http://bactra.org/weblog/algae-2019-06.html#hand ( )

http://bactra.org/weblog/algae-2019-06.html#hand ( )

quite a tour de force, this book, centered around an epic collision in the presentday of patriarchal and matriarchal culture. really a lot of fine research behind it on goddess lore, and it all gets put to good use in this horror story built on anthropology, secret societies, and pre-classical mythology, especially centered on Crete. ( )

I give up. Tapping out at the 65% mark. I feel I have given this a fair chance but my lack of engagement with the characters and narrative has become overwhelming. There are too many other books to read in the world to waste any more time on something I'm not enjoying. ( )

I can take fantasy once in a while and I like my novels lush sometimes, too. The occasional Anne Rice goes down well, but as much as I like some of Hand’s other work, this was too much. Way overblown, histrionic, hyperbolic and festooned with just too much language. It felt choked; as if it were strangling on itself and struggling to tell the story. Way to hit me over the head with the feminist message, too. Patriarchy=bad, ok already. The set-up was interesting enough; the religiously-bent liberal arts college, the “chosen ones” (Angelica and Oliver), the “norms” (Annie, Sweeney and Baby Joe), the sinister secret society, it was pretty good. Then it just went over the top. Like those blue hydrangeas that people festoon their gardens with. A little goes a long way. To get through it I skipped a lot. All the chanting, goddesses, prayers, rituals, arcane lineages, sex scenes, turmoil and sacrifices. Enough!! It wasn’t hard to see how things would ultimately end, but prolonging the showdown did nothing for the story. Oy. I have the sequel, but it will be a long time before I read it. If ever. ( )