'THE HOUSE OF MOUNTFATHOM is the kind of book that turned me into a reader in the first place. It has the same clever interweaving of history and fantasy that I so admired in Nigel McDowell's previous books but is also filled with an utterly infectious kind of delight. The characters are so vivid and the world brims with the most gorgeous detail. And if this wasn't enough, the language itself is a pure joy. Nigel McDowell has left an extraordinary legacy behind, something of the imagination and something of the soul.' Eimear McBride, multi-award-winning author of A GIRL IS A HALF-FORMED THING
'Lyrical, ominous and utterly original, with a passionate sense of place and history, THE HOUSE OF MOUNTFATHOM is one of those books that pushes strange roots down into your mind.' Frances Hardinge, Costa Award-winning author of THE LIE TREE
Luke Mountfathom knows he is special and odd. He is told so by everyone he knows. His parents are special and odd too - they are the keepers of the House of Mountfathom, a magnificent stately home where the wrong door could take you to a far away land, and strange animals appear to stalk the grounds at midnight. The house is his home - but it is also the headquarters of the Driochta, a magic-weaving group of poets, artists, politicians and activists charged with keeping the peace in Ireland. They have many powers - have mastered Mirror-Predicting and Smoke-Summoning and Storm-Breaching - and a final ability: that of Mogrifying; taking on a unique animal form.
But Luke's idyllic existence at Mountfathom cannot last. Word reaches the House of protests across Ireland. There is a wish for independence, a rising discontent and scenes of violence that even the Driochta cannot control. In Dublin, death and disease is running rife in the tenements; a darkness is clogging the air, and is intent on staying. And when things quickly spin out of control for the Driochta, it is up to Luke, his cat Morrigan and his best friend Killian to worm out the heart of the evil in their land.
Initial thoughts: The synopsis made it sound like this book would be pretty exciting. In the end, it was a month of dragged out boredom. What bothers me is how incomplete the book felt, especially towards the end. It was so abrupt, I couldn't help but wonder why. I looked up the author, and learnt that he lost his life to cancer at the age of 34. The House of Mountfathom was published posthumously. Had I know this before going into the book, I might have read it through a different lens — one that would've considered the potential more than the current state of the book. For what's been printed, I wasn't fond of it, and that's what my rating is for. Had the author had more time on this earth to revise this book, I think the otherworldly dimensions could've fulfilled the synopsis's promise of something magical.
On a sidenote, I didn't care very much for the quaint writing style. Set against the 1920s backdrop, the prose makes sense but I still thought it sounded rather stilted on several occasions.For dialogues, I still think it's a neat touch but for the prose that ties a novel together, not so much.
