I found Justin Lee Anderson on Hoopla Digital which recommended him as an author similar to Jodi Taylor, who writes the excellent Chronicles of St. Mary’s novels. Sadly this novel, Carpet Diem, just misses. Carpet Diem is meant to be a humorous take on “How We Averted the Apocalypse”, much like Good Omens or Tom Holt’s novels. It has funny moments and the hero postpones the Apocalypse, but it isn’t overall a winner.
Characters
Writing a humorous book is hard work! Authors need characters that carry the load, characters that we readers engage with, care about, people with senses of humor. The whole time I read Carpet Diem I kept wondering why the book wasn’t better, and I think it is because the author created characters he thought were funny in themselves, and didn’t write dialogue or events that were funny.
None of the character was very interesting. We have the drunken great aunt, the extraordinarily people-averse hero (because he has too-good a sense of smell), an angel or two, a demon or two, a few oddball, never explained magic characters, and assorted side kicks. The only one with any personality is the hero, Simon, who must face his immense dislike of crowds (even tiny crowds, as in one or two people) to retrieve his carpet and gift it to the apocalyptic force of his choice. Simon was moderately interesting.
Overall
I think part of the problem is the characters go through truly harrowing, deathly events that do not feel real. Simon faces death and we readers just go along with the story, not really feeling any terror or anything more than a vague anxiety. The story reads like a story, not like anything that characters or we readers experience.
Perhaps part of my negative feeling for Carpet Diem is that I felt gypped. The story is not compelling and not the quality of Chronicles of St. Mary’s novels or Good Omens. I expected something with plenty of plot, great characters and dialogue and funny moments in between terror. Carpet Diem is not these things.
3 Stars
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