Reviews

Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong

kkrato's review

4.0

Creative and well developed, thought provoking plot and character development.

abaranes's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 stars.

This was a chilling mystery novel, with a really unique view by having the main narrator suffer from (what I assume is) paranoid schizophrenia. Seeing things through this lens definitely had me questioning what was real or not.

That all said, it did run out of steam towards the end and I'm not sure I'm fully satisfied with how everything was wrapped up. Still, worth picking up if you're a mystery/thriller fan!

elise_nk's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

2.75 stars. This book could have been shorter, and I think if so, I would have rated it higher. It started fast paced and ended fast paced but the middle dragged for me. I appreciated the character development of Katrina, but I feel like it really only came out at the end, and for most of the book she just seemed like a mentally-ill, unreliable narrator. I appreciated the mental illness representation and first-generation immigrant experience explored in the book, and I personally think if more of that was included, rather than the middle of the book slowly moving the plot around, I would have enjoyed it more.

aktunmore's review against another edition

2.0

This book was just too weird for me. I went in expecting a stalker, murder mystery type thing and it had that, but too much other. Katrina is obsessed with a pretend world from a children's novel, needs to draw sigils to feel safe and above all she becomes obsessed with things and makes terrible decisions because she can't let them go. If I wasn't obsessive about finishing a book once I started it, this would have been a DNF because I knew right away it was too weird for me

misha_ali's review against another edition

5.0

Goddamn, this was absolutely insane in the best way.

cburton's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

1jessml's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

smdorsett's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

First read of 2024! Compulsive page turner, finished in three days. I'm a sucker for unreliable narrator so the POV of main character was fascinating. Only thing knocking rating down a bit is that it leaned pretty hard on coincidences and and one huge communication failure that slightly strained credulity but it almost fit with the sort of trippy vibe. The kitchen door-world has its own inherent logic.

lulureads365's review against another edition

2.0

This is a pretty good story, once’s we actually get to the point. The beginning of the story is all over the place and strange. I really don’t see the point of it.

tarainez's review against another edition

4.0

I’m giving this one a 3.75. This was a little confusing to get through at the start and a little unbelievable at times, but it held my interest. I wanted to see the end through and figure out how everything fit together, much like the main character, Katrina. It almost felt like two different books at times. The first portion focused on Katrina’s mental health, her relationship with her roommate, Leoni, her job, and her stalking Kurt, a coworker. There is a very clear shift in tone at a very specific point, right between Second and Third Stellation. It felt like I was reading something completely different and more of a standard thriller after this point. I’m not 100% sure on my overall thoughts for this book, because it was such a fever dream haha but I did read about half of the book on Memorial Day alone, so I think that says something about how intriguing the plot was.