A fantasy thriller that I struggled to follow and finished utterly confused.
Marketed as an original and compelling thriller, the blurb for The Spiral does not mention that the second half is almost entirely a fantasy story that relies heavily on the reader being invested enough to persevere with this creative turn. I found the book difficult to follow and despite reading in its entirety I spent a large part of it completely confused and the final part devoid of all interest! Even after some extensive re-reading I found the plot progression incomprehensible however fantasy is not a genre that I unusually read.
At the age of twenty-seven, Dr Erma Bridges is a full-time academic in the Centre for Creative Writing and Cultural Understanding at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Her childhood obsession with the Choose Your Own Adventure novels that were introduced in the 1980s has become the focal point of her career. Contracted by an academic publisher to write a book about the history of reader-deployed young adult fiction, her research assistant, Jenny Wasserman, was employed to conduct and transcribe the interviews that were due to be the source material. However erratic Jenny is stalling and despite having managed to conduct a face-to-face interview with reclusive Archibald Moder, a godfather of the genre, she seems have mysteriously disappeared without handing over the material. A loose cannon in her own right, Erma’s problems escalate when she is issued with notice of disciplinary proceedings pertaining to misconduct of a personal nature and she immediately assumes the complainant is the absent Jenny. Erma’s colleague, Kanika, is meanwhile researching representations of missing women in the Queensland media largely due to the universities own history of missing females and her story overlaps somewhat with that of Erma.
Protagonist Erma’s story is told in the first person as, reeling from the notice of disciplinary action, she goes on the hunt to the local bars and nightclubs to find Jenny but when she turns up it is with a gun and she shoots Erma twice before taking her own life. Aggressive and surly Erma is not the easiest to feel sympathy for but just as the book looks like a standard thriller and a straight out hunt for Jenny, Erma manages to secure a repeat interview with Archibald Moder. Things start to turn a little wacky when a second narrative begins following fantasy barbarian Sero, the fictional hero of Moder’s creation who preoccupies Erma’s dreams. Things become even stranger again when Erma travels to interview Moder and the novel combines over the top violence and a stupidly unrealistic thriller component with Sero’s quest to regain his memories. If it sounds bizarre that is because it well and truly is and whilst Sero’s narrative might be fantastical, Erma’s isn’t far short as she is so loosely tethered to reality that I found her actions increasingly tiresome.
Worth trying if you are a fan of fantasy novels but I think The Spiral has the potential to befuddle many more readers than it captivates.
At the age of twenty-seven, Dr Erma Bridges is a full-time academic in the Centre for Creative Writing and Cultural Understanding at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Her childhood obsession with the Choose Your Own Adventure novels that were introduced in the 1980s has become the focal point of her career. Contracted by an academic publisher to write a book about the history of reader-deployed young adult fiction, her research assistant, Jenny Wasserman, was employed to conduct and transcribe the interviews that were due to be the source material. However erratic Jenny is stalling and despite having managed to conduct a face-to-face interview with reclusive Archibald Moder, a godfather of the genre, she seems have mysteriously disappeared without handing over the material. A loose cannon in her own right, Erma’s problems escalate when she is issued with notice of disciplinary proceedings pertaining to misconduct of a personal nature and she immediately assumes the complainant is the absent Jenny. Erma’s colleague, Kanika, is meanwhile researching representations of missing women in the Queensland media largely due to the universities own history of missing females and her story overlaps somewhat with that of Erma.
Protagonist Erma’s story is told in the first person as, reeling from the notice of disciplinary action, she goes on the hunt to the local bars and nightclubs to find Jenny but when she turns up it is with a gun and she shoots Erma twice before taking her own life. Aggressive and surly Erma is not the easiest to feel sympathy for but just as the book looks like a standard thriller and a straight out hunt for Jenny, Erma manages to secure a repeat interview with Archibald Moder. Things start to turn a little wacky when a second narrative begins following fantasy barbarian Sero, the fictional hero of Moder’s creation who preoccupies Erma’s dreams. Things become even stranger again when Erma travels to interview Moder and the novel combines over the top violence and a stupidly unrealistic thriller component with Sero’s quest to regain his memories. If it sounds bizarre that is because it well and truly is and whilst Sero’s narrative might be fantastical, Erma’s isn’t far short as she is so loosely tethered to reality that I found her actions increasingly tiresome.
Worth trying if you are a fan of fantasy novels but I think The Spiral has the potential to befuddle many more readers than it captivates.