Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North

1 review

5aru's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was... in all fairness, the book was good. The writing is excellent, and its deep, near-surgical examination of some of the worst evils of humanity is pretty spot-on. However, this comes at a cost - meaning, it doesn't really engage you. There is so much exposition it was hard to get invested in a storyline; by the time you did, William was already moving on to deal with something or somebody else; he's completely jaded by the time he starts his narration, and this jadedness can't help but move towards the reader as well. I couldn't really get invested in the characters, or what happened to them, because knowing so many harsh truths about anyone is enough to disenchant you.

And yet, I suppose I enjoyed it well enough. The quality of the writing really carried this story through; if it had been written by any lesser hand, it would've fallen short entirely.

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