Review by supraja_prasad -- Doppelgänger
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supraja_prasad
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- Latest Review: Doppelgänger by Marc J. Seifer
Review by supraja_prasad -- Doppelgänger
[Following is a volunteer review of "Doppelgänger" by Marc J. Seifer.]
Doppelganger is the second part of the Rudy Styne quadrilogy by Marc J Seifer. And this one is historical fiction, unlike the first one, which was a psi-fi thriller. This book sees the marriage of two sub-plots. One is in the present while the other has its roots in the past. And both of these sub-plots unravel parallel to each other as our protagonist tries to understand his own origins.
The first subplot, or the second, depending on how you look at it revolves around the Maxwell brothers and is set in the time of World War One. There is enough action packed into this narrative, with values and questions of what's important in life, the tug-of-war between who one stands loyal to – their family or their country. And then there is Rudy Styne, our protagonist tying up the loose ends of the events of 'Rasputin's Nephew' (that book is oh so brilliant, do give it a read!) who sets to understand his roots, his family and history. So, in a way, this too like the Rasputin's Nephew is a discussion on self-discovery. And this one is shrouded by mystery and murder as well. This time, its a computer except, a hacktivist who has questionable intentions.
When I finished the book, my first reaction was to compare it to the first installment of the quadrilogy and find this one lacking in depth and pace when compared to its predecessor. This one, the 'Doppelganger' left me with many unanswered questions, which I hope will be addressed in the next book. But what caught my eye was the way the story was woven. The style of writing or narration was a rather unusual choice, to say the least for the author goes back and forth between flashbacks and third-person narratives.
Here are a few of my other observations. Apart from not being as gripping as the first book which was a huge let down for me to begin with, given that this realization came even before I reached the half-way point, my abysmal reaction to this literary piece may have stemmed out of other reasons as well. To begin with, the fact that I picked the book as the pandemic of our times escalated things in real life made it hard to actually finish writing the review. I couldn't hold on to the book for long and had to take breaks spanning weeks both in reading the book and writing the review. And maybe because of this reason of taking quite a few breaks I wasn't able to relate to the two plot lines that were running on parallel lines. This is something that I strongly feel about, one too many tracks and that much confusion and complications that come with it. Also, the book had many a long paragraph that put me off, and I'd have appreciated it if there was a glossary for there was a liberal amount of German smattered in the book.
It is because of these reasons that I rate this book a three out of four stars. I could not give it any less for the first installment of the quadrilogy as I have mentioned quite a few times, was a trailblazer and I hope all that is lacking in this one will be made up for in the next part of the overarching story. A heads-up for the readers about the language used, this one contains profanity and is quite liberal in its usage. It also has enough and more of violence and gore than you'd expect from a tale set in the period of the Great War. I think that the heavy-weight description of violence and murder could have been done without even for the clashes in the air. But I believe this book might appeal to those interested in history and the wars of the days past. Happy reading!
******
Doppelgänger
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Doppelganger is the second part of the Rudy Styne quadrilogy by Marc J Seifer. And this one is historical fiction, unlike the first one, which was a psi-fi thriller. This book sees the marriage of two sub-plots. One is in the present while the other has its roots in the past. And both of these sub-plots unravel parallel to each other as our protagonist tries to understand his own origins.
The first subplot, or the second, depending on how you look at it revolves around the Maxwell brothers and is set in the time of World War One. There is enough action packed into this narrative, with values and questions of what's important in life, the tug-of-war between who one stands loyal to – their family or their country. And then there is Rudy Styne, our protagonist tying up the loose ends of the events of 'Rasputin's Nephew' (that book is oh so brilliant, do give it a read!) who sets to understand his roots, his family and history. So, in a way, this too like the Rasputin's Nephew is a discussion on self-discovery. And this one is shrouded by mystery and murder as well. This time, its a computer except, a hacktivist who has questionable intentions.
When I finished the book, my first reaction was to compare it to the first installment of the quadrilogy and find this one lacking in depth and pace when compared to its predecessor. This one, the 'Doppelganger' left me with many unanswered questions, which I hope will be addressed in the next book. But what caught my eye was the way the story was woven. The style of writing or narration was a rather unusual choice, to say the least for the author goes back and forth between flashbacks and third-person narratives.
Here are a few of my other observations. Apart from not being as gripping as the first book which was a huge let down for me to begin with, given that this realization came even before I reached the half-way point, my abysmal reaction to this literary piece may have stemmed out of other reasons as well. To begin with, the fact that I picked the book as the pandemic of our times escalated things in real life made it hard to actually finish writing the review. I couldn't hold on to the book for long and had to take breaks spanning weeks both in reading the book and writing the review. And maybe because of this reason of taking quite a few breaks I wasn't able to relate to the two plot lines that were running on parallel lines. This is something that I strongly feel about, one too many tracks and that much confusion and complications that come with it. Also, the book had many a long paragraph that put me off, and I'd have appreciated it if there was a glossary for there was a liberal amount of German smattered in the book.
It is because of these reasons that I rate this book a three out of four stars. I could not give it any less for the first installment of the quadrilogy as I have mentioned quite a few times, was a trailblazer and I hope all that is lacking in this one will be made up for in the next part of the overarching story. A heads-up for the readers about the language used, this one contains profanity and is quite liberal in its usage. It also has enough and more of violence and gore than you'd expect from a tale set in the period of the Great War. I think that the heavy-weight description of violence and murder could have been done without even for the clashes in the air. But I believe this book might appeal to those interested in history and the wars of the days past. Happy reading!
******
Doppelgänger
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Books may well be the only true magic.
~Alice Hoffman
~Alice Hoffman
Latest Review: Doppelgänger by Marc J. Seifer
