In my recent post on my writing progress I explained that I’m waiting for editorial reviews of Serpent’s Teeth, the fifth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. I was hoping they would have something nice to say, which I could use for the back cover blurb, and then get the cover designs done. Well I’ve just received the review from the Historical Fiction Company, and it certainly does that. The final paragraph is as follows:
Serpent’s Teeth by David West is a novel that aptly reveals who people are through their choices, gestures, and reactions, not just by what the narrator says about them. West does not spoon-feed character analysis, rather he trusts the reader to see, to judge, interpret, and discover for themselves. This is unique in that it rejects the modern temptation to over-explain the characters’ lives. It also trusts the reader to be an equal partner in meaning making. Readers will appreciate the suspenseful chapter endings, the book’s ticking clock sense where time feels it’s always running out, and the multiple threads that it often leaves unsolved in between the chapters, threads whose design is proof of a master storyteller in full command of his craft. For those who seek historical fiction that transports them to another time and space, where the dangers of 17th century Paris during the reign of King Louis XIII and his mother, Marie de Medici, are rendered with breathtaking authenticity, this novel is a journey well worth taking.
Now I just have to wait and hope that Kirkus have something equally kind to say in their review. My fingers and toes are crossed.