Review of The Devil Pulls the Strings
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Amalia Manrique-Ceballos
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- Latest Review: The Devil Pulls the Strings by J. W. Zarek
Review of The Devil Pulls the Strings
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Devil Pulls the Strings" by J. W. Zarek.]
I went into this book extremely hopeful. As a classical musician, the concept of a book that revolved around New York City, magical secret societies, and summoning the devil through a Paganini violin concerto excited me. However, after beginning the novel it slowly became apparent that it lacked the excitement I hoped for.
The book begins quickly with the protagonist, Boone Daniels, a musician and worker at a Renaissance Faire who is enlisted to play with a band at a charity event in New York City. And everything afterward unfolds rapidly. From the get-go, everything is a whirlwind, jumping from place to place, often with little to no transition, and no room for explanation. Even as I took notes throughout the book, I, more often than not, would find myself completely lost, as the author would breeze over events or jump from scene to scene with no warning. This issue was made even worse during reading due to the main character, who for some reason never properly explained, has flashbacks in his dreams, jumping through different scenes and timelines, making it extremely difficult to follow.
Another aspect of the novel that left me with a sour taste was the dialogue. For lack of a better description, the dialogue fell flat. All of the characters spoke the same, lacking defining voices. Additionally, the dialogue over and over felt like a way to dump information, rather than tell a story. The book, but specifically the dialogue, was a perfect example of telling and not showing. While it’s usual for books targeted at younger audiences to have less complex or intricate dialogue, there are so many ways to simplify writing without losing character voices or flavor.
That leads me to the disappointment that was the characters. Similar to the dialogue, none of the characters truly felt distinctive. The audience spends the entire novel reading through Boone’s perspective but still, I don’t know anything about who he is other than that he likes to save people. Boone’s best friend Flynn, the character who kick-starts the story, is never truly fleshed out and is used purely as motivation for other characters. Another lead character, Sapphire, a French violinist, is introduced early on. She is featured in a large portion of the book, yet what few characteristics that they gave her, wittiness and well-preparedness, are not consistently followed through, leaving a character lacking a complete personality who serves best as a cookie-cutter will-they-won’t-they romantic interest.
The novel isn’t just inconsistent in its characters, but also in every other aspect, including the plot. Having a book that is extremely difficult to follow through its progression and timelines is a challenge in itself. However when the plot is filled with holes and lore that is glossed over, never explained, or inconsistent with itself, the challenge of understanding becomes so much bigger. The concept of the novel, summoning the Devil through long-lost Paganini pieces, is constantly changed throughout, with lore rewritten and the rules of the magic system disobeyed at every turn with no consequences. Similarly, plot points or characters are brought up and ignored for the rest of the book, resulting in what feels heavily like plot armor, when new characters are introduced to save Boone and are never brought up again, or several other similar scenarios.
Lastly, and most importantly, in a book like The Devil Pulls the Strings, where every aspect is brought together by music, the music should come alive. I felt no love from this book. There are constant references to sonatas, concertos, and all sorts of music, yet no time is devoted to it. The few times that music is played, it's practically skipped over, as if it were unimportant, even though it is the entire premise of the novel. And even when described, it’s minimal and lacking any passion. For a book about the beauty of art and the mysteries of music, I couldn’t help but wonder if the author even truly understands or enjoys music.
I rated The Devil Pulls the Strings 2 out of 5 stars. I won’t say that I hated this book because, honestly, there were so many times that I felt I was enjoying myself. I enjoyed Boone and Sapphire's friendship, albeit with a never addressed romantic tension. I love Paganini, so the concept interested me, and while I don’t think I would ever reread it, it was an experience. All in all, I feel like this book could be saved with heavy rounds of editing. It felt to me like an advanced reading copy, yet to be sent to editors, so I feel that with the right amount of editing, plot holes can be taken out, characters can be developed more, and maybe with between 50-100 more pages, you could begin to truly flesh out the magic system and strive for a more consistent pace and therefore, a more enjoyable experience.
******
The Devil Pulls the Strings
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
I went into this book extremely hopeful. As a classical musician, the concept of a book that revolved around New York City, magical secret societies, and summoning the devil through a Paganini violin concerto excited me. However, after beginning the novel it slowly became apparent that it lacked the excitement I hoped for.
The book begins quickly with the protagonist, Boone Daniels, a musician and worker at a Renaissance Faire who is enlisted to play with a band at a charity event in New York City. And everything afterward unfolds rapidly. From the get-go, everything is a whirlwind, jumping from place to place, often with little to no transition, and no room for explanation. Even as I took notes throughout the book, I, more often than not, would find myself completely lost, as the author would breeze over events or jump from scene to scene with no warning. This issue was made even worse during reading due to the main character, who for some reason never properly explained, has flashbacks in his dreams, jumping through different scenes and timelines, making it extremely difficult to follow.
Another aspect of the novel that left me with a sour taste was the dialogue. For lack of a better description, the dialogue fell flat. All of the characters spoke the same, lacking defining voices. Additionally, the dialogue over and over felt like a way to dump information, rather than tell a story. The book, but specifically the dialogue, was a perfect example of telling and not showing. While it’s usual for books targeted at younger audiences to have less complex or intricate dialogue, there are so many ways to simplify writing without losing character voices or flavor.
That leads me to the disappointment that was the characters. Similar to the dialogue, none of the characters truly felt distinctive. The audience spends the entire novel reading through Boone’s perspective but still, I don’t know anything about who he is other than that he likes to save people. Boone’s best friend Flynn, the character who kick-starts the story, is never truly fleshed out and is used purely as motivation for other characters. Another lead character, Sapphire, a French violinist, is introduced early on. She is featured in a large portion of the book, yet what few characteristics that they gave her, wittiness and well-preparedness, are not consistently followed through, leaving a character lacking a complete personality who serves best as a cookie-cutter will-they-won’t-they romantic interest.
The novel isn’t just inconsistent in its characters, but also in every other aspect, including the plot. Having a book that is extremely difficult to follow through its progression and timelines is a challenge in itself. However when the plot is filled with holes and lore that is glossed over, never explained, or inconsistent with itself, the challenge of understanding becomes so much bigger. The concept of the novel, summoning the Devil through long-lost Paganini pieces, is constantly changed throughout, with lore rewritten and the rules of the magic system disobeyed at every turn with no consequences. Similarly, plot points or characters are brought up and ignored for the rest of the book, resulting in what feels heavily like plot armor, when new characters are introduced to save Boone and are never brought up again, or several other similar scenarios.
Lastly, and most importantly, in a book like The Devil Pulls the Strings, where every aspect is brought together by music, the music should come alive. I felt no love from this book. There are constant references to sonatas, concertos, and all sorts of music, yet no time is devoted to it. The few times that music is played, it's practically skipped over, as if it were unimportant, even though it is the entire premise of the novel. And even when described, it’s minimal and lacking any passion. For a book about the beauty of art and the mysteries of music, I couldn’t help but wonder if the author even truly understands or enjoys music.
I rated The Devil Pulls the Strings 2 out of 5 stars. I won’t say that I hated this book because, honestly, there were so many times that I felt I was enjoying myself. I enjoyed Boone and Sapphire's friendship, albeit with a never addressed romantic tension. I love Paganini, so the concept interested me, and while I don’t think I would ever reread it, it was an experience. All in all, I feel like this book could be saved with heavy rounds of editing. It felt to me like an advanced reading copy, yet to be sent to editors, so I feel that with the right amount of editing, plot holes can be taken out, characters can be developed more, and maybe with between 50-100 more pages, you could begin to truly flesh out the magic system and strive for a more consistent pace and therefore, a more enjoyable experience.
******
The Devil Pulls the Strings
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Devil Pulls the Strings by J. W. Zarek
