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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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:
Yes
A beautiful dark fairytale, I really enjoyed the ride this put me on.
It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either. I got bored and just no longer cared how it ends. Made it to 68% before I gave up
Probably closer to a 3.7, this book is a bit of a slow burn but it had some interesting and timely themes that I enjoyed.
Absolutely loved this modern dark fairytale! Had some unexpected situations throughout until the end.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While this book wasn’t the biggest slog to read for me this year, it was a struggle to motivate myself to see it through. Ultimately I wanted to see what Victor Lavalle had in mind, which is something. Unfortunately, he had about 20 things in mind.
Unfortunately I found the plot convoluted, the tone confusing, the characters flat and the dialogue trite. The plot had so many aspects that were jarring in the moment and confounding in retrospect. This was made worse by how the tone of the book was both young adult while also being incredibly graphic and dark. This was made worse by the AWFUL pacing. And then this was made worse by the dialogue being so flat and downright cheesy at times. It was all so…American. I think the feeble attempts to commentate on technology (which amounted to about 10% of the book involving someone fumbling with an iPad or posting something on Facebook) were the most egregious part.
Overall I liked a couple of passages (Victor’s childhood, the island), but for the most part I was rolling my eyes. I’m not a sci fi fan at the best of times and this book sums up why. It was sloppy and fantastical without really achieving any level of awe or whimsy.
Unfortunately I found the plot convoluted, the tone confusing, the characters flat and the dialogue trite. The plot had so many aspects that were jarring in the moment and confounding in retrospect. This was made worse by how the tone of the book was both young adult while also being incredibly graphic and dark. This was made worse by the AWFUL pacing. And then this was made worse by the dialogue being so flat and downright cheesy at times. It was all so…American. I think the feeble attempts to commentate on technology (which amounted to about 10% of the book involving someone fumbling with an iPad or posting something on Facebook) were the most egregious part.
Overall I liked a couple of passages (Victor’s childhood, the island), but for the most part I was rolling my eyes. I’m not a sci fi fan at the best of times and this book sums up why. It was sloppy and fantastical without really achieving any level of awe or whimsy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
3.5. I'm a sucker for anything fairy tale-adjacent. Longer than it needed to be, but page-turner for sure.
I picked this book up from a free little library and thought I'd give it a go..I slogged through the Devil in Silver but the premise sounded interesting.
Man, I wanted to give up on this book. How could you not if you didn't stick with it? It depicts something awful.
But that's just where the quest begins and this was an epic one. The layer kept unfurling and I furiously read on. I devoured the book in just a few days.
There's still some unanswered questions, like why was the survivors group lady's child gone if the troll had Brian? What became of all the changeling children? What was up with the Wise Ones?
Even more perplexing to these mysteries were some of how the author described the baby, Brian. A 2-month old would not face forward in a carrier, a 6-month is rarely crawling and a 10 month old walking? I guess it's possible but makes me wonder if they were intentional or is Victor is not quite the new dad he might strive to be.
Man, I wanted to give up on this book. How could you not if you didn't stick with it? It depicts something awful.
But that's just where the quest begins and this was an epic one. The layer kept unfurling and I furiously read on. I devoured the book in just a few days.
There's still some unanswered questions, like why was the survivors group lady's child gone if the troll had Brian? What became of all the changeling children? What was up with the Wise Ones?
Even more perplexing to these mysteries were some of how the author described the baby, Brian. A 2-month old would not face forward in a carrier, a 6-month is rarely crawling and a 10 month old walking? I guess it's possible but makes me wonder if they were intentional or is Victor is not quite the new dad he might strive to be.
Wow! This book was so well written. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m not really into fantasy but I don’t think this went so far out there. There were times that it felt a little disconnected but it always came back around. I listened to the audio book read by the author and loved it. He has a fantastic voice. Very soothing but didn’t put me to sleep. I love when author’s read their own books, it gives it a special feel since they know the book from the inside out they know how exactly to read it aloud. I will be finding more titles by him.