The Chimes Review
A wonderfully unique novel that despite it’s early stumbles ultimately shines.
I bought this book on a whim at one of my trips to the local bookstore. I had seen it in passing on goodreads but what really made me decide to buy it was the cover. It sounds shallow, but personally I think the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ doesn’t always apply to books. There are millions of books out there and the ones that have a good cover stand a better chance of grabbing my attention in the store. The chimes happens to have a gorgeously colourful cover that I just had to have.
The Chimes is a novel about two boys, Simon and Lucien, and they’re lives in a world of music. Due to a catastrophic event in the past called Allbreaking, new memories can’t be formed, and the arts of reading and writing have been forgotten. Instead music is one of the main mediums of communication. By singing a song you can announce your presence, lay out what goods you have to trade on the market and even create a map for easy memorization. Lucien and Simon are pactrunners and in their case they scour the river Thames for ‘the Lady’ a precious metal that can be sold to traders. Together Lucien and Simon discover a secret that challenges all that they’ve been told about their world.
I’ll be honest and say that I found this book very difficult to get into. This is largely due to the lack of explanation for anything in the world in the beginning. Anna Smaill replaces common words like softly and suddenly with musical terms such as piano and subito. As someone who plays the piano I could figure out what was meant but it was confusing nonetheless. It isn’t until you’re halfway through the story that things start to fall into place. The writing does give the story a unique vibe, I just wish there’d have been some more explanation of the world early on or even a vocabulary list for some of the terms used.
Simon and Lucien are the clear main characters in the story and really the focus is all on them. They are interesting and well-done but certainly not the best I’ve read. I actually think the most interesting character of the story is Sonja who doesn’t appear until late in the book. You’ll have to see for yourself why that is!
All in all I think the Chimes ended up being a satisfying read. The book really build up to a crescendo and the ending was quite fulfilling. It is certainly one of the more unique novels I’ve read this year. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars simply because of the lackluster beginning.
My advice for those who plan to read this book, and you should, is to power through the beginning because it’s worth it in the end.
