I'm just making my way through Barb Comyns' novels. I bought all of them from a charity shop a few weeks ago - she was new to me but I always snap up any old Virago Modern Classics that turn up. I'm loving her writing, it's unlike anything I've read before. I didn't know about the new biography - that's one for me!
I felt similarly about ‘Impossible Creatures’ - huge fan of her previous books, I didn’t even try to persuade my daughter to read this one - there are still some great pages and turns of phrase, but I don’t think she’s a natural fantasy writer in the way that, say, Frances Hardinge is - a writer who feels far more the natural heir of Pullman. ‘Impossible Creatures’ felt like a misapplication of Rundell’s obvious talents.
I'm just making my way through Barb Comyns' novels. I bought all of them from a charity shop a few weeks ago - she was new to me but I always snap up any old Virago Modern Classics that turn up. I'm loving her writing, it's unlike anything I've read before. I didn't know about the new biography - that's one for me!
I felt similarly about ‘Impossible Creatures’ - huge fan of her previous books, I didn’t even try to persuade my daughter to read this one - there are still some great pages and turns of phrase, but I don’t think she’s a natural fantasy writer in the way that, say, Frances Hardinge is - a writer who feels far more the natural heir of Pullman. ‘Impossible Creatures’ felt like a misapplication of Rundell’s obvious talents.