Book Review: The Devil on Lammas Night by Susan Howatch
The Devil on Lammas Night by Susan Howatch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Own.
My friend Jane from the WTM forums kindly passed this book on to me. It is in a Book Club Edition with The Waiting Sands which I read and reviewed in 2011.
I did not re-read The Waiting Sands this time. My 2013 goals included not re-reading anything I knew I had read. I thought maybe I read Devil on Lammas Night 20 years ago, but wasn’t sure. I got started and remembered reading it, but not most of the plot, so I went with it.
I think I’ve now read every Howatch book and, I have to say, this is my least favorite – certainly of the Gothic novels(the possible exception is Cashelmara … but that was significantly better written, just so very sordid in places, IMO).
There is a lot going on in this story. It shows Howatch’s development as a writer who speaks in multiple voices. She takes evil seriously and you wonder if good is going to win. But I just find the evil difficult to read and unappealing.
I do like The Waiting Sands, though, and am grateful for the book as it is one not available in my library and I’d wanted to read it.