Reviews with content warning for Islamophobia - Ik ben Pelgrim

An outside of my typical genre read! I always enjoy puzzling through a mystery/thriller and the scope and scale of the various mysteries in this thriller were certainly engaging and impressive.

There are some elements of the story that were really hard for me to read - check content warnings!

Content Warnings

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

When I first picked this up I thought, at 800+ pages, I'd be reading it for a month. Instead I devoured it in a week. Yes, it's long, but it's completely engrossing and so immersive. Plus, the short chapters meant I was always making time to read just one more little bit.

It helps that Pilgrim is a fantastic character with a fascinating backstory, and I immediately wanted to know more about him. We come into the narrative relatively close to the end, and a huge chunk of the book is given to filling in blanks along the way. We learn about Pilgrim and the Saracen (Saracen's history is particularly interesting), and their characters flesh out gradually as their paths converge.

The story is heavily influenced by the wake of 9/11, and a new terrorist threat to US soil. So it's incredibly emotional at times. Everyone in the book has been affected in some way and it certainly ramps up the pressure. The story is filled with secrets, covert ops and a huge range of sub-plots that connect in really intricate ways.

By the time things reach a head I couldn't put it down, and I read 220 pages in a day. It's a great, epic book, but the end in particular goes nuts on the tension and drama. But mostly I was there for the amazing characters.

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chloeprowse's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

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quesarah's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

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wylovat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

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zoenne's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Really not sure what to say about this book. The pacing is a bit all over the place (the narrative jumps around a lot) and it only really comes together (somewhat clumsily) at the end. But still, it did not feel nearly as long as its page count. Not sure if I'd recommend it, especially as one of the main plotlines is left hanging, and the author seems to be very bad at publishing (some people who pre-ordered his new -- unrelated -- book 3 years ago are still waiting)

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high_on_books's review against another edition

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It had Islamophobia

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