to the main plot were extremely enjoyable. On the other, they weren't able to express themselves much when dealing with the stereotypical monstrous army about to descend on unsuspecting London. Could this have been the result of the two different authors competing for space?

*This was the first book review I posted on the internet back in '06, slightly edited and reposted here.