Reviews with content warning for Murder - A Beautiful Poison

So... I wanted to toss this book aside. And I definitely would have, had I not been trapped in a waiting room for hours with nothing to do, but read this book. The first half of the book is dreadful; slow, meandering, too enamored with its own cleverness, and the main characters are painfully unlikable. Like, the most annoying characters I've encountered in a book in years. They have no chemistry together (which is ironic for a book about chemistry) and I can't believe that they, in their varying tracks of life and philosophical views, would like each other, let alone tolerate each other's presence. But I'm supposed to believe that after four years of being absent from each other's lives... they the best buds. Intimate buds. (Innuendo sort of implied.)

The second half of the book picks up a lot of its lagging parts, moves more swiftly and gives each character a bit of a reality check. It's almost like the author got impatient with herself, so sped it up and removed a lot of the more fluffy, irrelevant bits. I didn't mind the second half of the book. I also didn't mind the ending and the "grand reveal." It is a bit wild with a few too many clever coincidences, but I do think it worked and I think where the characters ended their narratives made sense on an individual level.

But overall, I wouldn't recommend this book. The plot has some interesting moments and twists and the setting is no doubt unique and fun, but those things can't save it from the utterly unlikable characters or pedantic storytelling.

Content Warnings

annir's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

katelindsay's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

The first third-ish of the book moved quite slowly. Between the show pace and two fairly unlikeable main characters, I didn't know if I would finish the book. When the pace picked up, so did my interest. Kang does a great job of throwing the reader off course from figuring out the murdered and giving shocking twists.

I'd recommend this book to readers who enjoy a well written historical mystery with unforeseen twists. If a slow-medium paced story with likeable characters is not your type of book, then this book is now for you. Even though this is a plot driven story, there is definite character development for our main characters.

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