Queen Anne's commissioners, seeking to calm the situation, have begun paying out money sent up from London to settle the losses and wages owed to those Scots who took part in the disastrous Darien expedition eight years earlier--an ill-fated venture that left Scotland all but bankrupt.
When the young widow of a Darien sailor comes forward to collect her husband's wages, her claim is challenged. One of the men assigned to investigate has only days to decide if she's honest, or if his own feelings are blinding him to the truth.
The Vanished Days is a prequel and companion novel to The Winter Sea, with action that overlaps some of the action in that book. The Vanished Days goes back in time to the 1680s and introduces the reader to the Moray and Graeme families.
Comment: This book is marked as being the third in the Slains series, stories that are connected to events set during the late 17th century, during or around the Jacobite uprising. Unlike the previous two stories, this one is solely set in the past, with no dual time featuring a contemporary setting.
In the follow-up of Scotland's political disasters related to the failed Darien expedition, queen Anne decides to try to calm things down by offering compensation to the families of those who died, and that is how Lily approaches the commissionaires for the wages due to her late husband. The problem is that her proof of marriage seems slim and the investigators need to see if she is being honest or not. Adam, one of them, is reluctant to do this and not only because he feels some attraction to her... the more they learn about Lily's life, the more doubts they have. Is she being truthful or seeking to deceive them?
I've read pretty much all the books this author has written (except the most recent release and the first ones the author published, which don't appeal much) and this is, sadly, one of the titles I have enjoyed less. This is a "me" issue, for the story is as well researched and moody as all her work is, but I wasn't captivated by the overall effect, as I have been in regards to my favorites by her.
Unlike the norm for this author, this story is set only in the past, namely in 1707, with some scenes going back to the 1680s. To be fair, I usually prefer the contemporary settings of the author's books, but I wasn't bothered by that fact here, only that this story had a definitively darker vibe and a seemingly heavier amount of political information, which I don't feel as interested in as I feel towards the characters' interactions. I know this author is a dedicated researcher and a huge fan of the time period, something we can easily see in her notes at the end of the book, but this time I felt it was a bit too much.
The setting is a harsh one, with all the political games and the intrigues around the characters' tasks and sometimes hidden goals. It's all even worse, socially meaning, since women had practically no rights and a lot of supposed rules and laws were easily twisted to suit those who could. Well, not much changed, really, but this is to say that it felt a lot more attention and a lot more details seemed to have been put into creating a realistic and informative environment, but this means the story isn't always compelling to read. Not for me. I can understand the correct use of the setting, but Lily and the other characters didn't really come alive for me, they were more characters to pity or to dislike.
The main plot hints at the investigation of Lily's claim. But this is not really so, because while the investigation happens and several people are looked for and interviewed, we have plenty of chapters going back to the 1680s and after, where we can follow Lily's childhood and young years. Her life has good things but also very bad ones, although not graphic nor fully disturbing, which means I felt sorry for her but she doesn't seem to be given enough time in the now for me to establish a connection with her. Besides, the story is seen through Adam's POV, and his opinion is clearly meant to be limited.
There were parts where I was a little bored, to be frank, and eager for things to speed up a little. My remembrance of the other books seems to suggest they were more addictive to read and I was more invested in the main characters. Perhaps the dual time plots made it easier because I do see to prefer the contemporary setting but also the story had other details for me to care about. The thing here is, the author planned for a twist. I think that I wasn't as impressed by it because when it happens - obviously close to the end - I was more concerned to check out how many pages were left.
I mean, reading this it seems as if this is a bad story, it isn't so! Only, it didn't amaze me and I think that in the eagerness to be correct, to use the right information, to showcase how well done the research was, the author kind of lost focus on the romance part of the story, and not even the honor and the wisdom of certain characters and how they proved themselves to be worthy of defense made things as balanced as I hoped for. I know this is a personal opinion, and for others this was great, but I did expect a bit more in some areas, in particular the characterization.
No comments:
Post a Comment