A novel about the horrors of The Great War and being a Navy brat veers wildly off-track when the narrator encounters the Fey Folk. ( )

This novel was…….interesting. I have read other novels by Richard Matheson (I Am Legend and A Stir of Echoes) and totally loved them but this one was very different. I must have misread the back cover of the book because it was nothing like I expected.

The beginning of the novel was very intriguing as it starts off during the war. There are trenches and gunfire and death all around and a giant gold nugget. Sounds great right? With great anticipation, we follow our lead character, Alex, to a little town that his friend told him to visit (there’s much more to the story than that but I’m trying to avoid spoilers). Then there are strange walks through the woods, the gold nugget turns to ash and we meet the witch. Ok, now we’re really getting somewhere! But then there are many sex scenes with this witch and I find myself laughing about them even now as I write this review (read it, you’ll see).

So, yeah, lots of sex with the witch. Then poor Alex meets another woman that he is completely enchanted with but since he is already in a relationship with the witch, things start to get a bit dicey for him. Oh, did I mention the new love interest is a fairy? And that’s when the story kind of went south for me. A whole bunch of stuff happens in fairyland but honestly, I feel like Matheson should have just written a regular love story because most of the story was about Alex’s infatuation with his fairy lady.

I couldn’t give it many stars because the story just wasn’t my thing. But Matheson’s writing is always wonderful and beautiful so just read something else he has written instead. One thing I can say about the author is that the man sure knows love and heartbreak and his storytelling is absolutely effortless. This particular story just wasn’t for me.
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While there were some things about this book that I liked (at least initially), I can't give it my wholehearted approval. The narrator became very annoying and repetitious (I know he is an elderly man when "writing" the book, but it gets to be too much) and although the beginning promised terrifying events and a barely believable story, the second part of the book pretty much fell flat. I was actually kind of glad when it was over, although I did finish it. Sad to say, it was definitely not as strong as other amazing things I've read by this author. ( )

This was okay for Matheson, but it seemed to be two different stories combined into one.

Meh. I think listening to this made my flu worse. Just... not palatable at all. ( )