Sometimes the description that is given to a book doesn't do it justice. I did not know what to expect when I read Greyglass. From the synopsis I thought there would be more focus on the house named Greyglass. The house ended up being background to the life of Susan and her own issues with family. Lee's colourful descriptions and twisty way with words is the reason I keep coming back to her work. I'll admit my first impression at the end was that of dislike but as always her work stays with me, haunts me if you will. I cant stop thinking of the story until I come to my own realisations of what it was really all about. She's good for that...making one think. ( )

Greyglass is ostensibly (from the back cover) about a young woman's life in the shadow of her peculiar grandmother's labyrinthine mansion. And we do see Susan Wilde grow in stages from adolescence to adulthood, and she revisits the house from time to time, but I didn't feel anything "uncanny" about it. There is a little talk of supernatural occurrences later in the novel, but certainly not enough to be labelled fantasy; it reads more like literary fiction. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I felt a bit of a bait & switch, and it all isn't that interesting anyway. There is finally some action and a revelation at the end, but the whole thing just didn't gel for me. I guess even a literary goddess like Lee can fall short once in a while. ( )

First things first, this cover art is fucking hideous. It has nothing to do with the book, and it's poorly made. The images (a brick wall with an arch and a huge eyeball?!) are grainy and blurry, like they were mashed together and resized in MS Paint. Seriously, no one gave a fuck about this cover and it shows. I'm insulted on behalf of Tanith (who possibly also didn't give a fuck).

Next, I have no clue what this book is about. I mean, it follows Susan as she grows up, through a series of random and possibly unconnected events. Scene changes were disjointed and often I wondered what the point of any of it was. The back of the book goes on about the house, but the focus seems to be on various relationships (friends, family, lovers) in Sue's life and very little to do with this possibly haunted house her grandmother used to live in. Alas, as that would have been more my style.

The ending felt unfinished and left me wondering what the hell happened, and I also have many questions about the last few events of the book. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take away. But I feel like whatever it was, I completely friggen missed it.

This is the first Tanith book I've come across that I didn't really enjoy. However, the writing style I've come to love from her is still there. She does a good job of making the reader feel awkward and confused. And as always, I love her choice of vocabulary. I learned four new words:
neurasthenia - a psychological disorder marked by easy fatigability and a lack of motivation and feelings of inadequacy
acanthus - a prickly perennial herb chiefly of the Mediterranean region
bacchante - a priestess of Bacchus
untrammeled - not restricted or hampered

So, this wasn't my cup of tea, but if you're looking for a more contemporary, literary fiction feel from Tanith, versus her normal sci-fi/fantasy gig, you might like this.

Seriously though, that cover art...

UPDATE So I went to Google because I knew the cover artist's name sounded familiar (yes, I'm that bothered) and it's Tanith's damn husband! Wtf?! He couldn't do his wife's book any justice? Susan, in the book, ends up working as a book cover designer, yet the cover of this actual book looks like it was made by a third grader. Oh man. I know it's stupid, but really....I just don't get why no one put an ounce of effort into the cover design. /endrant ( )