The tone of The Paradox is a bit darker and more elegiac than the first book, but it should, because the fate of the world is teetering on the brink. Like it’s predecessor one of the main strengths of this novel is its mix of gritty reality and imaginative fantasy, next to each other cheek-by jowl, each enforcing and playing off of the other. A perfect example of this is in the Mirror world, where space and time seem to have lost meaning, but the physical realities of Mr. Sharp and Sara’s trials are almost punishingly visceral.
You can read this book as a stand-alone, but I think that you should not. It’s rare to find two such splendid novels that fit together seamlessly, and tell such a powerful story. If I had to nitpick a bit I could say that The Paradox is a bit too much of a “second” novel in that even though the end is satisfying it’s still obvious that there is a lot of the story left to tell, but that would be nitpicking, and these two novels deserve all of the praise and attention that I can give, so do yourself a favor, and start reading; you won’t be disappointed. |
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July 2020
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