The string diaries

My sister-in-law recommended this book to me, and although it’s probably not something I’d have picked up on my own, I’m grateful to her.

In a nutshell, it’s about a monster that’s been stalking this one family since the 18th century. Because it’s set across multiple time periods, it has this epic feel to it, which I appreciated. It’s also loaded with symbolism. Most of which went right over my head (me being a relatively literal person most of the time), but I “got” enough of it to realise there’s lots I probably didn’t “get”.

The editing is fantastic. Flawless. In fact, it reminded me of one of my biggest bugbears in modern fiction: the use of the word “alright”. I hate it because “alright is not all right”.

And I’ve had arguments about it with fellow authors, readers, and editors, because it’s so common... but it only seem to be self-published books and YA books that use it. And this book is neither, so I feel nicely vindicated, and will continue to rail against the evilness that is “alright”.

I don’t doubt that this book will go down as a literary classic, and they’ll be teaching it in English Literature classes at High School and University level in fifty or a hundred years’ time. It really is that good. And that important.

Having said that, it can be difficult to follow at times, because of the multiple timelines all running simultaneously. And sometimes the language and symbolism got a bit too “flowery” for me, or overly descriptive, and I zoned out, flipping pages on autopilot. Once I snapped back to reality, though, I always knew where I was and what was happening.

This is a fine example of Urban Fantasy... but to call it Urban Fantasy is probably cheapening it, doing it a disservice. Magical Realism, then? Hmm, maybe, but I wouldn’t call what happens in it “magic”, exactly. Horror? There are certainly some elements of horror in this story, but it’s far too complex a story to label it like that.

I don’t KNOW what it is. And I guess that’s true of all good books - they defy classification. Until one day they’re old enough and important enough that we just call them “classics”.

Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: books2read.com/u/49ZpkW

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Win a copy on my blog (UK only) ends 20/07/13.

Hannah Wilde is on the run. An evil which has stalked her family across generations now wants her. With her husband bleeding and her daughter asleep in the backseat of the car, they flee to Snowdonia to take refuge amongst the mountains. She can trust no one, not until their identity is verified.

The String Diaries has been likened to The Historian and A Discovery of Witches and for once I would agree; this book definitely falls into the same pot as the thriller of the family. If you like a mix of academia, urban fantasy and historical fiction, it’s well worth a read. I would say it is faster paced and a bit more action packed than the other two, despite jumping back and forth in time.

Although there are multiple timelines, it is essentially the story of one man’s impact on a family, across generations, starting in 19th century Hungary. Hosszú életek literally translates into “long life” and after a bit of googling, I think it is a made up mythology rooted in enough elements of Hungarian folklore to be believable. Jakab’s story shows how evil can be made; I don’t think he was born evil, just that his circumstances and actions snowballed into something else. It’s an interesting take to show his current day damage alongside his evolution.

One grumble is that it started to get a bit repetitive. I know, the whole point is that the same thing happens again and again, which reinforces Hannah’s panic and the impossibility of escape, but every time someone appear saying one thing, my mind instantly went, well that’s got to be Jakob. I was also a bit disappointed in the ending, thought it was a bit of a cop out when it could have been quite powerful.