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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
This was mostly a wow for me. First of all, the cover and presentation is beautiful. Second, the prose is so deftly crafted, the voice so compelling I gobbled up its 400-plus pages in one day — honestly, I started in the morning, became enraptured, and did nothing else until I’d finished it in the evening. Third, I love books that defy categorization — this is literary fiction but also fantasy (and I hate fantasy, so, if you do, don’t skip this because of that because it’s not REALLY fantasy) and horror and mystery and myth and metaphor and symbolism and an insightful, thought-provoking exploration of what makes a human a human and to what lengths love will make one go — but it does all of this without hectoring or heavy-handed, pretentious intellectual posing.
Apollo Kagwa, book dealer, having had a child with his wife, Emma, experiences a return of the haunting night-terror-like dreams he suffered as a child after his father had mysteriously disappeared. Soon, Emma commits an unthinkable atrocity, the aftereffects of which Apollo makes it his mission to understand, a journey which take him from Riker’s Island to lands in the mist of the imagination to forest caves to places and events from his past he’d never really understood or remembered.
Apollo Kagwa, book dealer, having had a child with his wife, Emma, experiences a return of the haunting night-terror-like dreams he suffered as a child after his father had mysteriously disappeared. Soon, Emma commits an unthinkable atrocity, the aftereffects of which Apollo makes it his mission to understand, a journey which take him from Riker’s Island to lands in the mist of the imagination to forest caves to places and events from his past he’d never really understood or remembered.
emotional
mysterious
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:
Yes
This book is good in parts but overall didn't grab me like some of his other work. The whiplash of events in this book was the only thing that really kept me reading. When I finished it just was more of a glad that's done vs glad I got the conclusion of the story. Honestly don't think I'd have missed much if I had just DNFed the book.
What an amazing, beautiful, difficult read. I’m not even a parent and some of the things Apollo and Emma go through for their kid, each new horror, every dread revelation, hit hard. I had to put it down sometimes, go do something calmer. Much like Apollo, I feared the next discovery, but I couldn’t stop moving forward.
Holy crap this story just didnѓ??t live up to the hype. A bit disjointed, itѓ??s starts out one way and ends another, with some gruesome weirdness thrown in along the way. The characters have great starts but arenѓ??t fully fleshed out, the ѓ??magicѓ?ќ is never explained nor given an attempt at explanation, and the whole ѓ??technology as window into your lifeѓ?ќ played alongside a ѓ??realѓ?ќ fairytale ѓ?? just too much going on. It moves quickly at first, bits of magical mystery alluding to a thrilling story that just never happens. Then it got weird. Then it just got bland/predictable. Blah. Maybe my expectations were too high, but, sorry, not at all sure why this was so highly received.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
um. oh my god? i dont even know what to say. i hope they move to brazil and change that baby name bc…. omg. i dont even know. baffled at how theyre just cool after everything but like i guess? ummmmm. ummmmm. i am at a loss for words. all this just to be forced to take the Q11 that’s sick
dark
hopeful
mysterious
fast-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:
No
This book had an absolute chokehold on me. It was written so well and was so captivating—I devoured it!
So spooky, weird and well written! Like a modern day grims bros fairytale for grown ups. Twisted and dark and made me think.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced