[REVIEW] Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

Before I start this review I want to give a little update since probably many of you have noticed I’m not as active with posting reviews. I started university in October so since then life has been very busy which meant little time for reading but now I’m trying to get back to blogging and reading because I’m very far behind my review copies and am very excited to read them. From now on I won’t be posting weekly but when I get the time to review. Note to publishers: No fear, I will definitely fulfill all my obligations to you and review all the books that were sent to me. Onto the review:

I always find describing synopses of books hard because I feel I’m not good at it but like always I’ll do my best to write a spoiler-free synopsis. The book begins in 1935 London with Jack Miller, who’s a scholar who hasn’t really found excitement in life. His day-to-day life has become pretty lonely and boring but one day he’s offered a chance to join an Arctic expedition which would really give him a thrill so he decides to join the rest of the men who are going. The men who are going are wealthier – we see this in the first twenty pages, how he fears that he won’t have enough money to pay for everyone’s drinks – than him and being in a lower position than the other men makes him kind of uncomfortable but that quickly changes as they head on to Gruhuken. In the first plan there were supposed to be five men who went accompanied alongside eight huskies. Two men were faced with certain difficulties before heading to their destination so there are three left – Jack, Gus and Algie. Their plan is to stay for a few months on the expedition and investigate the land. Gus becomes sick and is in need of surgery so he has to leave Gruhuken and Algie accompanies him because of the potential negative outcome of the operation. Our main voice Jack is left alone in the structure they built. Jack has noticed something dark creeping up on the strange place called Gruhuken. Is it possible his mind is playing tricks on him? Could it be possible that the others have seen what he has seen?

I haven’t read a scary book in a long while so this was quite an interesting read. This book is told in the form of  Jack’s journal entries and we are introduced to the daily routines and life in Gruhuken. The thing I liked about this book is that it’s a really fast and engaging read. It keeps you intrigued and never seems to tire you because you become very invested in finding out what’s happening in Gruhuken. Our main character Jack Miller is a great character and I love how we got to see his psyche change as the novel went on. The character of Gus was my favourite in the book because of who he was – a very lovable kind of guy. I admire Jack’s decision to stay on the expedition even though he’s seen certain things which would scare most people away and that shows his determination and will to not let anyone down. My critique would be that I wish we got to see more of an insight into Jack’s mind even though there were many insights I just wish they were written more in depth. I also wanted a better resolution to the story because Paver WHY!? I wish we would’ve gotten more answers to certain questions but it was overall a very entertaining read. I have to compliment her skills at making you scared at times because some scenes were really scary (especially while reading at night).

Dark Matter is a book any lover of ghost stories will definitely enjoy and also there are topics to analyse in it which make it even more interesting and worth reading.

My rating: 

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Michelle Paver was born in Central Africa, but came to England as a child. After gaining a degree in Biochemistry from Oxford University, she became a partner in a City law firm, but eventually gave that up to write full-time.

The hugely successful Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series arose from Michelle’s lifelong passion for animals, anthropology and the distant past – as as well as an encounter with a large bear in a remote valley in southern California. To research the books, Michelle has traveled to Finland, Greenland, Sweden, Norway, Arctic Canada and the Carpathian Mountains. She has slept on reindeer skins, swum with wild orca (killer whales), and got nose-to-nose with polar bears – and, of course, wolves.

Find her on: Website,  Goodreads,  Twitter and Facebook.