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keen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
So this was an interesting book to read. I was recommended it while hearing positive reviews. What encouraged me the most was that comparisons were made to the visual novels, Higurashi and Umineko, both stories involving similar bits of plot details Umineko takes heavy inspiration from Agatha Christie as well, which this book clearly shares.
Which made me very disappointed when I came out of the book feeling nothing at best, and confusion at worst.
Let's begin with the good things:
This is a book with an interesting premise. Being trapped in a time loop, with eight lives/days to figure out a woman's murder. I used to be a big fan of murder mysteries before moving onto fantasy and science fiction, so to see those genres mixed together in a novel sounded like my type of thing.
I also really liked the message in the book. It's something that could be applied to real-life and how social media has affected it. To give more details, which are all big reveals from the near end of the book...
Blackheath is revealed to be one of many prisons. Their purposes are to keep criminals within time loops to solve unsolved murders as a way to atone. Blackheath is for the worst of the worst. Aiden Bishop came to Blackheath on his own to hunt down and torture Anna for publicly killing and torturing his sister. After so many loops, the two developed amnesia.
This brings us to the message. Without their memories, Aiden stops hunting Anna down, and Anne becomes a better person. The two begin to care for one another and work to get out of the loop together. Because Anna has very little relation to her old self, the argument is that she doesn't belong in Blackheath because she has already atoned.
This would've hit harder if the two didn't have amnesia. Of course, if a horrible person gains amnesia and develops a new personality from it, it's hard to blame them for the actions of their past self. Additionally, what I'd want wouldn't fit the story without major plot changes. That being the two remembering what they've done and actively atoning for it. I believe this is a better example of a person not being who they are any longer. Even if they were a terrible person, accepting their crimes and doing what acting better from that point on is a more relevant message.
On a smaller note, this reveal led to a weird post-fridging moment for Aiden. Fridging being a storytelling method of a woman being brutally murdered and/or tortured to push the male lead into action. In this case, the whole reason Aiden is in Blackheath is that his sister went through public brutality.
Back to no spoilers!
The start of the book didn't really capture me. In fact, the more I read, the more frustrated I became. I realized the time looping aspect was too repetitive for me, making me feel like I was trapped in a story that couldn't be changed. Perhaps that was the point, with Aiden feeling the same way, but the character's frustration shouldn't become mine's. I want to feel supportive of the character, maybe with a little frustration. Not where I wanted to quit the book to get out of the narrative loop. I wanted the feeling of a genuine break from the loop. Those were the victories I was wishing for.
My incapability to connect to Aiden didn't help either. He was a character I was simply following throughout the story. I didn't enjoy any other character much either. The vast majority have more flaws than virtues. In fact, I would've been fine with a flawed character if they were interesting. A story based on time loops makes character development very difficult, sadly.
I've actually wondered if there was something to Blackheath that made the characters more willing to speak to Aiden. It was like they were NPCs, where if Aiden had the right reputation and/or items, he could ask endless questions with little to no questioning back.
There was so much information to take in, from the loops to the large cast of characters to the culmination to reveals. Now, I'm no good at uncovering mysteries. I like mystery books to take me on a ride where I can point at hints, note them down, then continue reading. At the end, I hope to feel satisfied by explanations of what I've missed. I couldn't bother trying to delve into this one because there was a mystery for everything. I was very thankful when things were spelled out for me; otherwise, I would've needed to hope someone online could explain the book to me.
This book only invested me as the climax reached its boiling point. Every mystery book makes me wonder how the mysteries would be tidied up, if they are at all. This book was the same. I won't reveal how that goes, but I can say that I was somewhat sated by the end. Not impressed, but not upset either. I believe this book would be better as a reread now that I can see the complexity made simple.
And that's why I'm disappointed. There was plenty of potential for a great story, yet I was too confused and frustrated to stay attentive from the beginning.
On the note of the audiobook, the narrator's tone felt too flat for me to properly enjoy. It did the job just fine, but I didn't feel immersed by his voice. The number of times I had to get the book and reread things he spoke, not because of him being unclear but because the book is unclear, didn't contribute to my enjoyment either.
Which made me very disappointed when I came out of the book feeling nothing at best, and confusion at worst.
Let's begin with the good things:
This is a book with an interesting premise. Being trapped in a time loop, with eight lives/days to figure out a woman's murder. I used to be a big fan of murder mysteries before moving onto fantasy and science fiction, so to see those genres mixed together in a novel sounded like my type of thing.
I also really liked the message in the book. It's something that could be applied to real-life and how social media has affected it. To give more details, which are all big reveals from the near end of the book...
This brings us to the message. Without their memories, Aiden stops hunting Anna down, and Anne becomes a better person. The two begin to care for one another and work to get out of the loop together. Because Anna has very little relation to her old self, the argument is that she doesn't belong in Blackheath because she has already atoned.
This would've hit harder if the two didn't have amnesia. Of course, if a horrible person gains amnesia and develops a new personality from it, it's hard to blame them for the actions of their past self. Additionally, what I'd want wouldn't fit the story without major plot changes. That being the two remembering what they've done and actively atoning for it. I believe this is a better example of a person not being who they are any longer. Even if they were a terrible person, accepting their crimes and doing what acting better from that point on is a more relevant message.
On a smaller note, this reveal led to a weird post-fridging moment for Aiden. Fridging being a storytelling method of a woman being brutally murdered and/or tortured to push the male lead into action. In this case, the whole reason Aiden is in Blackheath is that his sister went through public brutality.
Back to no spoilers!
The start of the book didn't really capture me. In fact, the more I read, the more frustrated I became. I realized the time looping aspect was too repetitive for me, making me feel like I was trapped in a story that couldn't be changed. Perhaps that was the point, with Aiden feeling the same way, but the character's frustration shouldn't become mine's. I want to feel supportive of the character, maybe with a little frustration. Not where I wanted to quit the book to get out of the narrative loop. I wanted the feeling of a genuine break from the loop. Those were the victories I was wishing for.
My incapability to connect to Aiden didn't help either. He was a character I was simply following throughout the story. I didn't enjoy any other character much either. The vast majority have more flaws than virtues. In fact, I would've been fine with a flawed character if they were interesting. A story based on time loops makes character development very difficult, sadly.
I've actually wondered if there was something to Blackheath that made the characters more willing to speak to Aiden. It was like they were NPCs, where if Aiden had the right reputation and/or items, he could ask endless questions with little to no questioning back.
There was so much information to take in, from the loops to the large cast of characters to the culmination to reveals. Now, I'm no good at uncovering mysteries. I like mystery books to take me on a ride where I can point at hints, note them down, then continue reading. At the end, I hope to feel satisfied by explanations of what I've missed. I couldn't bother trying to delve into this one because there was a mystery for everything. I was very thankful when things were spelled out for me; otherwise, I would've needed to hope someone online could explain the book to me.
This book only invested me as the climax reached its boiling point. Every mystery book makes me wonder how the mysteries would be tidied up, if they are at all. This book was the same. I won't reveal how that goes, but I can say that I was somewhat sated by the end. Not impressed, but not upset either. I believe this book would be better as a reread now that I can see the complexity made simple.
And that's why I'm disappointed. There was plenty of potential for a great story, yet I was too confused and frustrated to stay attentive from the beginning.
On the note of the audiobook, the narrator's tone felt too flat for me to properly enjoy. It did the job just fine, but I didn't feel immersed by his voice. The number of times I had to get the book and reread things he spoke, not because of him being unclear but because the book is unclear, didn't contribute to my enjoyment either.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Stalking, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Suicide, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug use and Gaslighting
aquakerwitch's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I really wasn’t enjoying this book for ages. I found it difficult to get into and the fatphobia when the narrator was inhabiting a fat body was astounding and put me off a lot. The last third, however, I found much more gripping and the end satisfying, if a little cheesy and preachy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Torture
musewithxara's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Suicide attempt
kates_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
If you love murder mysteries or the board game CLUE then you will like this book. It has a really interesting groundhog day premise and gives me Gatsby vibes at times. However, the book was long and slow until the last few chapters. The saving grace of this book was that the plot twists were so surprising, unexpected, and original. I think the pacing of the book was a bit off because, like I said, it was super slow until the end and then it ended super quickly. I'm also unsure what the theme or takeaway of the book is. Overall, I was happy to expand my reading into this genre but there is room for improvement.
Content Warnings
Minor: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder
leekaufman's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault