The Murdstone Trilogy

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - North Yarmouth Academy, Yarmouth, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: May 11, 2016

Review

With black humor, Peet gives a grand send-up in his final novel. Peet's writing is luminous and his story is scathing and real and funny and twisted. Philip Murdstone is a serious novelist who has hit a wall - his writing style is not selling and his agent has a suggestion to get him back in the game: fantasy. He must write a fantasy novel with all of its tropes and conventions. This idea is vile to Murdstone, but on a drunken afternoon on the Moors, a voice comes to him and offers him a story and he takes it and delves into it and at some point the story becomes snarled together, what is real, what is story? In the end, can Murdstone escape his own story? The most difficult thing about this book is going to be finding the audience. The language is difficult, so only your stronger readers will stick with this, and it is dark humor merged with fantasy, so your high fantasy readers might not love the despair that is mixed in, and your lovers of satire might not love the fantasy passages. It would be good for adults who appreciate both fantasy and satire. Peet is a talent gone too soon.

Overall Book Score: very good