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gemarky's review
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
cxxitlyn's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
ankteckningar's review
2.0
A bit to overtly christian for me. It started out good but the writing got progressively worse the more spelled out the themes got.
elizabethardell's review
2.0
Descriptions of this book talk about it being like “an M Night Shyamalan movie” and “full of metamorphosis”, discussing the “journey of coming back to life”.
Personally, I felt like it walked a really weird line with its religious overtones, random supernatural moments, and choppy cut scenes. It’s not a one star for me because it was palatable; a quick read, and the message came through relatively clearly at the end; “The devil cuts into your life in mysterious ways, but we can choose to give in to our pain and let it rule us, or we can choose to work towards good and joy”.
A boring moral, but a moral nonetheless ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Personally, I felt like it walked a really weird line with its religious overtones, random supernatural moments, and choppy cut scenes. It’s not a one star for me because it was palatable; a quick read, and the message came through relatively clearly at the end; “The devil cuts into your life in mysterious ways, but we can choose to give in to our pain and let it rule us, or we can choose to work towards good and joy”.
A boring moral, but a moral nonetheless ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
michealafaye's review
4.0
We all have two beasts within us, which one will you choose to feed? While I am not typically one to like religious undertones in the books I read, I felt it was well placed in this story. I can also personally relate to having an old friend like Devin. Sure it wasn’t a demon or lucifer but they might as well have been. Great read, especially with the parallels between the story and the author’s actual life experiences. Kudos.
annagandini's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
grahamdowns's review
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is the second of Dean Skinner’s books that I’ve read, the first one being Healed (I think he published Broken first, though).
The man can tell a good story. Where Healed was overtly Christian, Broken is not. There are still strong Christian themes, but it’s not actually spelt out until the very end, and even then, it’s just a reference that’s so obvious that you’ll get it unless you’ve literally never heard of Christianity before!
I think, since he published Broken first, the author was probably nervous about coming out and referring to God directly, whereas by Healed, he was a lot more confident.
The two books have similar themes: there is inexplicable pain and suffering which is revealed to have a purpose, or the person eventually overcomes it by faith and channelled and used to do great things.
Man, it’s just a pity about the editing. As I mentioned in my review for Healed, it’s just... not as polished as one would expect of the professional work. There are lots of typos, misused words (again, “site” instead of “sight” comes to mind), run-on sentences and fragments. It’s very difficult for the pedant in me to overlook.
The lack of the linked table of contents is a bigger issue. A linked table of contents is very important in an ebook because it lets you know how far you’re into the chapter you’re currently reading, and you can easily skip ahead and back. In print, you can do that by physically flipping back and forth; in an ebook, that’s significantly more difficult. (Note: I read the Scribd edition. Perhaps that’s not an issue for some of the other retailers.)
Without those things, this is easily a five-star book.
Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: https://books2read.com/u/4XDgR7
* Note: That's an affiliate link, so if you click through to a store and end up buying anything, I might earn a commission from your purchase.
The man can tell a good story. Where Healed was overtly Christian, Broken is not. There are still strong Christian themes, but it’s not actually spelt out until the very end, and even then, it’s just a reference that’s so obvious that you’ll get it unless you’ve literally never heard of Christianity before!
I think, since he published Broken first, the author was probably nervous about coming out and referring to God directly, whereas by Healed, he was a lot more confident.
The two books have similar themes: there is inexplicable pain and suffering which is revealed to have a purpose, or the person eventually overcomes it by faith and channelled and used to do great things.
Man, it’s just a pity about the editing. As I mentioned in my review for Healed, it’s just... not as polished as one would expect of the professional work. There are lots of typos, misused words (again, “site” instead of “sight” comes to mind), run-on sentences and fragments. It’s very difficult for the pedant in me to overlook.
The lack of the linked table of contents is a bigger issue. A linked table of contents is very important in an ebook because it lets you know how far you’re into the chapter you’re currently reading, and you can easily skip ahead and back. In print, you can do that by physically flipping back and forth; in an ebook, that’s significantly more difficult. (Note: I read the Scribd edition. Perhaps that’s not an issue for some of the other retailers.)
Without those things, this is easily a five-star book.
Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: https://books2read.com/u/4XDgR7
* Note: That's an affiliate link, so if you click through to a store and end up buying anything, I might earn a commission from your purchase.
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