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Dark Matter: the gripping ghost story from the author of WAKENHYRST

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I have been reading quite a lot of Gothic Fiction novels of late and finding my joy in most of them but Wakenhyrst just didn’t create the suspense or tension I was expecting. Why did I read this book: After hitting so many duds and meh reads lately, I decided that I was really in the mood for something dark and terrifying. I had completely forgotten that I had Dark Matter on my shelf, and then I remembered how much Ana loved the book when she read it last year. It seemed like the perfect time to give the book a read. Michelle Paver is most famous for writing a series of fantasy novels for younger readers - which I have not read - and Dark Matter, subtitled A Ghost Story, is her first novel for adult readers. Ghosts - or fictional ones, at least - tend to haunt inhabited places, whether houses, churches, castles or hospital wards. So used are we to the traditions of the genre that a description of a decrepit mansion full of dark corners and unexplained creaks is enough to raise in us readers expectations of phantoms and ghouls. In this regard, Michelle Paver's "Thin Air" - much like its predecessor Dark Matter - is not your typical ghostly tale since it is the very remoteness of the haunted spaces which makes the setting particularly eerie. The context of "Thin Air" is a 1935 expedition to the summit of the Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas, the third highest peak in the world. A team of five Englishmen, including narrator Stephen Pearce and his brother "Kits", set off in the footsteps of a disastrous 1907 expedition, made famous through the memoirs of its leader Edmund Lyell. It turns out, however, that Lyell's memoirs might have left out some of the more unsavoury details of that doomed attempt, as our intrepid protagonists will discover to their dismay. Indeed, memories and relics of the Lyell expedition seem to cast a pall over the new climb. urn:lcp:darkmatter0000pave:epub:d49b44ed-1267-4568-94de-6110f426f5ad Foldoutcount 0 Identifier darkmatter0000pave Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t98748h54 Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781409123781

Having enjoyed, “Dark Matter,” and “Thin Air,” I was delighted to receive Michelle Paver’s new novel, to review. I missed them acutely when I finished Ghost Hunter,” says Paver now, who has spent the interim years publishing a handful of critically acclaimed novels for adults, from the terrifying ghost story Dark Matter and Thin Air, where five Englishmen set out to climb Kangchenjunga and which was described as a “a heart-freezing masterpiece” by the Observer. “It was immersive and great fun to be writing an adult gothic, or a ghost story, but even when I was writing them, Torak and Renn and Wolf didn’t go away. They’d pop into my head at odd moments, and that is very different to other books.” This cleverly written suspenseful historical really gives a great sense of the Time period with the fascinating journal entries help drive the narrative. Paver was in the middle of research for another adult novel – Wakenhyrst, about a lonely child growing up in the middle of the marshes in Edwardian Suffolk – so she had to put the germ of an idea for what would become Viper’s Daughter aside. But she’s no stranger to letting ideas percolate until they find their time: while studying biochemistry at Oxford in the late 70s, she found herself getting increasingly interested in writing and attempted a Mills & Boon. “It was absolute rubbish. I was so arrogant. I had complete contempt for Mills & Boon and thought it must be easy, so wrote it in three weeks and sent it in. Of course it got rejected.”I’ve been in the mood for a good ghost story for a while, and when another book blogger told me that Michelle Paver’s novel Dark Matter was not only suspenseful and spooky, but also set in a wild remote place, I didn’t need any more persuasion! And I must say that it lived up to all my expectations. Disquieting and piognant in equal measure, Paver's novel reminds us that fear of the dark is the oldest fear of all. An ideal read for long winter evenings -- Val Nolan * IRISH EXAMINER * Helped by sneaking in to her father’s study and reading his personal notebook (diary) - she learns many things, some that she struggles to understand! I love reading about the Arctic, about people traveling to the Arctic, about getting lost in the Arctic, about the never-ending nights of winter, the aurora, the weird twilight, the running about by the light of a full moon trying to 'get things done while there's some light.' I love the dogs, the huskies, and the wind blowing and the snow coming down so fast and furious it all but covers your hut/tent/makeshift shelter. It's just so damn creepy.

Thin Air is an interesting book about a group that decides to climb Kangchenjunga in India. I was quite fascinated with the books premise. Horror stories that take place in isolated places are great and I was quite looking forward to being swept off my feet. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. I liked the story, but I didn't love it. There were interesting moments, but I just felt that I never really connected with either Stephen Pearce or his fellow travelers. I liked the idea that one of the men from the previous expedition was left behind and that Stephen Pearce felt haunted. But, it just never got really interesting.

The Sherpas are wrong. This mountain has no spirit, no sentience and no intent. It’s not trying to kill us. It simply is.” [famous last words…] I adored Maud. Her forward thinking and feminist ideologies, her stubborn nature, and her ardent longing for the natural world all spoke to my heart and I was to unable to do anything but align with her cause. Her father, however, far less so, just as the story demanded of its readers. I could feel the chilly winds and the cold in this one and the eerie feel of the mountain really comes to life in her vivid writing.

Paver has written a similar book to this one called Thin Air, cold snowy horror, ghosts & isolation etc, so I was worried this one would feel too samey for me to really appreciate it, but boy was I wrong! ⁠

Summary

This novel felt a little bit slow to get off the ground and I was worried that it wasn’t really going to build up to any sort of crescendo. The beginning of the book focuses heavily on building the characters, all of who are great to get to know. Our narrator Stephen is a likeable guy from the get-go, he’s a little bit clumsy and his self-deprecating humour adds a lighter tone to the novel. We also meet the team with which he’s trekking the mountain, which includes his brother Kits. Kit’s is everything that Stephen is not – he’s successful, well-loved, and confident. It was really interesting to see the sibling dynamic throughout the book. Paver makes it an interesting relationship where they have love for each other, but only due to the fact they’re related, otherwise, they readily admit they wouldn’t get along at all. I loved this story. I couldn't put it down. It's as creepy as an M R James ghost story and yet, even though it's set in the 1930s, it doesn't feel self-consciously dated as many neo-Gothic stories do. It feels absolutely relevant. Not many people can write historical fiction without anachronism but with a contemporary feel and Michelle Paver is one of them. Dark Matter comes highly recommended * THE BOOK BAG * Paver once again brings her distinctive style to DARK MATTER. A lot of attention is paid to the natural landscape, making it a captivating read for the explorer's heart. DARK MATTER has a very strong sense of realism, testimony of the thorough research involved, and of Paver's own experience in the Arctic circle * SONGS OF THE FOREST blog * A terrifying 1930s ghost story set in the haunting wilderness of the far north * PIPER AT THE GATES OF FANTASY *

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