The Dark Chorus: Entertaining But Cluttered With Clichés
The Dark Chorus (2019) was four years in the making for Cambridge-based author Ashley Meggitt and its publication is a testament to hard work and commitment. Here is a quick look at this emerging indie writer's debut. Now, I don't usually like an opening line with a semi-colon in it. For me, it's far too early for them -- I'm not quite ready for the level of complexity that they introduce. I want something crisp and concise. So, I was already wary when I read Meggitt's first sentence: "I was born right here in this asylum -- literally into bedlam; delivered into a stark white-tiled cell, in what I've come to think of as The Screaming Room" (2019, p.3). I can't say that the promise of any room described as a "Screaming" one wouldn't keep me engaged, but I was looking forward to the "clear-eyed" writing that was I promised on the book's cover. Unfortunately, his prose remains stodgy throughout the novel. Meggitt cl...