Through this narration, we become immersed not only in the sibling relationship but also the harsh conditions of the expedition. I enjoyed Pearce’s narration, and the one-upmanship type of relationship with his brother adds an interesting dimension to the expedition dynamics.

Dark Matter - LoveReading Opening Extract from… Dark Matter - LoveReading

Paver's suspenseful tale telling is wonderfully effective, leaving the reader with an increased feeling of unease as the expedition progresses. The dreadful secret that Torak carries with him at the close of 'Soul Eater' is revealed and he is cast out from the clans. Perhaps all the King and Herbert I’ve read have desensitised me to more subtle horror and if that’s the case then I’m deeply sad about it.And it is the uncovering of these horrifiying truths which gradually chills and frightens you as the reader.

Dark Matter Audiobook - Michelle Paver - Listening Books Dark Matter Audiobook - Michelle Paver - Listening Books

Dark Matter features an Arctic expedition in 1937, when four young men set off in a Norwegian vessel to spend a year on the remote land spit of Gruhuken on the Barents Sea. There is so much packed into this little book and it's all done with such flair - the development of Jack's feelings towards his teammates and in particular Gus, his initial antipathy towards the dogs evolving slowly into affection for Isaak, his immense relief when he receives a visitor. Eric Brown of The Guardian described the book as "a spellbinding read" and "the kind of subtly unsettling, understated ghost story MR James might have written had he visited the Arctic. They respect and fear the mountain and display a great deal more common sense than their western paymasters. His investigations lead him to a series of Mafia clans running Lawless City, and he touchingly decides to rid the city of all wrongdoing.

The team have read the account of the expedition and whilst preparing in Darjeeling they visit the last surviving member of the expedition, Tennant, who warns Stephen not to go.

Dark Matter-text-ac 1. Dark Matter-text-ac 1.

Paver certainly does that as the narrator, Stephen, gradually perceives that there is someone else climbing with them. It is 1935 and our narrator, Dr Stephen Pearce, has left London, and the woman he was supposed to be marrying, to join his brother, Kit, on a mountaineering expedition. Both his background as well as his personality make Jack an interesting, rounded character whose voice is perfect for the era and drive much of story’s momentum as his initial reserve and preconceived ideas begin to crumble in the remoteness of the Arctic Circle. To his alarm, it didn’t lead towards the valley where the clan was camped, but down to the River Blackthorn where he and Renn kept their canoe. Bad luck seems to dog the expedition and when they arrive at Longyearbyen for the last leg of their journey, they are warned to choose another destination as their base, but the vague rumours about Gruhuken fail to dissuade them.For anyone looking for a good ghost story with a rich, atmospheric setting and a historical element (yes, this book has it all! I’ve had this book on my TBR for YEARS now – and I’m thinking it’s time to finally dust it off and tackle it (I really have no excuse as Dan Simmons is one of my favorite authors – but finding the time to devote to this kind of tome with a tight blogging schedule to keep is hard! The discovery of an old rucksack is significant and Paver manages to make an everyday object like a rucksack very scary indeed. Stephen Pearce is a realistic narrator; a man who has spent his life being the bookish, younger brother, of the brave, rich brother.

Dark Matter – Michelle Paver

Paver's love of the Arctic, first hand knowledge and experience of the region shine through the narrative. perfectly executed little ghost story set in the Arctic wastes in the late 1930s, featuring the adventures of AN AWESOME HUSKY NAMED ISAAK and I suppose some humans as well. When newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling country estate, The Bridge, what greets her is far from the life of wealth and privilege she was expecting . Over the course of weeks, eerie happenings disturb his peace of mind: a masked figure from Sardinian folklore lurks in the bush, and a blood-covered sewing dummy appears in his attic.What I don’t like is the feeling I sometime get that other things might exist around us, of which we know nothing. Where I live in Poole we hardly ever get it and when the rest of the kingdom is cloaked in it we have the normal talcum powder sprinklings which somehow manages to bring all normal progress to a grinding halt or we have absolutely none whatsoever whilst radio and tv bangs on about blizzard conditions and the horror that is the white stuff everywhere else. 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.