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Reviews tagging 'War'

Wayward Pines. Szum by Blake Crouch, Paweł Lipszyc

35 reviews

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Only gave a 4.5 because it’s my first book to get me back into reading so I’m not sure what a perfect book is, but GOD this has to be close. The book starts out at a medium pace, but they slowly press the gas the entire time. I nearly neglected my actual obligations to continue reading the story

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Just when I thought I knew where this was going, I was gooped and gagged! I finished the book in two (spread apart) sittings and it was SO GOOD. I've read Recursion as well and I think Crouch really digs into scifi-thriller in a way that is just top tier!

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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  • Choppy, inconsistent, screenplay-esque writing style with simplistic, occasionally even sophomoric or worse, prose
  • Macho-wish-fulfillment MC whose personality shifts at least scene to scene (or paragraph to paragraph in some parts) and not in a way that feels purposeful
  • Dissonance between what the MC narrator notices and what he actually comments about or acts on
  • Repetitive character beats
  • Very “men writing women” approach to several female characters 
  • The gaslighting scenes are so ham-fisted they feel intolerable 
  • I know exactly where the story is going—some from unfortunate, accidental spoilers and some from the sheer transparent and cliche plot “twists”
  • Some blatant racism that’s really only thrown in so the MC can look “cool” during a torture flashback scene

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

As per usual with Crouch's books, my head was reeling by the time I finished the last page. I can't believe this is a trilogy because I have no idea where he's going to take this from here...I guess I have to keep reading in order to find out.

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mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I feel like I really read this at the right time. I am about 50% through 'A Feast for Crows' and it is just really rather slow, so I figured I'd pick up a book I'd heard was super fast-paced as a bit of a palate-cleanser. Was it the best book I've ever read? No. I didn't really like the characters and the ones that I did weren't in it very much, but that's OK. It gave a really good vibe, reminiscient of Twin Peaks and The X-Files (both things I absolutely love), and I found the intrigue really enjoyable all the way through. I did want to know what the craic was in Weyward Pines and was glad when this was revealed. I do think I will continue with the trilogy as I am interested in where Crouch takes the story and I would recommend if you're after something mysterious, gripping and fast-paced. 

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