A Castle in the Clouds by Kerstin Gier

Challenge #16 ~ “A book with a building in the title.”

acastleintheclouds

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

My opinion in three sentences:

Before this, I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed Gier’s writing – from the clever, winding plotlines to the witty banter to the lovable characters – and A Castle in the Clouds had them all. From a cracking (if slightly misleading) flash forward to start, Gier expertly crafts a tale of many angles, with a well-handled romance and careful character focus balancing out the mystery and adrenaline-fueled conclusion. Sure, the plotline isn’t wholly realistic (many years into customer service and I’ve yet to deal with anything remotely similar to the big finale), but it does prove highly relatable and springs off the page to really put the reader into the tale.

(Without spoiling anything) the best bit:

Every element was larger than life. From the setting (beautifully described and thoroughly immersive) to the characters themselves, it was so easy to believe you were truly there (or had been). Each character was unique, distinct and thoroughly believable, and despite us getting to know the whole hotel, it was easy to keep track of everyone. With such a strong sense of realism, I could have kept reading about the quirky customers and lovable staff indefinitely – it was as if they were co-workers of mine, with nothing feeling forced, unnatural or even a little underdeveloped.

A warning for the book:

If you just start on the book without reading the blurb, you’re enticed into a story that suggests it’s going to be an action thriller. And, it’s not. Personally, I really enjoyed having the multi-faceted elements to the story – a coming-of-age side, a mystery side, a thriller side, even the romance side – but I’ve heard others thought it felt too scattered. I thought the flash forward worked really well as it had the reader second guessing every character they were introduced to along the way (including the many red herrings Gier tossed in, too!), but I equally do acknowledge that the change of pace was rather abrupt and did remain so for a significant portion of the novel.

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