https://thewestmarchreview.com/ Book notices, warnings and enthusiasms from the far side of the Shire. en Fri, 24 Jul 2026 16:53:29 +0000 https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/a-doorstop-defended/ https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/a-doorstop-defended/ Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Fourteen volumes, a middle that sits down for a rest, and an ending that earns every page of the walk. An honest accounting of the cost before the recommendation. https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/the-house-that-eats-its-heir/ https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/the-house-that-eats-its-heir/ Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The castle is the character; everyone inside it is furniture with opinions. Read it slowly or not at all. https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/statues-halls-an-ocean-indoors/ https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/statues-halls-an-ocean-indoors/ Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 I have kept this notice useless on purpose. Go in knowing nothing, and I would do it again. https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/a-wizard-badly-behaved/ https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/a-wizard-badly-behaved/ Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 A boy is clever, the cleverness costs him, and the rest of the book is the bill arriving. Nothing wasted anywhere in it. https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/court-manners-for-the-friendless/ https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/court-manners-for-the-friendless/ Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 An unwanted heir inherits, and is decent about it, and decency turns out to be the hardest thing in the room. https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/the-book-i-keep-restarting/ https://thewestmarchreview.com/reviews/the-book-i-keep-restarting/ Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 The narrator is lying and the prose is gorgeous and I cannot tell which of those is the obstacle.