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eloisey's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Well-written and characters very realistic.
For a male author, I was happy how he depicted the female narrator, there wasn’t a point where I was like “you can tell a man is trying to write a woman”. The bar is on the floor for that but still, thought it was worth mentioning.
Interesting plot but it lost its pace for me around halfway through and I had to slog through a little bit before a pacy ending.
Speaking of the ending,I’m not sure how much I liked it, it seems like the entire book was built on such small things and details, the chips in the mugs, the condition of the door, the view from the window etc… but then the main character kills her husband of like 20 years and it gets like 2 pages and a quick afterthought! Then just not knowing if Aina and the children make it off that place… I don’t know.
I think overall a good book but just not my cup of tea!
For a male author, I was happy how he depicted the female narrator, there wasn’t a point where I was like “you can tell a man is trying to write a woman”. The bar is on the floor for that but still, thought it was worth mentioning.
Interesting plot but it lost its pace for me around halfway through and I had to slog through a little bit before a pacy ending.
Speaking of the ending,
I think overall a good book but just not my cup of tea!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
this_little_bookshelf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Aina and Whitney are exiled to an island for a crime they have committed and they are held there by the need to take pills every eight hours for survival.
This was an eerie dystopian book, and I couldn’t put it down. It was simultaneously a slow build, but also compelling as details of their world and their crime were revealed.
This was an eerie dystopian book, and I couldn’t put it down. It was simultaneously a slow build, but also compelling as details of their world and their crime were revealed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Abortion
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Child abuse
bex_knighthunterbooks's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A mysterious and tense literary thriller that absolutely drew me in. I have a lifelong obsession with homesteading and survival stories and so I loved all the details of their day-to-day lives on the remote Scottish island in the slower paced parts of the book, and then I loved towards the end where the reveals were being dropped thick and fast among quite a lot of action. While not scary enough to be horror, this definitely had an unsettling vibe and a slow creeping dread as the relationship between our two main characters erodes and their situation becomes more risky. The writing had a simple sparse style but with some nice recurring motifs (e.g. 'Yan, tan, methera') which gave it that literary almost poetic edge at times. While I loved the sense of place and survival details, discussing this at book club did make me realise quite how many world building and plot elements don't quite make sense or are left unexplained even when a little far fetched (e.g. I'm fine that we never found out why the pills were needed because we can form our own theories, but the obscene number of them that were stored at this croft and the overengineering could have done with more explanation for me ). However, personally this didn't really hinder my enjoyment, but I can see why this would affect others. The situation in the wider world is revealed through flashbacks although this was really only enough to help us understand the characters rather than to give much depth to the dystopia depicted - the flashbacks were probably my least favourite parts so it was fine for me that we focussed on the present day situation. This was another good reminder for me that if a book sounds like my thing it is probably worth me giving it a try despite mixed reviews because I had a fantastic time reading this and would read it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy and Animal death
Minor: Sexual assault and Forced institutionalization
abbyeck's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Suicide, Violence, and Murder
novelshire's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Thoroughly compelling & absorbing speculative fiction, psychological thriller.
In an unspecified, dystopian-ish future, Aina and Whitney are exiled on an island, far from civilisation. They are limited in their exploration and activities by the Pill Clock. The clock has fingerprint recognition and they must be present every 8 hours for it to dispense a pill that prevents them from succumbing to the toxic spores that are being released from the thawing permafrost.
After nearly 12 years, their time on their island prison is due to end - but no-one comes on parole day. With the supply drops having stopped several years ago and no word from the Warden for months - what is really happening? And then a sheep appears from nowhere.
As the situation on the island becomes increasingly tense, we gradually learn the circumstances that led to their exile and can begin to piece together a little of what is happening in the outside world. (Although they aren't they focal point of the story, there's at least one authoritarian government and strong suggestions of climate breakdown.)
But mostly, this is an intimate, almost claustrophobic story of two people and how they deal with adversity and uncertainty. The glimpse we get of the past and the outside world ratchet up the tension until a breaking point is reached. This is a book you won't want to put down, desperate to discover what is really going on.
I'm personally not a huge fan of deliberately vague endings but the rest of the book was so compelling, it doesn't really matter.
Thanks to Bloomsbury for providing a netgalley review copy.
In an unspecified, dystopian-ish future, Aina and Whitney are exiled on an island, far from civilisation. They are limited in their exploration and activities by the Pill Clock. The clock has fingerprint recognition and they must be present every 8 hours for it to dispense a pill that prevents them from succumbing to the toxic spores that are being released from the thawing permafrost.
After nearly 12 years, their time on their island prison is due to end - but no-one comes on parole day. With the supply drops having stopped several years ago and no word from the Warden for months - what is really happening? And then a sheep appears from nowhere.
As the situation on the island becomes increasingly tense, we gradually learn the circumstances that led to their exile and can begin to piece together a little of what is happening in the outside world. (Although they aren't they focal point of the story, there's at least one authoritarian government and strong suggestions of climate breakdown.)
But mostly, this is an intimate, almost claustrophobic story of two people and how they deal with adversity and uncertainty. The glimpse we get of the past and the outside world ratchet up the tension until a breaking point is reached. This is a book you won't want to put down, desperate to discover what is really going on.
I'm personally not a huge fan of deliberately vague endings but the rest of the book was so compelling, it doesn't really matter.
Thanks to Bloomsbury for providing a netgalley review copy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Gore
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Abortion and Sexual content
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