The Crow Road by Iain Banks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Honestly, I was both excited to read (because of that amazing opener) and trepidatious because I heard that this book takes a dive later on.

Well, I still loved that banger of an opening and was thoroughly charmed by this tale of a Scottish family, featuring this young twat that both shows that he has heart and that he doesn't deserve any in return, and it's all pretty fascinating. I loved the writing.

Fast forward a bit and he becomes a right git, but that's okay because conflicts drive tales and what's not to love about a mess of a man?

Fast forward a bit more and I finally get to the point where people snicker -- but you know what? I don't care that it turned into a mystery. It just felt like a bit of spice to what otherwise seems to be a long novel about death.

It is the Crow Road, after all, and we all follow it eventually.

I think I loved every moment of coming to terms with death in this novel, sudden or otherwise, the best. There was a good deal of depth and all of the characters were pretty fascinating. I wouldn't say they were much in the way of being good people, but it did make for a good novel.

This is only my second book of Iain Bank's regular fiction, and I will say that it feels so different from his SF. Here's to managing my expectations!



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