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Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

10 reviews

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I love multiple POV stories, but this one felt a little too disorganized. The story switched between several characters so frequently that it was sometimes hard to keep track of what was going on. A lot of the character backgrounds & sub plots often felt forced in ways that didn’t feel natural to the story. I think this book would have benefited from focusing on fewer characters , involving less character backgrounds, or being split into 2 books. I enjoyed the story, but most likely won’t continue the series. 

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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colorwired's profile picture

colorwired's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 80%

This book has an interesting premise but it moves so slowly that I found myself questioning whether I really liked it or not. 
I was also very thrown off by The Boy That Lived trope that becomes glaringly present in the first quarter. 
There are definitely parts that are dark and scary, but I somehow felt confined even though the story skips around the globe.
I didn’t finish this book because I didn’t want to do the work to plug through everything to get to the point. 
I was very disappointed because I was initially very excited about this book.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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sophiesmallhands's profile picture

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 15%

Too many different plot lines introduced without sufficient cohesion and context. And if I’m not invested in any of the characters by the first 100 pages, I tend to DNF.

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

4/4.5 stars.

Prepare yourself for a heartbreaking, raw, ride. Beautifully written, darkly descriptive, and intense.

The only reason this doesn't get the full 5 stars is because there was very little ebb and flow of emotions. It is mostly fraught, with very few light moments to break up the harshness. But I did enjoy it greatly, and am looking forward to the sequel!

For fans of Miss Peregrine's, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and The Nevers.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

This is how I've been describing this book to people: it's a mashup of Harry Potter and X-Men with an historical fiction setting. Honestly, I think that's pretty accurate.

J.M. Miro creates some incredibly likeable and interesting characters, from Charlie to Alice to, yes, even Jacob Marber, as well as great atmosphere. However, the story gets bogged done with a back-and-forth timeline and an excessively long story. As an audiobook, I was just waiting for it to be over because it didn't seem to be moving along.

The narrator, Ben Onwukwe, has an absolutely beautiful baritone that fits perfectly in the time period. The issue is that he has atrocious voices for women and children, which often sound like gravely southern American accents for some reason. I got used to the weird voices, but it didn't exactly add to my enjoyment of the listening experience. 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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