Scan barcode
crackedspines_'s review
2.0
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!
OVERALL RATING: 2/5 stars. This book started out very good, and I enjoyed the first half. But there were several major faults that ultimately I could not ignore. There were some problematic passages that were enough to knock my rating from 4.5 to 3, but the ending was bad enough to lower my final rating to 2 stars. I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn't.
PLOT: 2/5 stars. The premise of this book was really interesting, and while the first half of the book was good plot-wise, the second half declined dramatically. The major plot twist (that Darwin12 turned out to be Terra's abductor luring her back in) was too obvious, and Terra was way too oblivious. I found most of what happened after that twist to be implausible because it just made no sense that Terra hadn't figured it out yet. There were also quite a few plot holes towards the end. It made no sense that Terra did not recognize Charley's eyes from the moment she first saw them the first time she was abducted, what with the amount of time she spent imagining them and trying to paint/draw them. I also can't understand how she did not recognize the line "You tell me your secret, and I'll tell you mine" from the Forest Girl as being based off of the game she and Charley played. While I can ignore that, she absolutely should've recognized the illustration of two people crouching behind a couch from the bus.
STRUCTURE: 3/5 stars. I enjoyed the way the narrative switched between the past, showing Terra's abduction, and the present, showing the aftermath. The chat room sections were cool, but ultimately caused too much confusion. It was unnecessary to introduce so many chat site users; it was hard to keep them straight since we didn't even find out most of their real names, and I never knew if one of them was going to turn into an important character.
SETTING: 2/5 stars. I wish there was a little more information about Hayberry Park, or even a map, since it is such an important landmark in the book and there's almost no information to help the reader develop an accurate picture of it. I also think it should've been mentioned sooner how far apart Hayberry and Terra's house are.
WRITING: 2/5 stars. This was my favorite part of the book. The author used some beautiful figurative language. However, I did not at all appreciate the instances of ableism. For the first third-ish of the book there's this pervasive narrative that it is bad to be mentally ill or disabled, and the author uses the slur "sp*z" twice. Towards the end of the book, she uses the word "handicapped" twice, which is ableist towards physically disabled people. Lastly, there is also a scene during the climax of the book that is transphobic. Unfortunately it is spoilery, so I'll put it under a tag. When Charley reveals to Terra that he was pretending to be Peyton, he tells her about voice modifiers and says something to the effect of "Males can sound like females and females can sound like men. There are even a few gender neutral options!" This is extremely transphobic.
CHARACTERS: 4/5 stars. Overall, I loved the characters in this story. They were dimensional and interesting and Terra was a very dynamic character. My only complaint is that there were some inconsistencies in Garret's character towards the end - despite his overall understanding and friendly personality, he says a few ignorant and hurtful things.
OVERALL RATING: 2/5 stars. This book started out very good, and I enjoyed the first half. But there were several major faults that ultimately I could not ignore. There were some problematic passages that were enough to knock my rating from 4.5 to 3, but the ending was bad enough to lower my final rating to 2 stars. I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn't.
PLOT: 2/5 stars. The premise of this book was really interesting, and while the first half of the book was good plot-wise, the second half declined dramatically. The major plot twist (that Darwin12 turned out to be Terra's abductor luring her back in) was too obvious, and Terra was way too oblivious. I found most of what happened after that twist to be implausible because it just made no sense that Terra hadn't figured it out yet. There were also quite a few plot holes towards the end. It made no sense that Terra did not recognize Charley's eyes from the moment she first saw them the first time she was abducted, what with the amount of time she spent imagining them and trying to paint/draw them. I also can't understand how she did not recognize the line "You tell me your secret, and I'll tell you mine" from the Forest Girl as being based off of the game she and Charley played. While I can ignore that, she absolutely should've recognized the illustration of two people crouching behind a couch from the bus.
STRUCTURE: 3/5 stars. I enjoyed the way the narrative switched between the past, showing Terra's abduction, and the present, showing the aftermath. The chat room sections were cool, but ultimately caused too much confusion. It was unnecessary to introduce so many chat site users; it was hard to keep them straight since we didn't even find out most of their real names, and I never knew if one of them was going to turn into an important character.
SETTING: 2/5 stars. I wish there was a little more information about Hayberry Park, or even a map, since it is such an important landmark in the book and there's almost no information to help the reader develop an accurate picture of it. I also think it should've been mentioned sooner how far apart Hayberry and Terra's house are.
WRITING: 2/5 stars. This was my favorite part of the book. The author used some beautiful figurative language. However, I did not at all appreciate the instances of ableism. For the first third-ish of the book there's this pervasive narrative that it is bad to be mentally ill or disabled, and the author uses the slur "sp*z" twice. Towards the end of the book, she uses the word "handicapped" twice, which is ableist towards physically disabled people. Lastly, there is also a scene during the climax of the book that is transphobic. Unfortunately it is spoilery, so I'll put it under a tag. When Charley reveals to Terra that he was pretending to be Peyton, he tells her about voice modifiers and says something to the effect of "Males can sound like females and females can sound like men. There are even a few gender neutral options!" This is extremely transphobic.
CHARACTERS: 4/5 stars. Overall, I loved the characters in this story. They were dimensional and interesting and Terra was a very dynamic character. My only complaint is that there were some inconsistencies in Garret's character towards the end - despite his overall understanding and friendly personality, he says a few ignorant and hurtful things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Kidnapping
Moderate: Stalking
More...