This story was fine. I can't really give it more than that, I didn't hate it, parts of it I liked.
To give him due credit Bill Swiggs has written a story set in a brilliant setting, Australia during a gold rush, and the opening of the story gave me real hope and interest, that this would be a interesting novel filled with gold hunting and bandits and action, an Australian Western if you will.
However in my view whilst the book had the potential to be great it all fell a bit flat. Lots of the characters,except for Toby,Paddy and Frank, feel a little underdeveloped, and certain characters continue to pop up with little explanation as to how they've ended up in the same situations.
The book has many short good chapters that move the plot along, or have some action in, but these I feel were out weighed by many chapters labouring the point of how hard life was in this time and place, and how few people were successful.
Reading the blurb gave me the impression this was going to be a tale fille with action and revenge, in particular ' outwit the rich businessman' is a bit misleading, as he quickly disappears from the story, and is wrapped up towards the end by other characters stories, and this tale lacks the sense of vengeance I feel was implied by the blurb and opening chapters.
Overall I was left having finished the book feeling a little nonplussed.
To give him due credit Bill Swiggs has written a story set in a brilliant setting, Australia during a gold rush, and the opening of the story gave me real hope and interest, that this would be a interesting novel filled with gold hunting and bandits and action, an Australian Western if you will.
However in my view whilst the book had the potential to be great it all fell a bit flat. Lots of the characters,except for Toby,Paddy and Frank, feel a little underdeveloped, and certain characters continue to pop up with little explanation as to how they've ended up in the same situations.
The book has many short good chapters that move the plot along, or have some action in, but these I feel were out weighed by many chapters labouring the point of how hard life was in this time and place, and how few people were successful.
Reading the blurb gave me the impression this was going to be a tale fille with action and revenge, in particular ' outwit the rich businessman' is a bit misleading, as he quickly disappears from the story, and is wrapped up towards the end by other characters stories, and this tale lacks the sense of vengeance I feel was implied by the blurb and opening chapters.
Overall I was left having finished the book feeling a little nonplussed.