Review of 'Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I'm not sure how to review this book. I feel like it was superb conceptually, but with notable flaws in its execution. The characters, world building, and overarching plot were captivating. I fell in love with Lou Merriwether, and the idea of a psychopomp as a main character is something that I always enjoy. She's conflicted, flawed, and at times wonderfully irrational. And she's 19, so it all makes sense. She makes the mistakes that 19-year-olds do: she focuses on her own feelings, figures out others' motives only in hindsight, is impulsive and uncertain by turns, is too clever for her own good, has an inflated sense of her own capabilities, and bites off more than she can chew. The characters all feel like real people: there is more going on than is immediately apparent, and many never have clear motives - or at least not motives that are tidily …
I'm not sure how to review this book. I feel like it was superb conceptually, but with notable flaws in its execution. The characters, world building, and overarching plot were captivating. I fell in love with Lou Merriwether, and the idea of a psychopomp as a main character is something that I always enjoy. She's conflicted, flawed, and at times wonderfully irrational. And she's 19, so it all makes sense. She makes the mistakes that 19-year-olds do: she focuses on her own feelings, figures out others' motives only in hindsight, is impulsive and uncertain by turns, is too clever for her own good, has an inflated sense of her own capabilities, and bites off more than she can chew. The characters all feel like real people: there is more going on than is immediately apparent, and many never have clear motives - or at least not motives that are tidily summed up and explained for the poor confused protagonist.
The world is intriguing, and has much more depth than can be explored in a book of this length. The talking animals add an interesting texture to the fantasy without being overused (although there would need to be a lot more of them before I felt they were overused), the magic feels magical - it's rare, not just a different kind of boring-day-job part of the world.
At the same time, elements of the world building are hinted at that I want explained or explored in more detail. I don't just want a wand to work because it's-a-wand-and-magic-duh world; I want a fantasy world where the characters question their reality and explore difficult questions as intently as any philosopher or scientist in our own history has.
Some of the other reviews raise valid points: piecewise the book is excellent but there are discontinuities in style and tone that will probably bother some readers. The beginning feels much stronger than the ending, particularly in terms of the depth of character development and the cohesion of the world.
I still enjoyed it immensely: I just wanted more.