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Colin Falconer's East India was an interesting read for me. Past experience being what it is, I was immediately skeptical of the piece, but the praise of my fellow reviewers roused a curiosity I couldn't well ignore.
To get right to the point, I liked East India a lot more than I'd expected. The shipwreck was a perfect platform for Falconer to weave a gritty tale of doubt, danger and desperation. I enjoyed the romantic aspect between Cornelia and Michiel, but I was perversely enchanted with the darker elements of the plot. Falconer holds nothing back and in this context, I felt the explicitness of his descriptions really worked in his favor and conveyed a very realistic sense of the crisis his characters are meant to experience over the course of the novel.
What I liked most, however, were the number of underlying themes and abstract concepts the Falconer worked into the story. Beneath the surface, East India is a phenomenal exploration of social interaction and what happens when we are forced to struggle for limited resources. I don't mean to sound pedantic in my assessment, this is fiction after all, but from a behavioral and psychological standpoint I was fascinated at how Falconer depicted that degeneration within the narrative.
A fast-paced adventure, East India is difficult to put down. A brilliant choice for fans of 17th century historicals and drama on the high seas.
To get right to the point, I liked East India a lot more than I'd expected. The shipwreck was a perfect platform for Falconer to weave a gritty tale of doubt, danger and desperation. I enjoyed the romantic aspect between Cornelia and Michiel, but I was perversely enchanted with the darker elements of the plot. Falconer holds nothing back and in this context, I felt the explicitness of his descriptions really worked in his favor and conveyed a very realistic sense of the crisis his characters are meant to experience over the course of the novel.
What I liked most, however, were the number of underlying themes and abstract concepts the Falconer worked into the story. Beneath the surface, East India is a phenomenal exploration of social interaction and what happens when we are forced to struggle for limited resources. I don't mean to sound pedantic in my assessment, this is fiction after all, but from a behavioral and psychological standpoint I was fascinated at how Falconer depicted that degeneration within the narrative.
A fast-paced adventure, East India is difficult to put down. A brilliant choice for fans of 17th century historicals and drama on the high seas.
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“You must pray there is no hell, Christiaan, for if you are wrong, I do believe the Devil has several new and exquisite torments devised particularly for such as you.”
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Check Out All the Stops on Colin Falconer's East India Blog Tour Schedule
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