Scan barcode
clairebau's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.75
Every time a good book concept is wasted on an author who completely beefs it, an angel loses her wings.
The characters weren't just unlikeable but easily hateable; protagonist Ethan is bland and a transparent self-insert of the author. It's honestly kind of hilarious how much effort was put into making him seem "different" than all the other Silicon Valley tech heads (No, really, guys, he's so unique! He has bare minimum empathy and likes coffee and art, how eccentric!) when in fact he's just as dull as the rest of them. Nora is a weed-smoking manic pixie dream girl with a chronic case of man-writing-woman syndrome (ew). These two and every other character were boring and uninteresting.; who would've thought it takes more than giving a character two hobbies to build well-rounded, worth-reading-about characters.
The writing was weird. Much like the parallel universe described in the book, everything felt a little... off. In nearly every scene I was perplexed by either the lack of detail in things that mattered or by the insistence on spending too many words on things that genuinely did not matter, making large stretches of this book so boring they were borderline unreadable. This made the pacing weird, obviously. Pretty much everything that happens in this book happens in the last 50 pages, which of course felt rushed.
This book was a chore to get through and I wish I'd stopped reading earlier. The characters failed to get my attention and sympathy. Why should I care thatHenry's daughter is missing when she's not characterized? When we only get implied whispers of Henry's alleged distress? Why should I care that Nora's missing when that means I thankfully don't have to read about her anymore?
Cool concept, though. I think what kept me reading was the hope it would all come together in some profound, interesting way. I shouldn't have been surprised it didn't.
The characters weren't just unlikeable but easily hateable; protagonist Ethan is bland and a transparent self-insert of the author. It's honestly kind of hilarious how much effort was put into making him seem "different" than all the other Silicon Valley tech heads (No, really, guys, he's so unique! He has bare minimum empathy and likes coffee and art, how eccentric!) when in fact he's just as dull as the rest of them. Nora is a weed-smoking manic pixie dream girl with a chronic case of man-writing-woman syndrome (ew). These two and every other character were boring and uninteresting.; who would've thought it takes more than giving a character two hobbies to build well-rounded, worth-reading-about characters.
The writing was weird. Much like the parallel universe described in the book, everything felt a little... off. In nearly every scene I was perplexed by either the lack of detail in things that mattered or by the insistence on spending too many words on things that genuinely did not matter, making large stretches of this book so boring they were borderline unreadable. This made the pacing weird, obviously. Pretty much everything that happens in this book happens in the last 50 pages, which of course felt rushed.
This book was a chore to get through and I wish I'd stopped reading earlier. The characters failed to get my attention and sympathy. Why should I care that
Cool concept, though. I think what kept me reading was the hope it would all come together in some profound, interesting way. I shouldn't have been surprised it didn't.
franksreads's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This was a disappointing experience. It had some interesting ideas but I didn't not care for the main character and the stakes were no where to be found. The end was also weirdly rushed, actually the pacing overall was odd.
rdellavalle's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
kaelaceleste's review against another edition
2.0
Did not vibe with this one!
This originally caught my interest from the vaguely scifi-sounding description but it left a lot to be desired. The story surrounds Ethan, a guy who works at a startup for a dating app. I thought this part was pretty interesting, I tend to like things about technology that's realistic but just outside of the realm of what we have in real life - and this dating app kinda felt like that. The description of his home in San Francisco and the behind the scenes look at the tech world was interesting enough to me. Though I hated the main character :) more on that later.
However, around the halfway point this book takes a sharp left into...I guess magical realism, as they figure out how to make use of a "bug" that transports people to different locations/worlds? It just all of a sudden turns into a book where they can teleport? I don't know?? The transition to this was just not at all smooth for me, at one point I literally said when did this become a book about teleportation. It just came out of left field and maybe that's on me but I felt like it was just out of nowhere. So the second half of the book is all about Ethan trying to enter these other worlds and rescue a child who somehow (???) got trapped in this alternate dimension (?) with other characters entering randomly along the way. Just...none of it made sense to me.
I could maybe excuse all of this if I didn't absolutely hate the main character. He was lifeless, so boring, absolutely no idea who he is or really any motivation to figure it out. I don't know what the author was going for here - perhaps it's commentary on how when you work for a tech company or startup, it's easy to get lost in your work and lose your sense of self? Idk I am grasping at straws here. He was absolutely so beyond the realm of relatability for me in the way he pretty much existed only to work at this tech company and believed so earnestly and wholeheartedly in that for 90% of the book. I did enjoy the ending, when he
So having his POV be the only one the entire book really took me out of it. He was so out of touch with reality (and again, maybe that's the point...?) that I just really did not enjoy reading his perspective. None of the other characters were much more interesting to me though, except maybe Noma. Everyone else just felt very much like throwaway characters and I had a hard time getting invested in any of them at all.
A few things I DID like - the San Francisco setting was fun to read about, and as I said before I did like the beginning setup of everything. But I had a hard time caring about finishing it from about the 75% mark. This one was a miss for me!
This originally caught my interest from the vaguely scifi-sounding description but it left a lot to be desired. The story surrounds Ethan, a guy who works at a startup for a dating app. I thought this part was pretty interesting, I tend to like things about technology that's realistic but just outside of the realm of what we have in real life - and this dating app kinda felt like that. The description of his home in San Francisco and the behind the scenes look at the tech world was interesting enough to me. Though I hated the main character :) more on that later.
However, around the halfway point this book takes a sharp left into...I guess magical realism, as they figure out how to make use of a "bug" that transports people to different locations/worlds? It just all of a sudden turns into a book where they can teleport? I don't know?? The transition to this was just not at all smooth for me, at one point I literally said when did this become a book about teleportation. It just came out of left field and maybe that's on me but I felt like it was just out of nowhere. So the second half of the book is all about Ethan trying to enter these other worlds and rescue a child who somehow (???) got trapped in this alternate dimension (?) with other characters entering randomly along the way. Just...none of it made sense to me.
I could maybe excuse all of this if I didn't absolutely hate the main character. He was lifeless, so boring, absolutely no idea who he is or really any motivation to figure it out. I don't know what the author was going for here - perhaps it's commentary on how when you work for a tech company or startup, it's easy to get lost in your work and lose your sense of self? Idk I am grasping at straws here. He was absolutely so beyond the realm of relatability for me in the way he pretty much existed only to work at this tech company and believed so earnestly and wholeheartedly in that for 90% of the book. I did enjoy the ending, when he
Spoiler
lets loose a little bit and gets a personality, though I have a hard time believing that this cautious blank slate of an individual would agree to just go get a tattoo from someone he barely knew with no prior planning or thought... idk that's just me!So having his POV be the only one the entire book really took me out of it. He was so out of touch with reality (and again, maybe that's the point...?) that I just really did not enjoy reading his perspective. None of the other characters were much more interesting to me though, except maybe Noma. Everyone else just felt very much like throwaway characters and I had a hard time getting invested in any of them at all.
A few things I DID like - the San Francisco setting was fun to read about, and as I said before I did like the beginning setup of everything. But I had a hard time caring about finishing it from about the 75% mark. This one was a miss for me!
pmdrc's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-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
3.0
blumoongirl's review against another edition
2.0
I think I went into reading this book with the idea that it would be similar to Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. This book is marketed as a science fiction thriller, and it reads definitely more like literary fiction with some fantasy thrown in.
The reason this book did not work for me, was because I never felt a connection with the main character . He wasn’t particularly interesting or likable….and for me-that can make or break a book. The story caught my attention at times…. and confused me at other times. Specifically the Portal.
2.5 ⭐️
This was an ARC from McMillan audio.
The reason this book did not work for me, was because I never felt a connection with the main character . He wasn’t particularly interesting or likable….and for me-that can make or break a book. The story caught my attention at times…. and confused me at other times. Specifically the Portal.
2.5 ⭐️
This was an ARC from McMillan audio.
bblammah's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
beththeawkward's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
tweedsuitcase's review against another edition
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0