Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The big reveal was not as complex or sinister as I thought it was going to be, but I did like the ambiguous ending.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The book loses its way about halfway through, and it begins to meander. It feels like the author didn’t know how to end the story, and went with something predictable and disappointing.
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
An incredibly entertaining but still thought-provoking read! I had it as an audiobook and the narrator (Balvinder Sopal) delivered it fantastically. I really liked here the mix of a dark academia-ish story, with dialogical reflections of patriarchy, power and gender, often quite funny but still serious, never making it oversimplistic. I think the book promises maybe something else than it actually is, but it really worked for me. The different and partially obscure relationships, the centre as an interesting idea and metaphor as well as the great humor, made it really enjoyable for me. Also the self-referentiality gives the book a different turn. (minor story spoiler implied)
Some minor things bugged me - basically finding some reactions unrealistic, some plot points questionable and some themes a bit underexplored. But overall, the book does a great job at being both deep and literary and still easily entertaining.
Some minor things bugged me - basically finding some reactions unrealistic, some plot points questionable and some themes a bit underexplored. But overall, the book does a great job at being both deep and literary and still easily entertaining.
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
So this is being marketed as horror and a literary thriller that deals with themes of language, colonization, appropriation, and who gets to tell what stories. And it . . . really isn't. Like at all. The bulk of the narrative concerns the MC's naval-gazing and relationships with various people, with the occasional Tumblr-tier "woke" digression inserted to remind us that this is supposed to be a book with Very Important Messages. Then about 3/4 of the way through we finally get to the horror itself . . . only for the author to de-fang it as much as possible: The Centre's big secret is cannibalism, except all the "victims" died of natural causes and had consented to their bodies being used in such a manner. So it's philosophically vegan! There is almost zero thriller tension and no one is ever actually in any danger. And the ending just falls off a cliff.