The Murdstone Trilogy

[pamela]

I thoroughly enjoyed Mal Peet's 'Murdstone Trilogy' even though it left me slightly baffled. It is a darkly humorous piece of satire about the fantasy genre and was a great deal of fun to read.

The book is split in to three sections, each corresponding to one of the books of the titular 'Murdstone Trilogy'. Sections one and two were utterly perfect. I almost wish I could have rated each section individually. The pacing was perfect, the characters recognisable as the caricatures of what they represent, and the novels, especially 'Dark Entropy' sounded wonderful in their own rights. The third section though, and therefore the end of the novel was a three star affair, descending ever too quickly in to the absurd. The end of the novel moved far too quickly and I found it difficult to follow, or indeed to separate reality from Murdstone's fiction.

'The Murdstone Trilogy' was a triumph of fantasy satire for the most part. I would certainly recommend it for a fun and exciting read with a literary bent.