Gun Island

I guess I start out by saying I have really liked Amitav Ghosh's other books - I have read most of them, and when I picked up this one I saved it for a while before reading it. Unfortunately, it is by far the one I have enjoyed least.I have put the most part of this review in a spoiler, as it does discuss the main themes of the book.For me, it tried to address too many of the world critical environmental and social issues - rising sea levels, rising ocean temperatures, habitat changes, wild weather patterns, migration pattern changes, pollution, climate change in general; refugees, the oil industry, inequality, people trafficking, the arms trade. Then throw in some magical themes - precognitive awareness, spirit guidance, communication with the no longer living, and, yeah, all too much. Ghosh's strength in his previous books has been his excellent characters and his ability to weave an intricate story around them. He picks up on historical events and researches them carefully to run an authentic story line, and with his excellent descriptive writing sets it all beautifully.In my view this was missing from the most part of this book.The characters had potential, but never filled out. The historical events - this was the folk tale of the Gun Merchant and the temple on the Sundarbans, and the descriptions of the Sundarbans (and Venice) were good, and at least the folk tale fleshed out well in the dialogue. However the other characters were all wooden, they seemed to only exist to provide an answer to a puzzle piece, or were introduced to later play a part in the resolution. I not only didn't like the characters, they were more than unlikeable, they were awful.Also a miss for me were the way all the pieces fell into place so readily. There were just too many simple answers, usually proffered by a character almost unprompted. Much of the dialogue also stunk of info-dumping, and while it moved the story along it was unnatural and clunky.Then there was the obvious environmental preaching. I could have taken a little of this - it is obviously something Ghosh is now passionate about - but it was all a bit much. Dolphins, whales and birds saving the day, um, yeah, no, terrible ending.So for me very disappointing, and I really must re-read some of the books by Ghosh that I loved. If the fiction world is headed towards climate change based novels, I will be steering clear. If you want the Sundarbans, the go for his [b:The Hungry Tide 894273 The Hungry Tide Amitav Ghosh https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1342477473l/894273.SY75.jpg 981525], which is streets ahead!Another reviewer called this ‘Dan Brownesque' with the simple way it rolled out and answers found Deen, our main character. That seems about right. Where did Ghosh, the master storyteller go?First dud of the year for me.2 sad stars.