I have pretty much loved all of the previous six books in
Alan Bradley's Flavia De Luce book series. This seventh book fell flat, though.
Upon closing the book and going to sleep I was left
thinking, "What? What just happened?” I could not reconcile how he had
chosen to wrap up the story. I was bewildered by many points.
So, Flavia is thrown into life at a boarding school in
Canada. Relationships among the girls never develop; neither do great
antagonisms, though one would expect both. The Headmistress is never fully
fleshed out either, I suppose in an attempt to keep up the mysteries of The
Nide. But, here Flavia is to begin her training. Shouldn’t we learn something
about the mysterious society? Wait a minute…shouldn’t FLAVIA at least learn something about it?
I had difficulty
understanding how three different people were involved in the dead woman’s untimely
demise in two different and separate instances (at least that’s how I am
understanding it). Are we to believe that no one smelled the body as it
decayed? There was a murder. No one was up in arms over it. Are we expected to
care about it?
Brazenose’s disappearance and her undercover return amongst
her schoolmates and sister were perplexing to say the least and I still can’t
figure out the reason for any of that. Are we to believe that her sister didn’t
recognize her voice, her features; that no one I the busy boarding school ever
happened upon her with her makeup removed?
Bradley didn't develop any of Flavia’s mother’s amazing
history though he could have. A foray into her mother’s past would have given
him the ability to weave an engaging story within a story. As it is, the torch
was never really passed to Flavia. We are left with her feeling unusually
insecure and with the thought that she will be returning to home in England.
None
of this fits with what I’ve come to expect from Bradley’s writing. I am
disappointed.
