The Book of Bera

Book Title: The Book of Bera

Author: Suzie Wilde

Date Started: January 23rd 2017

Date Completed: February 4th 2017

Genres: Historical, Fantasy, Adventure
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Two Star

Final Rating: Three stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to Unbound for this proof copy for review ◆

A fantasy adventure following a Viking protagonist was an intriguing prospect filled with a lot of potential. Which, as so many books end up being, wasn't used as well as it could have been. The downfall for The Book of Bera for me was that it was trying to be something it wasn't, and missed its mark as a result. Unfortunately, I didn't reach the end of this book, but I reached my 100-page limit for giving books a try.

I'm quite frustrated with this book in general because it could've been so good and enjoyable had the story been allowed to play out naturally. It is, by nature, quite an exciting adventure story, and Wilde's endearing writing makes it feel childish - and childish should in no way be a criticism as long as it's used properly. The problem that I found was that Wilde was determined to push darker issues to make a point about the tone she wanted, but that tone didn't fit the story I was reading. Had I not come across a rape scene (which I wasn't completely happy with, let alone with of the lack of sensitivity on it involving a child) I would've been happy calling this a kids book whether it was aimed at young adults or not. I think it's a bit of a shame because addressing those issues doesn't really have any wider significance, and meant that Wilde couldn't follow what I felt was the naturally adventurous side of the story.

Following on from that, I so desperately wanted the fantasy element to be pushed more. Is it fantasy? Is it magical realism? It wasn't particularly clear because it wasn't at the forefront of the narrative, which I personally think it should have been. We get a lot of daily Viking activities but I wanted to know about the folklore and traditions as well - but the extent of that was pretty much the skerns talking to Bera. Which was great, if a little sparse through the story. Wilde seemed to focus on other things and didn't let the part of the book that felt more unique pay off.

The Book of Bera throws you into the story pretty quickly, and things escalate almost immediately. Almost too fast since events don't feel like they flow into one another - they more follow one another in unrelated bursts and poor Bera is battered around in the meantime. While I felt some sympathy for our protagonist (when she wasn't annoying me) I got very frustrated at the book expecting me to get emotional over characters and things that have been given no development. One of the keys events that kicks off this book is the death of someone close to Bera, but it happens with so little build up - of both tension and character development - that when I was expected to mourn I just sort of shook my head. This happened a couple of times in the amount I read of this book and it started to get on my nerves that the story was depending on your emotional reactions to things that had no emotional effort behind them.

What interested me about this book was the opportunity to learn about Viking culture and see that utilised in a story. I've never read anything like that before and I think the reason why a lot of people are looking at it is because of that very point. The folklore element, as I've already discussed, feels like it's glossed over, but the everyday culture itself is an integral part of the story. Which is wonderful - if I knew what all these words and references meant. As a reader, I felt thrown into the deep end of the world without any explanation or background. I didn't felt like I was given a chance to understand the verbiage before it was being used as a big part of the story, so I started missing key points pretty quickly. This is probably a big reason as to why I couldn't follow this book through to the end and is a real shame because it was what I was so intrigued by that ended up losing me.

There aren't a great deal of characters we're encouraged to attach to in this book (apart from the ones we know for two seconds), so ultimately our whole engagement with the story lies heavily on Bera's shoulders. This could've been great in getting across that idea of loneliness but power in independence. Could've been. Now I can't claim to know what Bera is like at the end of the book, but from what I read she played a very passive part in the story. I appreciate that she's a child and doesn't understand a lot of the horrible things that are happening a lot of the time but a) it isn't the most engaging perspective to read from and b) it doesn't mean the bad things that do happen can just be dismissed because she can't understand them. Now, to be fair, I've read far worst protagonists, but it just drew me back to the idea that Wilde was trying to push in a direction the story didn't want to go in, to the point where it was disjointed.

There's nothing wrong with a fun fantasy adventure exploring a culture, but The Book of Bera felt like it was trying too hard to push itself into a tone it wasn't meant for. Writing this for children and exaggerating the magic and adventure could've made it a very good book, but for me the off-tone story that didn't properly delve into the Viking culture led by a passive character didn't retain my interest.