Latest Review for TTOAR

Coming Soon

The Testing of Archie Rathbone - 3 day promotion - November 16th - 18th

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Entertaining, 5 Oct 2012

(Link to Amazon page to see reviews in their original context)

The Testing of Archie Rathbone (Kindle Edition)

After reading the reviews on this book, I was a little bit wary about trying it. Using strange or humorous names for some of your characters worked well for Douglas Adams & Charles Dickens, but nowadays I tend to think it's often a lazy device used by writers who are trying (usually unsuccessfully) to inject a bit of comedy into a rather limp offering.

Well allow me to eat those words, because I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and once I started reading, I just couldn't stop. It's hard to pin down exactly what genre it would fit into, it's not comedy (though it does have some amusing twists), and somehow it doesn't quite fit the fantasy genre. It does however have an unusual, eccentric plot that keeps you entertained from beginning to end, is well written and full of interesting characters (like the tailors Bolt, Upright & Clench). If I tell you that the main character Archie Rathbone starts the book, trapped on a desert island that is ** SPOILER ALERT **, you'll understand what I mean when I say "eccentric". Sounds daft, but this really is a very readable book, and I'm looking forward to reading more of this author's work in future.