Rotherweird

Rotherweird #1

by Andrew Caldecott, Sasha Laika (Illustrator)

1558: Twelve children, gifted far beyond their years, are banished by their Tudor queen to the town of Rotherweird. Some say they are the golden generation; some say the devil's spawn. But everyone knows they are something to be revered - and feared.

Four and a half centuries on, cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I and still bound by its ancient laws, Rotherweird's independence is subject to one disturbing condition: nobody, but nobody, studies the town or its history.

Then an Outsider arrives, a man of unparallelled wealth and power, enough to buy the whole of Rotherweird - deeply buried secrets and all...

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Historical, Urban Fantasy

492 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 25, 2017

About the author

Andrew Caldecott is a QC specialising in media, defamation and libel law, as well as a novelist and occasional playwright. He represented the BBC in the Hutton Inquiry (into the death of biological warfare expert and UN weapons inspector David Kelly), the Guardian in the Leveson Inquiry (into the British press following the phone hacking scandal), and supermodel Naomi Campbell in her landmark privacy case, amongst many others.

His first produced play, Higher than Babel, was described as 'Assured and ambitious . . . deeply impressive debut' by Nick Curtis in the Evening Standard and 'Vivid and absorbing and grapples with big ideas without being dry, difficult or patronising' by Sarah Hemming, in the Financial Times, but informed by his love of history, which he studied at New College, Oxford, he was seized by the notion of a city-state hiding a cataclysmic secret: the result, Rotherweird. 'A history-tragic-comedy all rolled into one', says Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall, and 'baroque, Byzantine and beautiful,' according to M.R, Carey, author of The Girl with all the Gifts.

A sequel, Wyntertide, is currently taking shape.

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 2 out of 5]

It comes as something of a shock to see that this whimsical English fantasy was penned by the QC who represented the BBC in the Hutton Inquiry. If you approach Rotherweird with expectations of some clever allegory on government control or the media society, though, you're likely to be disappointed – this is a little insular caprice all of its own, indeed very much the kind of thing one expects an English barrister to have been beavering away on during his idle Sunday afternoons.

A little country town, functionally independent from the rest of Britain by royal decree since Elizabethan times; dark local secrets; hints of the supernatural; an outsider coming into a closed local community – all of these elements are here, and good fun they are too. At first I was enjoying it quite a lot: the cast are pleasingly eccentric, and the plot sets up and resolves its puzzles sufficiently satisfyingly to have kept me turning the pages.

But somehow, as the book went on, it became harder and harder to ignore the cumulative pile of inconsistencies. I gave it a decent chance, I think, but the world of Rotherweird never quite feels real in the way that its literary models do, and as a result you end up questioning everything more critically than is healthy for a fantasy novel. The idea of a town that has detached itself politically from the rest of the country is one thing, but to say that it has no use of modern technology (relying instead on premodern rhythms of life and a kind of steampunk proto-tech) is much more of a stretch. Even to reach Rotherweird, characters from the modern world take a charabanc where honestly you'd just expect them to get an Uber. I think it would have made more sense to set the whole thing in the 19th century and be done with it – or at least in the 1980s, some time well before mobile phones and the internet.

As it is, too much is asked of your suspension of disbelief, and in the last hundred pages, the book conclusively falls to pieces. Macguffins are introduced on demand to solve lingering plot twists, and characters do not just fail to ask the obvious questions (which is a problem in a lot of genre fiction), they react completely without verisimilitude, accepting the most outré revelations without batting an eyelid, apparently on the grounds that the reader already knows about them, and making impossible deductions in the service of advancing the plot.

A lot hinges on improbable anagrams (clearly an authorial fetish); in one especially shark-vaulting example, we are asked to believe that a character called Calx Bole willingly lived in a dump on Box Street because ‘street’ in Spanish is calle and ‘Box Calle’ is an anagram of his name, this despite the fact that he didn't even want anyone to know his name. The worst part about this is the horrible suspicion that Caldecott gave Calx Bole his name specifically in order to set up this nonsensical aha!-moment.

Inevitably, this is the first part of a trilogy, and it's possible that later volumes will make good on the promise of a lot of Caldecott's ideas and worldbuilding, which are certainly full of potential. In my case, though, the reserves of goodwill have been exhausted, and I'll probably content myself with plot summaries of the sequels on Wikipedia.

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shit and bollocks. Someone has stolen my review.

To paraphrase (in case this is all part of an Amazon ploy to remove negative reviews), shit and bollocks was almost exactly what I thought of it. Can’t be bothered to say it as eloquently this time though.

So just to emphasise my disgust: shit and bollocks.

Update: My notifications tell me that I have 45 likes for this, yet here it is saying 41. 4 likes have obviously followed the original review into outer space.

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely having mixed feelings about this one. The idea and world-building are both compelling and brilliant - the story leaves a lot to be desired. Rotherweird has been, more or less isolated, or at least separated, from the rest of England by Elizabeth I. One condition of it's status and independence is that nobody is allowed to research and certainly not teach the town's history. Rest of world history, yes - but only from 1800 and forward. This is of course gravely felt by Jonah Oblong, newly recruited (one of few and seldom) from the outside world to the role of history teacher.

The narrative is good, sometimes a bit dense, the characters likewise. Takes a while to know them, having a lot to do with the many parallel story lines and the jumps back and forth in time and history. The setting of Rotherweird never ceases to amaze (which is why I finished the book really), but the story is a bit lacking for this much build-up. Perhaps it is because it's the first part of a trilogy (something that's very evident from the ending), but still the result is a book that I think some will love and some will not feel is worth while. For me it was OK, I am curious about what happens next, but not curious enough to hunt for the subsequent parts. Should I stumble upon them sometime I'll probably pick them up. Maybe.

[Moray Teale · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free advance copy of this work through netgalley and Jo Fletcher Books in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Such promise in the wonderful cover and the intriguing blurb but sadly I was left dissatisfied. Caldecott's interesting conceit is an English town isolated and made self-governing during the reign of Elizabeth I for reason or reasons unknown. Jonah Oblong, an outsider, becomes embroiled in the affairs of this bizarre place when he is hired as a history teacher at the local school. Modern history only. For Rotherweird is forbidden to study pre-1800 and its own history is also proscribed, by law and Oblong's predecessor vanished after flagrantly breaking this edict. As Oblong takes up his position the equilibrium of the town is unsettled by the arrival of another stranger, the sinister Sir Veronal Slickson who has taken up residence in the empty manor with his vacant wife and unspeakable son. But this family is a lie, a construction designed to give Sir Veronal access to the closed town. The outside world is getting in and clearly Rotherweird's secrets are at risk. I'm almost drawn back in writing a synopsis! And yet the reality was disappointing.

Caldecott is clearly aiming for the bubbling, brooding atmosphere of a modern Gormenghast. You only need to see the outlandish names to recognise the influence, Sidney Snorkel, Vixen Valourhand, Morval Seer, Gorhambury. Unfortunately the names have more character than the characters themselves. Many are interchaneable and several could be removed entirely without any great loss. The narrative is simply overpopulated and it seems like more imagiation has gone into the creation of unlikely names than in developing any particular personalities. Where Mervyn Peake's characters are ridiculous, exaggerated, absurd they are also sympathetic and compelling, even the monstrous Steerpike.

The plot itself is convoluted which gives the impression of complexity but by the end it is clear that this was caused more by the frequent skipping and shifting of scenes between different perspectives, often for only a couple of paragraphs or pages, in a way that is probably more suited to film. And the end. My interest had really waned by the end of the first third but end infuriated me. The trope in which all of the characters sit around a table and rehash the entire plot as a way of explanation is horribly unsophisticated and really only acceptable in the work of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. Here it suggests a lack of confidence in the reader and in the writing if an author has to repeat the story in order to make sure it is understood. And it really wasn't so terribly complex in the first place.

It appears that Rotherweird is only the first volume in a planned trilogy but I'm afraid that one was enough for me.

[Akahayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just... was so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of excessive descriptions. That was the only thing I could figure out about why I didn't like this book.

I simply didn't enjoy it. I know MANY others did, so if it interests you then definitely give it a try but it just wasn't for me.

I couldn't connect with the characters either and I found the entire experience very cumbersome.

DNF @ 16%

[Kitty G Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

*I was sent this for free by the publisher to review*

I have to say, I really was looking forward to reading this book, and I actually had the second one sent to me at the same time, but unfortunately this book just didn't work for me the same way it has for some of the others who have reviewed it. Personally, I like to read to have fun and therefore I don't often pick up books which focus on mystery or academia, but more on pure fantasy. For me, I think this one was a bit of a slow read at times, because it did focus on those things more than the magic, but it still had some good points that I enjoyed.

This book follows a young teacher called Oblong who is invited into the secluded and mysterious town of Rotherweird. Initially this is like any other sleepy english town, but then in the Elizabethan era there are magical genius children who are all exiled to Rotherweird and this sparks the start of a merging and diverging that means Rotherweird if just that...weird.

Once we see Oblong join the town in the more modern setting we then start to jump between the two timelines and see the past of Rotherweird blended with the tumultuous present. Theres a mystery that needs to be discovered about the unspoken past and Oblong and some of the other reidents and locals may be the only ones who can actually figure it out.

In terms of the book as a whole, I thought there was a lot to like about it - it had the mystery and bizarre factors that I enjoy - but it never fully drew me in and it all felt a little too high-brow for my liking (although I think this is mostly to do with setting and time period). Personally, although there is (particularly int he latter half) a fantastical theme and element woven in, it never took centre stage for me, and this felt a lot more like it was an academia mystery than it was a small village/town with something to hide. I couldn't help but to compare if to John Wyndham's Midwich Cuckoos which had a similar concept of a town with something to hide, but which I felt got to the point a lot quicker and was a lot more exciting for me personally.

Overall, not a bad book, and some good writing throughout, but I just wanted a bit more fun and vibrance. I gave it 2*s in the end.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm....I feel torn about this book: it had much to recommend it, in its conception and in its eccentricity. But. It did not consistently hold my interest and it dragged. I’m not sure I understood it all. It was bizarre. Did I like it? I don’t even know that! I didn’t DISlike it...

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's not flawless for me but for the most part it was original and certainly different. Full review nearer publication date.

[Brian Clegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I much prefer fantasy novels set in the real world, rather than some swords and sorcery kingdom, so was delighted to come across Rotherweird, with its cracking concept of an establishment from the sixteenth century that still exists in the present day as a town and surrounding countryside cut off from the rest of England with its own rich traditions. Rotherweird hides a dark secret involving gateways to an alternate world and a phenomenon that can produce strange combinations of creatures and abilities.

Andrew Caldecott builds particularly, I'd suggest, on the tradition of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books, in the gothic complexities and rules of Rotherweird and the odd names, with a touch of Harry Potter thrown in from some aspects of mixing this with modernity. However, the book stands in its own right as a piece of hugely imaginative writing. Some of the characters verge on cliché (to be fair, this is also true of Gormenghast), but there is some interesting development of them, which mitigates this to a degree.

Without doubt, there is a richness and complexity to Rotherweird's world, combined with a well-crafted plot that keeps the pages turning. I think my only issue with the book is the key potential failing of fantasies set in the real world: we can accept any oddity in the fantasy part, but the real world part has to be realistic. Here there are two bumps in the road. Science plays a significant role in Rotherweird (if not the plot), so I wish Caldecott had got some good science advice, as there are a number of issues with the science mentioned in passing. And the idea that a town could be complete cut off from the rest of England by decree in the 21st century probably needed more nuances. In reality there would have been Rotherweird websites, visits by drones and more.

These are small complaints, though. Overall, a great piece of imaginative writing and I am very much looking forward to reading the two (to date) sequels.

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rotherweird is a book that’s been on my radar for a while. The cover is incredibly eye-catching. The premise is unique and intriguing, and the story proved to be just that. I can honestly say that I’ve never encountered a setting quite like it. By turns charming and almost sinister, Rotherweird hides deep secrets and a dark past that is utterly unknown to any of its residents. When outsiders, one in the form of a bumbling history teacher and the other in the guise of a wealthy lord who has just purchased the rundown Manor, elbow their ways into Rotherweird and start asking questions, the town faces unpredictable threats and must be protected by some of the area’s most unusual citizens.

“Imagine a new world where Man could start again. What would we preserve? What would we cut down? Would we be more careful with our discoveries?”

Rotherweird might be rooted in our world, but it undoubtedly stands alone. It’s a land apart, and its occupants are both proud of and confused by their home, and its oddities. They are quite literally outside of the law of England, allowed to maintain their independence as long as they adhere to certain rules set into place during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The oddest thing about Rotherweird is that the study of world history before 1800, and all of their own history, is strictly forbidden. The reasoning behind this brutally enforced rule is the central axis around which the story’s many mysteries orbit. To say that they’re suspicious of outsiders would be an understatement; such invaders could inadvertently dig up the past and endanger Rotherweird’s independence. There is also a mistrust and dislike that divides the townsfolk from the countrysiders, which further hinders any pursuit into the area’s history.

“An old rage burned –so many startling gifts, so much knowledge gleaned along the way, and yet what a mess Mankind had made of everything.”

One of my favorite things about this book was the incredibly uniqueness of Rotherweird. Though its citizens might be ignorant of its history, they have immense pride in their home. Their events, their celebrations and festivals, are unlike any others held outside of Rotherweird. Their school is second to none, and churns out insanely bright graduates who often remain in Rotherweird and use their intellect towards the betterment of their home. The civic pride shines fiercely all throughout the story. I also enjoyed the odd, unexplained magic at the core of Rotherweird, as well as the history readers were privy to throughout the novel. Both the magic and the history felt very classical, but twisted in unexpected ways.

“He liked it when fact out-coloured fiction.”

I’m glad that I finally got around to reading Rotherweird, but while I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it as much as I hoped I would. I found it to be oddly, sometimes confusingly fantastical. The story was indeed interesting and multifaceted and far from predictable, but I was unable to connect with story, setting, or characters on any deep, emotional level. The storytelling often felt plodding to me, and I would sometimes completely miss important details because they were buried in the bloated prose, and I’d have to backtrack to figure out what I’d overlooked. All of these complaints are incredibly subjective, and I’m sure plenty of readers have and will in the future adore everything about Rotherweird. Despite the issues I had with the book, the core story itself was intriguing enough for me to add its sequel to my reading list.

You can find this review and more at Novel Notions.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rotherweird is a strange town. Cut off from the rest of England during the reign of Elizabeth I, the outside world has barely encroached on the town since then. Populated almost entirely by borderline genius eccentrics, outsiders aren’t really encouraged except for in exceptional circumstances – like the disappearance of one of the town’s teachers, prompting them to seek a replacement. On getting the job of history teacher, Jonah Oblong arrives in Rotherweird and, stranger still, is given to understand that actual history is very much off-limits. Only the 1800’s and on can be taught, and even the slightest bit of interest in the town’s past is banned. When another outsider also arrives in town, having bought his way into the Manor, the inhabitants of Rotherweird find themselves ensnared in secrets from the town’s past and, frustratingly for both them and us, each of them only holds a tiny part of the puzzle.

Rotherweird sounded like exactly the sort of book I’d devour and love, dealing as it does with history, mystery and alternate realities, but in practice I actually found this to be a little bit of a slog. I didn’t have a single clue what on earth was going on until more than halfway through the book, when everyone got together and explained to one another what we all needed to know, and while I’d usually find a slow drip of information quite tantalising, here I just found it bewildering. By the end of the book, when everyone had to get together again at the end to explain to us all just what had happened, I found myself annoyed more than anything that this amount of exposition was needed to round things up. The characters, meanwhile, were obviously meant to be charming eccentrics but to me mostly came off as self-consciously weird.

Others may find more to enjoy in Rotherweird than I did, but mostly I was just rather bored.

**Also posted at Cannonball Read 10**

[Julia Sarene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a weird one - so the name is fitting!
For the first 1/4 I had no idea what the book was even about, but the mystery and the strange and yet engaging characters had me hooked anyway.
It is urban fantasy in a way, as it takes part in our world, but as there is little use of modern things in the little town of Rotherweird it mostly doesn't feel that way.
Though modern technology is frowned upon, there's plenty of science talk and inventions, and oh so many riddles and puzzles to solve!

It is a quirky and entertaining read, which some dark undertones and quite some dryish humour mixed in. For me the balance worked out really well and I was worrying for the characters, interested in the plot (which is split between mostly present, but also some scenes in the past) and the setting that almost felt like another character in itself.

I was really enjoying myself from start to finish, and will definitely keep on reading!

[Marielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult book to rate for me, although I loved the story, I felt like I missed quite a bit, I read another review saying there were quite a lot of links to English folktales. I obviously missed these for not being English.
Overall I really enjoyed this book with being refreshingly different!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a very enjoyable but weirdly written fully nice prose and a quirky characters especially the town and countryside itself.

A strange fantasy more steampunk in places than urban fantasy, but I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Eva Müller · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review can also be found on my blog

DNF at 34%.

Rotherweird really wants to be quirky but only manages to have a cast of characters with names from the list 'weirdest British names'. There's for example Veronal Slickstone (he's greedy), Jonah Oblong (he's a teacher), Deidre Banter (she's greedy), Godfery Fanguin (he's a former teacher), Rhombus Snorkel (he's also greedy), Vixen Valourhand (she pole-vaults over fences because of...reasons) and countless other characters with oh-so-funny names but no memorable characteristics. With two exceptions. Not that they are memorable, they just don't have funny names. In fact, they have no names and are just referred to as 'the actress' and 'the boy'. Few things annoy me as much as an author going 'these characters aren't even important enough for a name'.
Though to be fair I didn't care much about them...but then I didn't care about any of the characters with the quirky names either. And once you read a third of a book there should be someone you care about. Or at least something. Only the mystery about Rotherweird (which made me pick up the book in the first place) had gotten really boring as well. Thanks to something else that I find even more annoying than characters not being important enough for names: Characters not telling everything they know because...reasons. There were many conversations in which characters just alluded to things but refused to answer straightforward questions or just told a bit and then stopped for no discernible reason. I still don't know much more about the secret of Rotherweird than I do after reading the blurb. And I really don't care enough to read on...

[Jurgita · Rating 2 out of 5]

If a book needs the last chapter to explain what has happened so far in the story, in my opinion that book is in trouble.
I couldn't tell majority of characters apart so similar they were. The whole plot so intricate that half of time I wasn't sure what was happening and especially why.
I had high hopes for it as the premise is rather intriguing but alas.

[Danie Ware · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whenever I open a book, and the first thing I see is a list of Dramatis Personae, I get a sinking feeling - because I know this book will have way too many characters.

And lo...

Fantastic concept, beautifully written, with some lovely word-games built in - but sadly, utterly impenetrable. Too many characters, too many plot threads, narrative points of view changing way too fast, not only halfway though a scene, but halfway through a paragraph (and then back), over and again. Had no way to get a grip on anything - hence absolutely idea what anything was, who was who, who wanted what, what linked to what, what half the plot-threads even were. Was left with the distinct feeling that there some gloriously clever, interwoven narrative, but honestly the book was more like some vast and helter-skelter game of Cluedo, with too many players, and too many oh-so-quirky characters with their oh-so-quirky names...

It did become slightly clearer when I twigged that Caldecott's a playwright - immediately brought the cadence of the book into focus. The too-fast PoV swaps, the huge cast of characters - they would work perfectly for a play, a Theatre-script. But on a flat page? Well, that's a different type of story completely.

The book was intriguing enough that I may pick it up again, and try and make more sense of it, but I'll probably have to brace myself.

[Karsyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me forever (for me) to read. I loved it, in the beginning and through most of it, but it got to the point where it was just dragging on at times. It was so wordy and so dense, that it felt like I was reading for hours at a time to discover I'd only read 2%.

I liked it, but I wish I had read it outside of a time of reading it for a challenge (when I wanted to be quick and it still took a week) and I would have liked to have taken notes on it. There were so many characters and so much going on. There were 10 characters with last names that started with the letter F, that was unfortunate.

It was good, the town was unique, the story different. I just wish it had been a little less dense, maybe a little shorter, and the characters given more names to go by cuz damn, I could never remember who was who between Finch, Ferdy, Fanguin and Flask. :/

[Barry Mulvany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an odd book that's hard to describe. It kind of reminded me somewhat of the Library of Mount Char, with a little Gaiman thrown in. It's definitely very British. It's all set in the town of Rotherweird, which, the reasons are explained through the story, is effectively an independent town within England where learning about the history of the town is forbidden and anybody not from the town or its environs is actively discouraged to visit unless invited. There is also quite a high level of intelligence and scholarship in the town which is odd in what is basically a small English town with no real significance.

Into this comes an outsider, Oblong, a schoolteacher (of modern history) after the previous went missing. Also the old manor is sold to another outsider, a billionaire called Sir Veronal Slickstone who's purpose is not at first very clear. There are a whole host of other viewpoints through the book, too numerous to list. Most of the story is played out in the present, with a few flashbacks to the sixteenth century when the town was founded. At the core of the book is the characters finding out about the founding of the town and what caused it to be way it is. This was quite interesting and I was as eager as they were to find out more about this mysterious place. The mystery gradually reveals itself and the book gets odder as it moves along but I quite liked it.

The only real problem I had with the book were the characters. There were so many that we only got to know them superficially so even towards the end I was referring back to the character list at the start of the book. As a reader of SFF I am very used to large casts so the fact I struggled with this is definitely a minus, only a few stood out enough that I wasn't sometimes confused as to who they were.

Other than that though I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't aware that this is the opening of a trilogy when I started but it is self contained enough that you could read it as a standalone. Of course there are a few threads left dangling but there is enough closure here that it can be enjoyed without continuing. Anyway I would recommend this book if you are looking for something a little different, a little quirky.

[Nick Brett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Books are like people, they have personalities. Some you will love and remember forever, some you will forget, some you will avoid and some you will just hate. Sadly this book falls into the last category. It’s taken me over a year to read during which time I have given up on it so many times and read over 100 other books.
I loved the cover artwork and it also had an interesting premise. The first chapter/introduction seemed to suggest something different too.
In 1558 some exceptionally gifted children are exiled to a small town that will become Rotherweird. Moving onto present day, Rotherweird has grown but it still semi isolated from the rest of Britain with an absolute law that nobody studies the town or its history. And then an outsider arrives and may expose many dangerous secrets better left buried. This is a kind of adult fantasy come mythical tale that I obviously thought would appeal
But it is an utter mess, to me barely readable. It’s taken me over a year to slog through it, forcing myself to read 10 pages at a time. I hated the writing style, I couldn’t get to grips with the story (or the missing back story) the characters were dull. Perhaps one of my worst reading experiences in years.
Fully accept that some people have raved about this and there have been further books but I just found it awful.

[Purple Tringite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully enjoyable. This was a real treat - just the right amount of fantasy without having to learn a new language. Amazed to find the author is a QC. Have also discovered the next book in the series so will start that shortly. This was a spontaneous buy in the book shop and paid off very well

[Liz Seasalt]

This took me entirely too long to rate it (3+ months when I would usually finish a book this size in under a week) so I won't - but I do think it really just wasn't for me, otherwise it wouldn't have taken me *this* long to suffer through it.

[Lizzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A waffling turd

[Judith · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s finally over everyone

[TS Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I started out utterly riveted with the story and really enjoyed the writing style, but the pacing suffered midway through the book. I still liked what I've read by the end, and will continue with the series as the premise is intriguing and fascinating.

[Traci · Rating 2 out of 5]

Find this and other reviews at The Reader in Indigo

There are books out there that you think you should love, and fully expect to love, but when you finally crack open the spine (or your e-reader of choice), you discover to your horror that the story's a bit of a slog.

That's Rotherweird in a nutshell. The entire time I was reading, a tiny voice in the back of my mind kept whispering 'you should be enjoying this!' To the point where I almost felt guilty about how difficult it was to get through each chapter. On the surface, the story sounds grand: a town founded by geniuses, an ancient conspiracy, oddball characters, alternate realms . . . but the whole thing is told in this sort of halting, dry tone that just sucks all the life out of it.

The story feels weirdly emotionless. We're given a vast cavalcade of characters---who I had little trouble keeping straight, oddly enough---but they're drawn with so little feeling that it's nigh-impossible to care about any of them. At one point a character is straight-up murdered, and it falls upon the reader's heart with the same emotional intensity as a tax audit. The prose is very 'tell, don't show,' with a sort of blase-ness that could perhaps have been meant as whimsical . . . but if that was the intent, it failed pretty drastically.

Overall, this just wasn't to my taste.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Kristie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Čím víc jsem z téhle knihy přečetla, tím nadšenější jsem z ní byla. Nenechte se odradit lehce pomalejším tempem a faktem, že vůbec netušíte, co se z toho vyklube, a prostě čtěte dál. Bude to stát za to, fakt. Avšak pro každého to není, to musím uznat. Během čtení mi ale na mysl neustále přicházel Neil Gaiman a jeho román Neverwhere (Nikdykde). Opskurno mi vážně připomínalo tohle Gaimanovo podivné dílo, zároveň však zůstalo naprosto své. Zkrátka věřím, že pokud máte Neverwhere rádi (nebo obecně Gaimanovu podivnost), Opskurno by pro vás mohlo být to pravé.

Jestliže hledáte něco nového, něco jiného a nevadí vám fantastika, určitě Opskurno omrkněte. Opravdu vás to může jedině překvapit. Já osobně jsem v téhle nenápadné knize objevila skrytý poklad a vskutku se těším, až se mi do ruky dostane pokračování.

Celá recenze je na blogu: https://yours-fantasy.blogspot.com/20...

[the_frat_nanny_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not sure what I am missing with these low ratings for this book, but holy shit it was a ride and as soon as I can I will be hitting book two.
Admittedly, this book is rather weird (ha) with its mixing of different genres such as steampunk and fantasy in an ordinary world, but I think this is exactly the point. I couldn't put it down and at least I know that I am in agreement with Klaus the Contradictorian. Books are so subjective, but for me, this was an amazing ride and I am so grateful Klaus brought it to my attention.
There are not enough words to explain how great this story was and I am probably not wordy enough to do it justice anyway.

[Taksya · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Gran Bretagna Andrew Caldecott è sicuramente un nome famoso anche fuori dal mondo letterario, qui in Italia credo possa essere conosciuto solo nell'ambiente legale.
Non è stato dunque l'autore ad interessarmi, quello che mi ha spinto a comprare Rotherweird, ancor più della trama, è stata la copertina.
Divisa tra il presente e l'epoca elisabettiana, la vicenda che coinvolge il borgo di Rotherweird promette meraviglie.
Separata ed indipendente dal resto del paese per ordine di Elisabetta I, Rotherweird non accetta estranei (tranne poche eccezioni funzionali alla trama), non ha tecnologia moderna (niente elettricità, internet, motori a benzina) e, sempre per via dell'editto di Elisabetta, è contro la legge studiare il passato della cittadina e ci sono notevoli limitazioni anche nello studio della Storia in generale.
I personaggi sono una moltitudine, tutti con nomi bizzarri. I ruoli all'interno della società sono spesso ereditari e i segreti non si contano e, soprattutto, sono spesso sconosciuti ai cittadini stessi.
L'atmosfera della città ricorda quella di molto altri libri simili, così come la commistione tra magia e scienza eclettica e la presenza di un luogo altro che si rivela essere uno dei collegamenti tra i fatti del passato (non solo quello elisabettiano che da origine alla città, ma si risale fino alla conquista romana) e quelli moderni.
Peccato che le trame di Caldecott risulrino troppo circonvolute, con informazioni e dettagli che poi risultano inutili o vengono abbandonate poco dopo.
Ci sono vari momenti di ritrovo tra i personaggi principali che servono a riepilogare e spiegare quello che è accaduto o il significato di anagrammi o giochi di parole (dei quali Caldecott deve essere particolarmente appassionato) che dovrebbero risultare fondamentali alla trama.
Di fatto il mistero misterioso può essere identificato e risolto dal lettore dopo pochi capitoli. Tutte le informazioni e i MacGuffin presenti servono solo ad allungare il brodo e spesso appesantiscono il tutto.
Il finale, essendo il primo di una trilogia, non è definitivo ma non è difficile immaginare dove Wyntertide, il secondo capitolo, potrebbe andare a parare.
Nel complesso non.è stata una brutta lettura, ma tutto aveva un sapore di già letto/visto e poche cose so o effettivamente originali.
Alcuni dettagli relativi alla città e società di Rotherweird non hanno un senso particolare, servono solo a dare colore ma, in realtà, mi hanno spesso buttato fuori dalla storia. Una ambientazione temporale diversa, magari inizio secolo scorso, e già tutto avrebbe acquistato un sapore migliore, per quanto non troppo originale.
Leggerò il secondo? Se lo troverò ad prezzo indecentemente basso credo di sì... ma senza troppo slancio.