Hanging wall disappointment

Sarah Douglass, as I may have mentioned is one of my favourite authors. I'm considering changing my vote having just read her book 'Beyond the Hanging Wall'.

It is a young adult book, but being my favourite author I just had to pick it up and see what it was like. Now I realise you can't expect the same standard as far as young adult books are concerned, but this really wasn't up to scratch as far as her personal writing is concerned.

It's not that I didn't want to turn the pages every now and then, it's just that it didn't seem to be as compelling as her others - even in a different category. Frankly, I expected better.

Great idea, interesting characters but something was certainly lacking in the execution. It seems to be a failing of Douglass' to not delve deeply enough into the characters. I realise they are for all intents and purposes merely words on a page. While you read them they should be so much more.

They didn't seem to come alive to me. To the point where I've having trouble remembering their names. Who could say that they've forgotten Frodo? I thought so. Douglass manages time after time to come up with unique story lines, ones which manage to get you sitting straight up in your lounge chair, armchair or bed, and this case was no different really.

Cleverly conceived the plot had a certain charm, without ruining it for you a prince is thought killed although he is abducted and the son of a healer is lucky enough to head down into the mines (the Veins) to heal a whole bunch of prisoners on the mining version of death row. Low and behold there is the great prince Maxmillian. Unfortunately there is already a king on the throne and Maximillian and his now loyal friend Garth, and his band of friends must put him back on the throne. There's a bit of magic, a bit of dreaming and a happy ending.

It was a good plot, I did want to find out what would happen in the end. Though to a degree I was just hoping I could finish this book, put it behind me and await better things from Douglass in the future.

I'm not one for bashing a book (as you may have guessed from previous reviews) but the brevity of this novel ensured there just wasn't enough depth to these characters to make them stand out in my mind. I need a lot less plot and a lot more inner workings of these people. The simplest of plots can be carried off with the type of characters that are so intricately constructed that they capture your imagination and have you cheering or hissing through the course of the novel. Instead this time I was cringing. There was none of the style I'd expected of Douglass.

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