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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
Thank you, NetGalley, for an ARC of this book.
This book had been sitting on my TBR pile for awhile now. I'm new to NetGalley and I just couldn't figure out how to open a protected ebook. I know, I should have Googled. Anyway, fast forward to this morning, I was finally able to open the book on my desktop (font too small on my phone).
And all I can say is... *drum roll*
#WayUp #Blessed
I'm sooo glad I conquered my laziness and decided to download a reader to open this ARC. Want to know why? The Light Fantastic is just that-- fantastic. It touched on an issue so relevant, something that's happening everywhere in the world (all that pent up angst and sadness, man). To be honest, I was feeling something along the lines of what some of the narrators (there were seven!) were feeling. What a coincidence, I thought. This book is trying to save me.
You know a piece of literature is golden when it reaches inside you and fixes something you didn't even know was broken. Like, I didn't even know I needed the words until they were right before my eyes. Such beautiful words, Sarah Combs.
The multiple narrative might put off or confuse some people. I was a little, too, in the beginning. But as the story progressed, I understood, and I loved all these voices, and I loved how each of them had wisdom and insights to share.
You can tell how much I loved this book by now but the ending disappointed me. I got suckered off into this story, I got invested into these people's lives, and leaving me hanging just like that is a punch in the gut.
TLDR: Relevant, great writing, multiple narrative might be confusing to some, ending too abrupt.
Visit my blog: chasingroanne.tumblr.com/tagged/book-bites
This book had been sitting on my TBR pile for awhile now. I'm new to NetGalley and I just couldn't figure out how to open a protected ebook. I know, I should have Googled. Anyway, fast forward to this morning, I was finally able to open the book on my desktop (font too small on my phone).
And all I can say is... *drum roll*
#WayUp #Blessed
I'm sooo glad I conquered my laziness and decided to download a reader to open this ARC. Want to know why? The Light Fantastic is just that-- fantastic. It touched on an issue so relevant, something that's happening everywhere in the world (all that pent up angst and sadness, man). To be honest, I was feeling something along the lines of what some of the narrators (there were seven!) were feeling. What a coincidence, I thought. This book is trying to save me.
You know a piece of literature is golden when it reaches inside you and fixes something you didn't even know was broken. Like, I didn't even know I needed the words until they were right before my eyes. Such beautiful words, Sarah Combs.
The multiple narrative might put off or confuse some people. I was a little, too, in the beginning. But as the story progressed, I understood, and I loved all these voices, and I loved how each of them had wisdom and insights to share.
You can tell how much I loved this book by now but the ending disappointed me. I got suckered off into this story, I got invested into these people's lives, and leaving me hanging just like that is a punch in the gut.
TLDR: Relevant, great writing, multiple narrative might be confusing to some, ending too abrupt.
Visit my blog: chasingroanne.tumblr.com/tagged/book-bites
Beautiful style and characters. I had some issue with the continuity but, in whole, a book I'll recommend to all, YA and adult readers alike.
I loved the idea and writing style of the book. It gave an interesting glimpse into how teenagers that have seen all these bombings and shootings have dealt with them. I did, however, end up feeling a bit confused, maybe because of the many narrators, or the story feeling a bit disjointed. I'm not particularly a fan of books about mass shootings and other horrible events, but this is definitely worth a read if you are.
**I was given a digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**
**I was given a digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**
I received this as an ARC and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, there were parts that I didn't. I started this and it was a fairly quick read, but the changing POVs were hard to tell apart at first and that took away from the story a bit. The writing style was easy to read and fun to read. The subject matter was a hard topic and I think the author did well at conveying the craziness and uncertainty that it was. I found myself relating to characters that I would never have thought I would. I enjoyed reading it and when it hit the climax I couldn't put it down. The ending seamed like it wasn't fully over and I wanted to know what happened to the other characters besides April and Gavin. It was interesting, enjoyable, and a rollercoaster to read.
I loved the story but some of the points of view lines felt unfinished or like they could benefit from some more information to explain the situation or history. The characters were easy to get attached to and really tugged at the heart strings, I found myself crying on more than one occasion. I appreciated that one of the characters was from Idaho, I rarely ever read that someone is in or from Idaho. This book covers some heavy stuff and I feel like it did a nice job with a tricky topic.
The premise was great, which is what made me ask for a review copy on Netgalley, but the plot didn't do it justice, making what could have been a fantastic book rather ordinary. Multiple narrators can be a powerful storytelling device, but it took me a while to realize that there were different narrators -- part of this was a problem with the formatting of the ebook -- but it was also that they all sounded the same. The other main problem I had was how long it took for the story to get going, especially regarding April's condition (I still haven't managed to understand it, but that's probably just me). I did not finish this book.
A word about the formatting of the ebook -- the Kindle edition was bizarrely formatting, making it difficult to read (and discern the changing narrators). There was an alternate PDF version available, but the text was so tiny that it was impossible to read on my ereader without a great deal of jiggling about.
A word about the formatting of the ebook -- the Kindle edition was bizarrely formatting, making it difficult to read (and discern the changing narrators). There was an alternate PDF version available, but the text was so tiny that it was impossible to read on my ereader without a great deal of jiggling about.
I had a morbid curiosity about this book, as I'm sure a lot of us do when it comes to such serious subject matter. I was really intrigued by the summary and the intertwining points of view but I found, as soon as I started it, that the POVs were kind of all over the page. Maybe it was partially to do with me reading an e-ARC (which are notoriously poor when it comes to formatting) but I think the story itself was just ridiculously jumbled. There was too many characters trying to weigh in that I couldn't really connect with any of them. Personally, I think this book would've worked much better from April's sole perspective, because she was quite interesting and was probably the only person who kept me reading. On a similar vein, I thought The Mastermind's POV would be really spine-tingling and freaky but I was just... kind of let down. I'm really disappointed in how this book turned out, which is quite annoying because it has the basis for a really great story.
i<>Thanks to NetGalley for this review copy. All opinions are my honest own.
i<>Thanks to NetGalley for this review copy. All opinions are my honest own.
Delaware, April 19th. It’s her birthday, April’s birthday. April Hope Donovan, that special girl with a special memory. She suffers from hyperthymesia, a condition of not being able to forget. And this is how she links especially negative events with her life. She was born on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing, four years later, the Columbine High School massacre, four days before her 18th birthday, the Boston marathon is bombed. Her whole life seems to turn around those hideous events. She can remember all the details of her life, but what she does not know yet is that the next catastrophe is already knocking on the door. All over the country, desperate teenagers have secretly gathered around the so called Mastermind to seek revenge. And one of them is close to April.
The story actually does not only revolve around April, but she is the most interesting of all characters and especially at the beginning of the novel, when she explains her brain disposition, it is great fun to follow her thoughts. Adding the other characters spread across the USA first lead to a bit of confusion, it takes some time until you realize how they are connected and what they have in mind actually. All individual stories do have some interesting and even gripping aspects, but since they rotate at a high space you do not really get into them. This makes the whole novel stay on the surface, even though the content and message would have deserved to be looked at more closely. This is the reason why I am a bit disappointed. I liked the tone of the novel, especially April’s narrative, but the author could have made more of the idea.
The story actually does not only revolve around April, but she is the most interesting of all characters and especially at the beginning of the novel, when she explains her brain disposition, it is great fun to follow her thoughts. Adding the other characters spread across the USA first lead to a bit of confusion, it takes some time until you realize how they are connected and what they have in mind actually. All individual stories do have some interesting and even gripping aspects, but since they rotate at a high space you do not really get into them. This makes the whole novel stay on the surface, even though the content and message would have deserved to be looked at more closely. This is the reason why I am a bit disappointed. I liked the tone of the novel, especially April’s narrative, but the author could have made more of the idea.
tbh I think it had a lot of potentials and the story seemed really interesting, but some parts sort of lost me. there were a couple plot holes, but all in all, it was an interesting book and definitely caught my attention. I recommend reading this if you like thrillers or even books that are emotional and twisty and turn-y plot-wise.
While it was an enjoyable read, I thought the constantly switching POVs were confusing (some of them didn't even make sense) and it was rather anti-climatic. Combs writing style, however, was descriptive, fascinating and unique, and it overall made the book an entertaining read.