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gillothen's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Oh dear. I stuck this out to the end, but I'm really not sure why. The author chose to set the story in a "reimagined" fifties London, but showed very little awareness of the period or culture - it was full of things that just weren't there in 50s Britain - telephone calls to a not very affluent Liverpudlian family, for example. A "Candy Store". There were also egregious mistakes - two characters meet at Marylebone Station, one planning to travel to Liverpool, the other to Dereham in East Anglia. Just no.
A really good story can make one overlook such bloopers. This did not succeed in doing so. I didn't really come to care about any of the characters and found myself constantly jolted out of the story - "Aces" as an all-purpose exclamation of approval, for example, or constant ham-fisted references to class which did little more than show the author didn't really have a clue. I wouldn't recommend this to any British reader.
A really good story can make one overlook such bloopers. This did not succeed in doing so. I didn't really come to care about any of the characters and found myself constantly jolted out of the story - "Aces" as an all-purpose exclamation of approval, for example, or constant ham-fisted references to class which did little more than show the author didn't really have a clue. I wouldn't recommend this to any British reader.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Physical abuse, Torture, Vomit, Child abuse, Cursing, and Murder
mgwuh's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The world building is excellent; the cast of characters, fully realized. Unfortunately, the protagonist is insufferable. He's a narcissistic, preening, barely competent, myopic, desperate, charming trashheap of a man who pulls everyone around him into a vortex of his idiocy and carelessly pursued crusades. He constantly proclaims his deep love for others all while only loving them exactly as is convenient for him and his image of himself, to their detriment.
Read it if you have the patience for a main character whom you'd throttle to death in real life. In all other cases, avoid it like the plague. It's good work, and I will well upon the author, but it wasn't worth what the stress and rage likely did to my physical health.
Other reviewers note plotholes, and I also chafed against those and a few anachronisms, but honestly by the time they happened I was so annoyed I was rushing through the book to just get it over with, so they captured my attention only long enough to leave an annotation commenting on them. I don't know if they'll shake you more if you're less frustrated than I was by then.
Read it if you have the patience for a main character whom you'd throttle to death in real life. In all other cases, avoid it like the plague. It's good work, and I will well upon the author, but it wasn't worth what the stress and rage likely did to my physical health.
Other reviewers note plotholes, and I also chafed against those and a few anachronisms, but honestly by the time they happened I was so annoyed I was rushing through the book to just get it over with, so they captured my attention only long enough to leave an annotation commenting on them. I don't know if they'll shake you more if you're less frustrated than I was by then.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Torture
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia
Minor: War
Lots of catholicism if that bothers you. The mc is possibly anti abortion but his idiocy is held in relief against more rational characters who have no issue with it.
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