Faces by Matthew Farrer (A Book Review)

As I mentioned in my last book review, I like to read novels that center on the project I'm working on. Unfortunately for me, there are only two novels for the Harlequins (The Victim's Dance doesn't count). So I picked up Faces by Matthew Farrer shortly after finishing The Masque of Vyle and dived right in. This is minimum spoilers country, people. You've been warned... More after the jump.

Have you ever been to a fancy party; something fancier than your usual level of fancy-preparedness allows. Let's say you're at this party, socializing and someone tells a joke that you don't really understand because you're just not fancy enough, but everyone around you is laughing like they were watching an Adam Sandler movie from before he became....just terrible? That's what it was like to read this book and why it took me so long to get through a book that is so short.

Faces takes place at an Adeptus Mechanicus outpost told from the perspective of Jann, of which two different personalities resonate. Jann is a complex, confusing and oddly poetic character as she battles from within her mind and throughout the complex. An artifact has been found by Jann and her fellow crew members, and since its discovery things have very much gone downhill. Throughout the book you'll meet several characters, both before and after the artifact had been found and how each one relates to Jann and her duality.

The above paragraph is precisely why I didn't enjoy this book. Following through the eyes of a character that has two drastically different personalities while at the same time jumping back and forth between past and present was hard to follow. The ending does sum up things for the reader, but only the ending. 90% of this book is spent with the reader scratching their head and wondering if this is the novelization of the movie Under the Skin. Once the ending is revealed and everything falls into place, there is some satisfaction from it. I imagine the second time around would make the book far more enjoyable, but I rarely read the same book twice, so for readers like me I feel disappointed.

My theory: The author Matthew Farrer's book is too intricate for my brain. He wanted to write a complex story, and that is the epitome of this book, I just couldn't grab hold the whole way through. Matthew Farrer is that really fancy guy at that really fancy party telling that really fancy joke. He holds all of the cards and those of you with enough fancy in your veins may enjoy this one, but alas, I am not just not fancy enough... Okay, this analogy is getting away from me, so let's just move on to the score board!

Rating: 2 out of 5 Diamonds

(Fancy People's Experience May Vary)