Ilhem

I had many issues with this story:

- I’m not crazy about the soul-transfer thing into an unwilling body. Don’t get me wrong, I am totally game for leaving an old, decrepit, dying body to roam free in the sky, and I am not immune to the beauty of a falcon flight, but I am just not that enthusiastic about becoming a parasite. That sounds very anti-harmony to me. *oh, you see the worst in everything!*

- I know that it’s the guiding line, but everything is too simple. The villains sound like out of an old Western, Simple is an angel of kindness, Simple always has the good retort, Simple tames the old grump without a fight, Simple knows how to catch a falcon, Simple holds the secret of the universe, Simple teaches Harmony to little grasshopper.  *oh, that’s petty!*

- Some work on the background would have been welcomed and would have helped with the paranormal side of the story. My issue is not so much that I had to suspend disbelief than it was all thrown in my face in a just-take-a-leap-of-faith attitude. 

- The story’s flow is uneven. There are some irritating head hopping, the sentimental scenes are awkward,  turning points and interesting plot lines are too rushed for my liking.

All in all, I had a hard time wrapping my mind around this : It. Is. Simple.

But.

There was nevertheless something soothing and endearing in Simple’s ways, and I was sold on the whole dance-of-death concept – focusing on one last achievement, reconquering dignity, standing proud until the very end and still looking ahead. I liked that the romance is not the whole point of the story, I liked the quiet, focused moments when the three of them work together, I liked that the story is as much about Emmett as it is about Simple and Jude, that it is about the three of them taking flight.

So.

Contrary cynical unbelievers, pass your way!

And.

It’s true that the execution didn’t win me over; but there is a good chance that it will move you if you’re into kind, wise, flawless characters and into idealistic, spiritual stories.