Review: Engadine Aerie

Engadine Aerie by Bluette Matthey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Engadine Aerie is the fifth book in the Hardy Durkin Travel Mysteries series, although it works perfectly fine as a standalone novel. Personally, I read it as a standalone novel. Although there were numerous references to events that had clearly occurred in the prior books, it was done in such a way that you were never left with questions of how it related to the current storyline. I do have questions, though, but these are more so questions because I now wish to go and give the prior books in the series a read. I want to know more about Hardy Durkin and the mysteries he has been pulled into whilst travelling.

If I’m so interested in giving the prior books a read, if this book has left me with such a strong desire to read more of the series, why did I give it a three star rating? It’s a valid question. Note that this book is more of a three-point-five rating. Although there were points where I considered giving this book a four star rating, I couldn’t quite bring myself to do so for the entire book. It has left me with the filling that other work by the author could easily earn a four star rating from me, though.

Engadine Aerie is a story rich with detail. The setting is easily brought to life and the history involved in the story is vivid. If I were rating this book purely on the research that went into it, I would have to give top marks. Honestly, words cannot begin to describe how well done the research is. It’s something you need to experience to believe.

As wonderful as this was, however, I also found it to be a bit of a downfall for the story. As stated, the vividness was wonderful, but at times it took the attention away from the overall story. A large section would suddenly appear that was in relation to giving us history, and it pulls you from the mystery of the book. I really enjoyed all of the knowledge, yet I wish it had been placed within the story a bit better. To put it simply, it was jarring to suddenly have masses of texts that did not move the characters forward. I’m very much a person who loves it when characters are constantly on the move, and the knowledge based sections pulled me away from the characters.

After all, the characters are wonderful. We have a wonderful cast of characters, a diverse cast. You’re pulled into the worlds of so many characters, there is so much going on that you want more from each of them. They’re all very real characters, with the story allowing their characters to grow in so many ways. One thing I really liked was the way in which we got to see the everyday aspects of the characters, we got to know the little details, even for the characters who weren’t quite central to the story.

I also enjoyed how there were multiple aspects to this story. There was one big mystery and many smaller aspects. I’ve been left with some questions about certain things, but as a whole I was pleased with the way things played out with this one (even if serendipity seemed to play a vital role in some of the information being found out). Compared to other stories where there are multiple mystery elements going on, this one was rather short – and whilst I would have liked for it to be a bit longer, whilst I would have liked more time wracking my head around the mystery, things did come together nicely.

Overall, it was an interesting read. Despite the three star rating, I did enjoy this one and I am interested to read more in the series.

As a final note, I would like to thank the author for the opportunity to advance read Engadine Aerie.

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