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fefe_flowerpot's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
eschewed's review
3.0
Is it bad that the one thing--or rather, person--who stuck to mind during the entire ordeal that was occurring in the book was Neil? Right from the get-go, when he was first introduced, I knew he was probably already dead.
And I was right.
And that makes me sad, because I think I liked him best.
And I was right.
And that makes me sad, because I think I liked him best.
books_plan_create's review
4.0
Wow. So in the first few pages we learn someone is dead. But who? How? Why? UGH! THE SUSPENSE IS EVIL!
Then we meet Eliza, who tells us that she is the murderer. O.O What?
Okay, color me hooked. Fury is told in such a way that we don't get the entire story straight off. Instead, as Eliza is telling (or not telling) the 'why' to an investigator, we delve deeper into her and what led up to the event. And boy was it a shocker!
Overall, I loved this book. I feel like the ending just opened the car door and dumped me off on an abandoned highway. But you know what? That is why I love the ending! I get the feeling there will not be a sequel, and I am totally okay with that. What is wrong with stand alone books nowadays? I am supremely happy with Shirley Marr's writing style-it felt authentic. And the characters? Even the characters we are not supposed to like have a unique voice that makes them all stand out in a non-cookie cutter way.
This is one I will have to add to my collection in one way or another!
*Book was provided via Wendy Darling from The Midnight Garden. She is hosting a Fury Tour-check it out here*
Then we meet Eliza, who tells us that she is the murderer. O.O What?
Okay, color me hooked. Fury is told in such a way that we don't get the entire story straight off. Instead, as Eliza is telling (or not telling) the 'why' to an investigator, we delve deeper into her and what led up to the event. And boy was it a shocker!
Overall, I loved this book. I feel like the ending just opened the car door and dumped me off on an abandoned highway. But you know what? That is why I love the ending! I get the feeling there will not be a sequel, and I am totally okay with that. What is wrong with stand alone books nowadays? I am supremely happy with Shirley Marr's writing style-it felt authentic. And the characters? Even the characters we are not supposed to like have a unique voice that makes them all stand out in a non-cookie cutter way.
This is one I will have to add to my collection in one way or another!
*Book was provided via Wendy Darling from The Midnight Garden. She is hosting a Fury Tour-check it out here*
asmushy's review
3.0
My name is Eliza Boans and I am a murder.
How's that for a first sentence?
Eliza was such a little brat and enjoyed very much making me hating her. Though, she failed to do it for long. As she was narrating her story to Dr Fadden, I started warming to her, her loneliness, her fears, her disastrous life at home, her fuzzy feelings toward Neil, her attempts at staying in control of her friends' group... and then the truth behind the murder, which honestly left me shocked, disgusted and enraged for the injustice of the situation the girls found themselves in.
Mrs. Marr toyed with my emotions masterfully and did a very good job with the mystery, I half-wished she would pull a stunt à la The-Usual-Suspects on me, but the outcoming was just as surprising.
leari's review against another edition
4.0
wow... that was way better than I expected it to be. more of a 3.5 though.
starrysteph's review
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Dark. Snarky. Unexpectedly clever. Fury pretends to be a surface-level story of spoiled, shallow, teenagers, but slowly reveals great depth.
It subverts YA expectations and takes you on a thrilling ride as you work to decipher truths from lies.
Teenage Eliza Boans is sitting in a police station, held on a murder charge. But who was killed - and why? On the outside, Eliza has a picture perfect life: a beautiful home in an exclusive community, a great education, and a popular friend group.
But not everything is as it seems.
You’re led to believe Eliza is a cruel, unfeeling, unflinching queen bee. And to an extent … she is. But beneath her cold exterior, she’s a broken girl with a fiery, protective rage. She’s standing up for others that are wronged and struggling to find her own independence and stay safe (while essentially raising herself).
She’s an unreliable narrator - both to readers and to herself - as her perception of events waxes and wanes, and everything is filtered through her cynical worldview. Eliza lives in a walled community, and she herself has giant walls. She’s unapologetic and never asks for your pity.
“Is it because we’re girls? I want to say. You think a bunch of girls are not capable of something like this?”
Eliza is unlikeable, yes. Even monstrous at times. But I found her to be a sympathetic character, warped by her circumstances and forced to view all vulnerability as a potential weakness that others might exploit. She’s intensely loyal to her friends. She’s a witty challenger to her distant mother. She’s even hesitantly sweet with a friend from childhood.
Fury is a story of vengeance (with plenty of winks to the Greek Furies, who inspired the title). It’s about wronged women taking fate into their own hands, trying to unravel the threads and the “hows” and not understanding that sometimes life is out of your control.
Pick up Fury for its venomous prose, for its unflinching teenage rage, and for what shimmers beneath the surface.
CW: murder, death, rape, sexual assault, bullying, eating disorders, fatphobia, suicide, gun violence, animal cruelty, animal death, infidelity
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Eating disorder, Suicide, Rape, Death, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Bullying, Gun violence, and Animal cruelty
proletariat's review
4.0
Are looking for a book that’s a mix between mean-girl cliques and mystery? Well, I can say for certain that if you’re looking for that kind of book, Fury by Shirley Marr is definitely one fast-paced and interesting read. Although copies of this book may be hard to come by for non-Australian dwellers, it’s certainly worth a look if you’re willing to dish out more than a few bucks for an approximately three-hundred paged novel. It’s like a summer-read: short enough that you might be able to finish it on your free time on a vacation, yet able to keep your eyes glued to the pages until it’s over.
The story starts with Eliza Boans, a girl with the life most girls would die for, in of all places, a police station. Why? Charged with murder along with her friends, and all the police need now is a confession. Flashbacks relating to the incident are planted as Eliza stays in the police station. The way Fury is set up is intriguing, because in most mystery novels, it’s the Who killed him and why? question that goes on in the reader’s head, while in this case, the words that ran through my mind while reading were, Who was killed and why? It is definitely more psychology based, so if you were expecting the grand adventure you see in the Sherlock movies (or the British series!), you would probably not enjoy Fury as much.
As a main character, Eliza is definitely not the typical YA heroine or the clichéd Mary-Sue. You do have to give Ms. Marr credit for portraying her character. In plain and admittedly more vulgar English, Eliza is a rich bitch. Seriously! Some of the choices she made along the novel weren’t exactly the type of choices I’d make. As I said above, the author doesn’t attempt to cover her attitude up. Instead, she shows us the different, fiercely loyal side of Eliza not only in the flashbacks, but in the present situation. After all, she is still a human—and humans do have a bit of compassion deep inside them. Eliza Boans definitely earned a place in my top YA characters list.
While the main character was the cat’s pajama’s (don’t ask me why I used that term because I also have no clue why), that’s not to say the side characters were nothing more than mindless clones. Eliza’s friends, Marianne and Lexi, both added different impacts on Eliza’s narration. While I didn’t really understand Ella at all (what was she really planning to do?), Neil, the love interest, also needed a bit more depth. I just think there was more to them, and I would’ve liked to see the plot show a bit more of the personalities.
Plot. Okay, I admit it—before I even touched my copy, I was expecting something a bit darker than the usual YA fanfare. The last fourth was probably what I had been wanting, but the rest was like reading through any regular high-school story: there’s the mean rival just in front of you, the friend that you secretly envy, and evil teachers that want to ruin your whole life. In fact, I wondered twenty-percent into the novel when the action was going to start—and mercifully, the first stitch to the tapestry started to weave itself in.
I think the reason why I rated this book four stars instead of five is because it takes some time to develop. You watch the story grow slowly, until you’re presented with the problem—and then bang, the story is over. There isn’t much left. I think this is my own fault, since I do love books with tense-filled scenes, and Fury had none of that. It was more of a book you need to read through the lines to fall in love with, and if you would rather read about novels filled with dragon slaying would rather focus on why she hates her, you’ll probably enjoy it like I did, but not like it enough to give in a five-star rating.
Don’t get me wrong, Fury IS a great book, and a welcome addition from the perplexing amount of stereotypical YA novels that seem to stream out of the presses like the speed of ants trying not to get squashed from your thumb. It manages to twist in the similarities to the Greek myths of the Furies, while making the story relatable to some and showing people how far friendship can go. While I’m certain that a lot of people would enjoy this if it were made available to other countries, the book I decided to scour over the Internet for ages just didn’t live up to my expectations.
In a Nutshell
Do you happen to live in Australia or a country that sells Aussie novels? If so, this is certainly a book that you must read if you’re into YA. However, while Fury is an excellently written novel, it may not excite some readers. Four stars.
For more reviews or just to watch Max do random stuff, you can go to ThePaperFortUpstairs, a book blog that does . . . stuff.
http://thepaperfortupstairs.blogspot.com/
The story starts with Eliza Boans, a girl with the life most girls would die for, in of all places, a police station. Why? Charged with murder along with her friends, and all the police need now is a confession. Flashbacks relating to the incident are planted as Eliza stays in the police station. The way Fury is set up is intriguing, because in most mystery novels, it’s the Who killed him and why? question that goes on in the reader’s head, while in this case, the words that ran through my mind while reading were, Who was killed and why? It is definitely more psychology based, so if you were expecting the grand adventure you see in the Sherlock movies (or the British series!), you would probably not enjoy Fury as much.
As a main character, Eliza is definitely not the typical YA heroine or the clichéd Mary-Sue. You do have to give Ms. Marr credit for portraying her character. In plain and admittedly more vulgar English, Eliza is a rich bitch. Seriously! Some of the choices she made along the novel weren’t exactly the type of choices I’d make. As I said above, the author doesn’t attempt to cover her attitude up. Instead, she shows us the different, fiercely loyal side of Eliza not only in the flashbacks, but in the present situation. After all, she is still a human—and humans do have a bit of compassion deep inside them. Eliza Boans definitely earned a place in my top YA characters list.
While the main character was the cat’s pajama’s (don’t ask me why I used that term because I also have no clue why), that’s not to say the side characters were nothing more than mindless clones. Eliza’s friends, Marianne and Lexi, both added different impacts on Eliza’s narration. While I didn’t really understand Ella at all (what was she really planning to do?), Neil, the love interest, also needed a bit more depth. I just think there was more to them, and I would’ve liked to see the plot show a bit more of the personalities.
Plot. Okay, I admit it—before I even touched my copy, I was expecting something a bit darker than the usual YA fanfare. The last fourth was probably what I had been wanting, but the rest was like reading through any regular high-school story: there’s the mean rival just in front of you, the friend that you secretly envy, and evil teachers that want to ruin your whole life. In fact, I wondered twenty-percent into the novel when the action was going to start—and mercifully, the first stitch to the tapestry started to weave itself in.
I think the reason why I rated this book four stars instead of five is because it takes some time to develop. You watch the story grow slowly, until you’re presented with the problem—and then bang, the story is over. There isn’t much left. I think this is my own fault, since I do love books with tense-filled scenes, and Fury had none of that. It was more of a book you need to read through the lines to fall in love with, and if you would rather read about novels filled with dragon slaying would rather focus on why she hates her, you’ll probably enjoy it like I did, but not like it enough to give in a five-star rating.
Don’t get me wrong, Fury IS a great book, and a welcome addition from the perplexing amount of stereotypical YA novels that seem to stream out of the presses like the speed of ants trying not to get squashed from your thumb. It manages to twist in the similarities to the Greek myths of the Furies, while making the story relatable to some and showing people how far friendship can go. While I’m certain that a lot of people would enjoy this if it were made available to other countries, the book I decided to scour over the Internet for ages just didn’t live up to my expectations.
In a Nutshell
Do you happen to live in Australia or a country that sells Aussie novels? If so, this is certainly a book that you must read if you’re into YA. However, while Fury is an excellently written novel, it may not excite some readers. Four stars.
For more reviews or just to watch Max do random stuff, you can go to ThePaperFortUpstairs, a book blog that does . . . stuff.
http://thepaperfortupstairs.blogspot.com/
hannahmae91's review
5.0
Holy crap that was good... And apparently I need to bow down to the guy who got this book for me because it's stupidly rare.
I think that I'm on board with most of the other people who've reviewed this book: I both loved and hated it. The characters are mostly horrible people (except for the person who gets punished the most) and yet I was mostly on their sides for the second half. The storytelling was way different than I expected, the unexpected climax made me start crying, and I laid down reflecting on what I'd just read for about 20 minutes before moving. I'm not so certain about Australia's recent state of affairs but this book has unfortunately become incredibly relevant in the U.S. so it hit home for me even more than it would have without that little nudge.
It's a thing of beauty and I wish that it was far more accessible in America.
I think that I'm on board with most of the other people who've reviewed this book: I both loved and hated it. The characters are mostly horrible people (except for the person who gets punished the most) and yet I was mostly on their sides for the second half. The storytelling was way different than I expected, the unexpected climax made me start crying, and I laid down reflecting on what I'd just read for about 20 minutes before moving. I'm not so certain about Australia's recent state of affairs but this book has unfortunately become incredibly relevant in the U.S. so it hit home for me even more than it would have without that little nudge.
It's a thing of beauty and I wish that it was far more accessible in America.
bethadele's review
2.0
I'd rather give this 2 1/2 stars .
The beginning of this book was a little painful. I dare say, were I 15, I may have enjoyed it a whole lot more than I did.
It was refreshing to read some YA that contained no vampires or faeries. Unfortunately, this little book could have been better written.
The story line is interesting enough to keep you reading, but the characters...I cared very little for them.
The whole thing picks up as you near the middle to end of the book. But it's a case of too little too late.
The beginning of this book was a little painful. I dare say, were I 15, I may have enjoyed it a whole lot more than I did.
It was refreshing to read some YA that contained no vampires or faeries. Unfortunately, this little book could have been better written.
The story line is interesting enough to keep you reading, but the characters...I cared very little for them.
The whole thing picks up as you near the middle to end of the book. But it's a case of too little too late.