BR; The Magic Cottage - James Herbert

The last James Herbert book I read was 'The Secret of Crickley Hall', which left me hiding under my duvet, and quaking in my slipper boots, at two in the morning. So I had very high expectations for this book.
Firstly I'm unsure on whether I liked the fact the novel was written with hindsight - I think perhaps this spoiled some of the tension that should have occured naturally. The thing that struck me most to start with was the writing style. It is written to the reaser, not FOR the reader. It was so different from 'Crickley Hall' it took some time to adjust. The writing style also narrowed our own opinions, looking through the eyes of a biased man throughout.
But once I got used to it, I allowed myself to be sucked in by the changing moods and atmospheres. Herebert created these very well, allowing a great deal of empathy. He used alot of imagrey and vivid description, which really set every scene. I was impressed by Herberts ability to create a serene, magical atmosphere - I thought it may have been out of his comfort zone, but he was surprisingly good at it. The words and feelings were beautiful.
After reading his other work, I couldn't help but compare them. And this book was so....slow... nothing happened. Only very mild spikes of action were envoloped in this perfect world. And that action that did take place was not at all dramatic. I don't feel I developed a connection with the characters at all...I had no qualms over whether they lived or died. We were forced to focus so much on 'Graymere' as a place and it's energy, I just didn't get that character bond I always look for.
I give this book a 6/10. It was definatley not Herberts best work, by far. And knowing that probably lowered this score another point. I expected much more...plain and simple.