174. "The Apprentice" by Lewis Libby

Lewis Libby's debut novel, The Apprentice, is one of those books that's difficult to review immediately; I feel like I need more time to process it, but I'm also not sure more time would help.

The story revolves around an apprentice innkeeper who, during the course of a snowstorm, faces moral dilemmas, murder, suspicion, political intrigue, and first love. The writing is poetic at times and overly clunky at others; even though readers learn many of the characters' names, Libby continues to refer to them as "the apprentice," "the girl who had worn the yellow cloak," "the tiny girl," etc., which makes for awkward narration. The resolution is deliberately ambiguous, which contributes to my own ambivalence about the novel.