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trisha_thomas's review against another edition
4.0
""He is the floor beneath our feet and the roof above our heads. He is the walls around us. He is the window through which we seen into ourselves and the door that leads to a better understanding. He is always watching, protecting us. We follow him so we in turn can be followed..."
What a twisted little tale. It's two parts - part kidnapping story and part survival story. Esther, Harry, Felicity and Lucille are 4 reincarnated souls - The Special Ones. They only use the body as a vessel and pass around from body to body. So the other 3 need to collect the new vessels.
All at the command of the he.
Those in the house only know of him as that - he says what they do, he watches them every day so they stay in their personalities, their "roles" because.....they are not really reincarnated souls. They are poor teenagers and kids, kidnapped and forced to take on these rolls - fed these lies to feel special. They are forced to live in a wooden house and live off the land. They are videoed night and day and their videos are released to their "followers." They also talk with their followers every night. It's a sick game and disturbing to read and realize all the things he is making them do - and the terror that they live in.
Right around Chapter 16, this book completely changes. And I loved it!
What a twisted little tale. It's two parts - part kidnapping story and part survival story. Esther, Harry, Felicity and Lucille are 4 reincarnated souls - The Special Ones. They only use the body as a vessel and pass around from body to body. So the other 3 need to collect the new vessels.
All at the command of the he.
Those in the house only know of him as that - he says what they do, he watches them every day so they stay in their personalities, their "roles" because.....they are not really reincarnated souls. They are poor teenagers and kids, kidnapped and forced to take on these rolls - fed these lies to feel special. They are forced to live in a wooden house and live off the land. They are videoed night and day and their videos are released to their "followers." They also talk with their followers every night. It's a sick game and disturbing to read and realize all the things he is making them do - and the terror that they live in.
Right around Chapter 16, this book completely changes. And I loved it!
alynnrosefinch's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bayfleming's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
paigeafterpage_'s review against another edition
4.0
I read this one pretty fast, my goal was to read it in one day but, didn’t happen.
It started off kind of weird and I wasn’t sure if I would like it.
I’m not really even sure how to review this yet, because I don’t know how I feel about it.
It was creepy, but then stopped being creepy.
Then, it was confusing and I was like wtf am I reading?
And then it was good?
But then I don’t like the ending? Then I do?
I. DONT. KNOW.
It started off kind of weird and I wasn’t sure if I would like it.
I’m not really even sure how to review this yet, because I don’t know how I feel about it.
It was creepy, but then stopped being creepy.
Then, it was confusing and I was like wtf am I reading?
And then it was good?
But then I don’t like the ending? Then I do?
I. DONT. KNOW.
emreeca's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a bit conflicted by this book, and once I explain, I'm sure you'll understand why.
The Special Ones is a story about a group of four individuals, Esther, Lucille, Felicity and Harry living an idealistic life out in the country, acting as spiritual guides online for others in need, and offering advice for self-improvement.
But here's the catch: none of it is real.
Esther, and her four friends themselves are not real, instead forced to play as characters, trapped in this home that is watched and seen by a mysterious and cruel "Him", that inflicts horrible punishments on the members if their actions do not reflect the rationale of their character.
They are constantly forced to act as "Esther", "Lucille", "Felicity" or "Harry", and if they make too many mistakes in their acting or refuse to do so, they are whisked away, never to be seen again; replaced by another "Lucille" or "Felicity" and the cycle repeats again and again.
This premise is so engaging and thought provoking to read, because as you explore the prison, or "idealistic world" as "Esther" is forced to know it, you can see a much deeper torment going on behind the scenes - not only as they are forced to act as perfect, and be perfect constantly, you can physically observe and determine how their own sense of identity and self is stripped away to fit into these character molds, and how it is destroying these girls and their thoughts. Eventually they manage to escape, but even as they leave, the scars and habits of their characters still remain with them, with parts of "Esther" still with her after she leaves.
Honestly, this book was really amazing, and for the most part I really loved it. However it did unfortunately have it's drawbacks that really degraded the quality of this story.
This book primarily is through the perspective of Esther, as we explore the world of the Special Ones, which is in first person. The book starts this way, and you can usually expect that the story will stay with that perspective for the remainder of the story; however, this was not the case here. I'm not particularly sure why, but the author halfway through the book switches the POV away from Esther to the mysterious "Him", the kidnapper and micromanager of the Special Ones.
Here my issue with it: there is no warning or even indication in the chapters when this happens (like some chapters will have character headings, so you know who's perspective you are reading: say Chapter 10 - Esther). For a good while, you are struggling to understand what's going on because like Esther, it is written in first person too - so for a few pages or so, you think that Esther herself is the mysterious "Him" until it flips back to Esther and you realise it wasn't her at all. Its really disorientating and confusing to recognise until you work it out.
However, that isn't my only gripe with it. Not only is there no warning, but there is almost no point in reading from the perspective of the villain. Villains are mysterious and have hard to understand motives, so sometimes exploring their background and their POV is really interesting to work out the mystery - I understand why the author might've considered it valid to include in the story.
However, I see no point when it adds nothing new to what we already know. Do we see how he observes the Special Ones after they escape? Yes. Are we given a explanation for how the Special Ones came to be? Eh, kinda sorta. The author seems to imply he has a drug problem, or at least alludes to it, with descriptions that sound like he actively hallucinates and has episodes when taking his "purple potion". Great. Are we given information on why he has a drug problem? No. Are we given anything that explains him as a person? Do we know his likes or dislikes in greater detail? Is any background information given at all to understand how he came to be this psychotic villain? No. Do we understand why he considers the Special Ones so important to him? No. Why does he have such a fixation on Esther? What is so special about her or the character itself that causes the villain to focus on her so much? I have no idea.
Despite reading from his perspective, he only gives me more and more questions - nothing about him as a villain is answered, and its so frustrating. We are given a inside glimpse into the villain behind this horror, and instead of being rewarded with answers, it's like having to bang my head against the wall. Not only that - HE'S BORING. The worst trait for a villain to have. From Esther's perspective, because she knows nothing about him, he comes across as mysterious, dark, dangerous and someone you have to tread carefully around for he knows all. Then you look at him and - UGH! He's so unsatisfying as a villain. You could take out his perspective in the story completely and it wouldn't impact the story at all - all he does is react and watch Esther when she and the girls escape from him. He is entirely pointless and adds nothing of value. Not to mention, any minor action he commits through his POV is always immediately noticed or discussed in Esther's POV, in which she notices these actions and ends up linking it to him- so again, what is the point of having him in the story?
And finally - his POV drags. So much. He does a whole lot of nothing and reacts to everything but there is no point or purpose to it in the overall plot line that cannot be explained by another character. He takes up way too much space in the story for no reason, and I was actively flipping through the pages so I could get back to when Esther begins narrating again.
...sigh.
Could you tell that I really hated "Him"?. He just frustrated me. So much. He had the potential to be amazing villain but just flopped. So bad.
EDIT: It also frustrates me that we as the readers are never given his name; and can only refer to him as "Him". The author has an explanation for this, and it makes sense from Esther perspective, but it just triggers me because it ends up coming across as though he is not a person at all? We know so little about him that he ends up feeling like he is a incomplete filler - the author needed a villain for the premise the story to work, but the villain itself is so unfinished that there is nothing of substance to him. He's basically there because you need a villain. That's it. There is nothing about him that is important or even connects to the group (not the characters of 'Esther' and 'Lucille' etc, I mean the character hiding underneath those roles) at all.
-/-/-/-
Anyways, to conclude: this story left me with a lot of mixed emotions. Did I love the story? Yes and no. Did I love the execution of it, and how the author went about explaining the story? No. Hard no.
So for this reason, for rating purposes, I've decided to have two ratings. This is because to me, the book was essentially spilt into two parts: Esther and "Him". Esther started the beginning of the story, and the premise and life of the "Special Ones", and "He" carried the story to the end, explaining how the girls escaped and returned to normal life.
Also, I have two different ratings because I loved the first part of the book, but hated the second part. The final result will be an average of the two ratings.
Ratings:
Part 1 - Esther: ☆☆☆☆ (4 out of 5).
Part 2 - "Him": ☆☆ (2 out of 5).
Average Rating : ☆☆☆ (3/5).
The Special Ones is a story about a group of four individuals, Esther, Lucille, Felicity and Harry living an idealistic life out in the country, acting as spiritual guides online for others in need, and offering advice for self-improvement.
But here's the catch: none of it is real.
Esther, and her four friends themselves are not real, instead forced to play as characters, trapped in this home that is watched and seen by a mysterious and cruel "Him", that inflicts horrible punishments on the members if their actions do not reflect the rationale of their character.
They are constantly forced to act as "Esther", "Lucille", "Felicity" or "Harry", and if they make too many mistakes in their acting or refuse to do so, they are whisked away, never to be seen again; replaced by another "Lucille" or "Felicity" and the cycle repeats again and again.
This premise is so engaging and thought provoking to read, because as you explore the prison, or "idealistic world" as "Esther" is forced to know it, you can see a much deeper torment going on behind the scenes - not only as they are forced to act as perfect, and be perfect constantly, you can physically observe and determine how their own sense of identity and self is stripped away to fit into these character molds, and how it is destroying these girls and their thoughts. Eventually they manage to escape, but even as they leave, the scars and habits of their characters still remain with them, with parts of "Esther" still with her after she leaves.
Honestly, this book was really amazing, and for the most part I really loved it. However it did unfortunately have it's drawbacks that really degraded the quality of this story.
This book primarily is through the perspective of Esther, as we explore the world of the Special Ones, which is in first person. The book starts this way, and you can usually expect that the story will stay with that perspective for the remainder of the story; however, this was not the case here. I'm not particularly sure why, but the author halfway through the book switches the POV away from Esther to the mysterious "Him", the kidnapper and micromanager of the Special Ones.
Here my issue with it: there is no warning or even indication in the chapters when this happens (like some chapters will have character headings, so you know who's perspective you are reading: say Chapter 10 - Esther). For a good while, you are struggling to understand what's going on because like Esther, it is written in first person too - so for a few pages or so, you think that Esther herself is the mysterious "Him" until it flips back to Esther and you realise it wasn't her at all. Its really disorientating and confusing to recognise until you work it out.
However, that isn't my only gripe with it. Not only is there no warning, but there is almost no point in reading from the perspective of the villain. Villains are mysterious and have hard to understand motives, so sometimes exploring their background and their POV is really interesting to work out the mystery - I understand why the author might've considered it valid to include in the story.
However, I see no point when it adds nothing new to what we already know. Do we see how he observes the Special Ones after they escape? Yes. Are we given a explanation for how the Special Ones came to be? Eh, kinda sorta. The author seems to imply he has a drug problem, or at least alludes to it, with descriptions that sound like he actively hallucinates and has episodes when taking his "purple potion". Great. Are we given information on why he has a drug problem? No. Are we given anything that explains him as a person? Do we know his likes or dislikes in greater detail? Is any background information given at all to understand how he came to be this psychotic villain? No. Do we understand why he considers the Special Ones so important to him? No. Why does he have such a fixation on Esther? What is so special about her or the character itself that causes the villain to focus on her so much? I have no idea.
Despite reading from his perspective, he only gives me more and more questions - nothing about him as a villain is answered, and its so frustrating. We are given a inside glimpse into the villain behind this horror, and instead of being rewarded with answers, it's like having to bang my head against the wall. Not only that - HE'S BORING. The worst trait for a villain to have. From Esther's perspective, because she knows nothing about him, he comes across as mysterious, dark, dangerous and someone you have to tread carefully around for he knows all. Then you look at him and - UGH! He's so unsatisfying as a villain. You could take out his perspective in the story completely and it wouldn't impact the story at all - all he does is react and watch Esther when she and the girls escape from him. He is entirely pointless and adds nothing of value. Not to mention, any minor action he commits through his POV is always immediately noticed or discussed in Esther's POV, in which she notices these actions and ends up linking it to him- so again, what is the point of having him in the story?
And finally - his POV drags. So much. He does a whole lot of nothing and reacts to everything but there is no point or purpose to it in the overall plot line that cannot be explained by another character. He takes up way too much space in the story for no reason, and I was actively flipping through the pages so I could get back to when Esther begins narrating again.
...sigh.
Could you tell that I really hated "Him"?. He just frustrated me. So much. He had the potential to be amazing villain but just flopped. So bad.
EDIT: It also frustrates me that we as the readers are never given his name; and can only refer to him as "Him". The author has an explanation for this, and it makes sense from Esther perspective, but it just triggers me because it ends up coming across as though he is not a person at all? We know so little about him that he ends up feeling like he is a incomplete filler - the author needed a villain for the premise the story to work, but the villain itself is so unfinished that there is nothing of substance to him. He's basically there because you need a villain. That's it. There is nothing about him that is important or even connects to the group (not the characters of 'Esther' and 'Lucille' etc, I mean the character hiding underneath those roles) at all.
-/-/-/-
Anyways, to conclude: this story left me with a lot of mixed emotions. Did I love the story? Yes and no. Did I love the execution of it, and how the author went about explaining the story? No. Hard no.
So for this reason, for rating purposes, I've decided to have two ratings. This is because to me, the book was essentially spilt into two parts: Esther and "Him". Esther started the beginning of the story, and the premise and life of the "Special Ones", and "He" carried the story to the end, explaining how the girls escaped and returned to normal life.
Also, I have two different ratings because I loved the first part of the book, but hated the second part. The final result will be an average of the two ratings.
Ratings:
Part 1 - Esther: ☆☆☆☆ (4 out of 5).
Part 2 - "Him": ☆☆ (2 out of 5).
Average Rating : ☆☆☆ (3/5).
ren33bah's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
bookishly_bi's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
5.0
hekate24's review against another edition
3.0
I’m flabbergasted by this book. There are two POVs in it. The first is tense and interesting. The second is pretty frustrating. Basically there was a lot of potential. I feel like if it had been about 50 pages longer and stuck to the POV I preferred this would have been 4-5 stars. I’d read other books by this author though.
Spoiler
I would have been content with a second half that was just about Tess assimilating to her old world. The bits we got of that were more interesting than not!Harry’s repetitive inane musings. Probably showing that he’s pathetic was the whole point? Tess is such a vibrant character that I resented her sharing time with him. I also found Sasha’s slow assimilation/attempt to survive pretty compelling. But she basically disappears after the halfway point.ohdearmariie's review
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
karenli's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This novel is about four teens had invited by a cult leader (spiritual leader they called), and there are many people believe in them. It's mainly about the lives and events they experienced inside the cult. This novel is kind of dark.