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theaceofpages's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Most people and other animals are stuck in loops - essentially repeating bubbles of time. There are, however, those who live amongst them. The chosen/survivors/unlooped need to learn to survive in this new world where one wrong step or sound may release a looper, who will attack the disturber before disappearing, taking some of what they have been interacting with with them. Coco is one such survivor. The book follows her as she grows up from a lonely twelve year old girl and meets others like her, some of whom want to bring back the old world, and others who want to make a new one. But differences aside, they all recognise that preventing dangerous structures like nuclear power plants or factories with toxic chemicals from becoming unlooped is important. But as the looped world begins to fall apart - a combination of crumbling infrastructure and the surviving animals and humans disturbing loops- Coco and her friends realise that they need to find a way to restart time sooner rather than later: It is only a matter of time before something essential breaks and destroys them all, looped and unlooped alike.
I absolutely loved the concept of this book! The not quite zombies but still dangerous and to be avoided loopers provided an interesting dynamic but without taking away from the focus on human reactions and relationships. I'm still a little confused about how things got the way they were, but it was an interesting world to spend some time in and I enjoyed reading about it.
The story switches between current events and diary entries to fill the reader in with what happened. While this was a clever choice to allow the story to take over a long period of time, I do feel like it potentially took away from the character and relationship development. The more fleshed out [arts focussed on what was most important for the plot and we got filled in with (usually very short) "oh by the way, this happened since the last chapter" segments. I feel like these part in particular could have had a bit more emotion to make up for the amount of time they sometimes represented. Although I feel like the individual character arcs could have had a little more depth at times, I did find the societal arcs to be rather believable. I found myself wondering several times which side of things I would have started on - both had good points - and I wondered where Coco would have ended up has she met Forrest first. I definitely feel like most people would have moved to some kind of middle ground as they did as the survivors developed new communities with homes are resources and relationships with the other survivors around them, and even started families. It's definitely easier to have more set in stone beliefs when you have nothing to lose. Although I do think that it would have been interesting to have seen the more gradual approach to this instead of the more jumpy changes we get from how the author decided to treat the passage of time. Although I do understand why - this would have been much longer had time gone more slowly.
I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. While I did like it, it was also a bit of a letdown. I had prepared myself for the possibility for a while since wrapping up a book like this felt like it would be difficult. I'm not sure what I was hoping for to be honest. I did enjoy the epilogues though!
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
I absolutely loved the concept of this book! The not quite zombies but still dangerous and to be avoided loopers provided an interesting dynamic but without taking away from the focus on human reactions and relationships. I'm still a little confused about how things got the way they were, but it was an interesting world to spend some time in and I enjoyed reading about it.
The story switches between current events and diary entries to fill the reader in with what happened. While this was a clever choice to allow the story to take over a long period of time, I do feel like it potentially took away from the character and relationship development. The more fleshed out [arts focussed on what was most important for the plot and we got filled in with (usually very short) "oh by the way, this happened since the last chapter" segments. I feel like these part in particular could have had a bit more emotion to make up for the amount of time they sometimes represented. Although I feel like the individual character arcs could have had a little more depth at times, I did find the societal arcs to be rather believable. I found myself wondering several times which side of things I would have started on - both had good points - and I wondered where Coco would have ended up has she met Forrest first. I definitely feel like most people would have moved to some kind of middle ground as they did as the survivors developed new communities with homes are resources and relationships with the other survivors around them, and even started families. It's definitely easier to have more set in stone beliefs when you have nothing to lose. Although I do think that it would have been interesting to have seen the more gradual approach to this instead of the more jumpy changes we get from how the author decided to treat the passage of time. Although I do understand why - this would have been much longer had time gone more slowly.
I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. While I did like it, it was also a bit of a letdown. I had prepared myself for the possibility for a while since wrapping up a book like this felt like it would be difficult. I'm not sure what I was hoping for to be honest. I did enjoy the epilogues though!
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Animal death
Also moderate to graphic isolation
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