The result is that the first half, more or less, is simply a long description of the trek to the mountain and the setting up of the first camps, with a narrator who finds everything either disappointing or horrible. This is a short book in comparison to most, coming in at 240 pages, but nonetheless it is too long for the story it tells. I know this is becoming one of my most regular rants, so I’m going to give it a scientific name – FF’s First Law: The length of a book should be determined by the requirements of the story. Perhaps that’s why I found this one a little disappointing.
And so they set off… but Stephen soon begins to feel haunted himself…Īfter Michelle Paver’s fabulous Dark Matter, my expectations for this chilly ghost story were high indeed.
Only two survived – Lyell himself, and Charles Tennant who has been haunted ever since by his experiences on the mountain. The team of five men proposes to tackle the South-West Face, a route taken by the earlier Lyell expedition which ended in tragedy after they were struck by an avalanche. There’s always been a sibling rivalry between the two brothers and, although acknowledging that Kits is the better climber, Stephen determines that he too will make it to the summit of Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world and as yet unconquered. His elder brother Kits is already part of the expedition. When the medic for a Himalayan expedition is injured, Dr Stephen Pearce is asked to stand in.
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