The Land of Laughs
Carroll is one of those writers whose name gets dropped from time to time as a great writer if you hang around people who love fantasy. Revered for his original ideas and genuine skill as a writer he’s been on my ‘to read’ list for a long time. I bought two of his books a few years back to do just that. I had difficulty getting into the mood of the first book I tried (Voice of Our Shadow), so I put off trying again for a while.
The Land of Laughs is the story of a man who pursues his obsession with a children’s writer to the extent that he takes a sabbatical from his job to write a biography. With his similarly obsessed girlfriend in tow he travels to the writer’s hometown to seek the permission of his daughter to write the biography.
An undercurrent of weirdness builds up through the story that powers a series of twists in the final third that transforms a pretty normal story into a fantasy.
I found it very interesting, and it certainly kept my attention but there’s something deeply unsettling about the last few pages of the book that make it hard to process properly.
I’d certainly recommend it if you’re looking for something beyond generic fantasy.