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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
wanted to like this more than I did. I will admit that it was a little hard listening to the intertwining storylines on audio and having trouble keeping track of which character was which though
A clever, engrossing, tender-hearted and lyrical book. David Arnold excels at finding interesting ways of exploring how people grow, bond, and connect with each other. If you enjoyed his previous books, you'll definitely enjoy this one, too.
This was a weird one and I honestly am still confused as to whether I liked it or not.
So, this book is very convoluted. It gave me a Book of M feel but instead of thinking you know where its headed, you just stare at it oblivious to whether its going to lead to nothing or the biggest revelation you have ever experienced.
By about half way through, I started to get an inkling about what was happening; when I think back on the story as a whole, it was so fricking obvious what was taking place.
Characters were for the most part interesting. I loved the issue with the flies - still have no idea how they evolved to what they were but I dont want to hurt my brain even more to sort it out.
I want to point out here that it is a fully realised story all to itself. But that ending is also well and truly able to be written into a second novel.
So, this book is very convoluted. It gave me a Book of M feel but instead of thinking you know where its headed, you just stare at it oblivious to whether its going to lead to nothing or the biggest revelation you have ever experienced.
By about half way through, I started to get an inkling about what was happening; when I think back on the story as a whole, it was so fricking obvious what was taking place.
Characters were for the most part interesting. I loved the issue with the flies - still have no idea how they evolved to what they were but I dont want to hurt my brain even more to sort it out.
I want to point out here that it is a fully realised story all to itself. But that ending is also well and truly able to be written into a second novel.
4.5 stars!
LOVED THIS BOOK
Discussed in my March Wrap Up Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUFg6j5wWGM
Sucked into this book from page 1. Another pandemic book but written so well.
One of the characters, a 12 year old boy called Kit, MADE ME FEEL ALL THE FEELINGS.
His character arc was awesomeeee.
LOVED THIS BOOK
Discussed in my March Wrap Up Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUFg6j5wWGM
Sucked into this book from page 1. Another pandemic book but written so well.
One of the characters, a 12 year old boy called Kit, MADE ME FEEL ALL THE FEELINGS.
His character arc was awesomeeee.
i can't believe i'm saying this, but this is the first time i have not enjoyed a time travel/time loop story.
I won’t lie, this was a total cover buy. I barely skimmed the synopsis, so I walked into this with zero expectations. It was a slow and confusing start since there are three storylines and a time jump after the prologue. Oh, but this book is intriguing. The world building is very well done and the threat of the flies is terrifying: swarms that blot out the sun, the coordination to pick up whole animals and people off the ground and consume them in the air, and then the Fly Flu that is unexplainable but just as terrifying. The threat of other people and their motivations is akin to The Walking Dead, but the innocence and loyalty found along the way breaks your heart and puts it back together. The combination of faith and science, and the beauty that come from it, is breathtaking and hopeful. This story is so beautiful and so different from other YA novels, but also so extremely relevant at this very moment in history.
For more reviews, check out https://www.thestoriedblog.com/
For more reviews, check out https://www.thestoriedblog.com/
The Electric Kingdom was the book for my book club in May. This is a post-apocolyptic pandemic story so I thought it was going to be tough to read at times, but thankfully, the story didn’t go too much into detail about the illness that comes from the Flies. Also, it’s a much more vicious story. There are genetically engineered Flies that swarm and devour anything, and we get to see it a few times. But this story was more about survival than the actual Flies and accompanying sickness. It’s a story of loss and grief, survival and found family.
We get to follow a few different points of view. I will say that I was confused for most of this book. There also wasn’t one moment where all of the pieces finally come together. It’s confusing for a number of reasons. One is that there are jumps in time all over the place. Each point of view often spends time remembering things, so there’s little to no warning that we are reading about the past. While these flashbacks did share meaningful information, they were a bit confusing at times. But they did add to the overall story, they just took some getting used to. We are also missing a lot of pieces in the beginning of the story. I spent a lot of time guessing how everything was connected.
I liked the characters and the overall plot, but I was dissatisfied with the ending. There wasn’t any real resolution, more of just hope for the future. But I don’t like that. I can be satisfied with open ended conclusions, but there wasn’t enough for me to be happy with this one. Now, all of this makes it sound like I didn’t like this book. But that’s not the case. I flew through this book. It was compelling and I couldn’t put it down. There were characters I could easily root for and so many questions that I needed answers to.
Overall, nothing I thought was going to happen or connected in the way I thought it would. The Electric Kingdom kept me guessing right up until the final pages. I had fun reading this even though things got pretty dark at times. The story twists and turns, and ends in a way that I never would have guessed. I really enjoyed it and my only big complaint would be the unsatisfying ending.
We get to follow a few different points of view. I will say that I was confused for most of this book. There also wasn’t one moment where all of the pieces finally come together. It’s confusing for a number of reasons. One is that there are jumps in time all over the place. Each point of view often spends time remembering things, so there’s little to no warning that we are reading about the past. While these flashbacks did share meaningful information, they were a bit confusing at times. But they did add to the overall story, they just took some getting used to. We are also missing a lot of pieces in the beginning of the story. I spent a lot of time guessing how everything was connected.
I liked the characters and the overall plot, but I was dissatisfied with the ending. There wasn’t any real resolution, more of just hope for the future. But I don’t like that. I can be satisfied with open ended conclusions, but there wasn’t enough for me to be happy with this one. Now, all of this makes it sound like I didn’t like this book. But that’s not the case. I flew through this book. It was compelling and I couldn’t put it down. There were characters I could easily root for and so many questions that I needed answers to.
Overall, nothing I thought was going to happen or connected in the way I thought it would. The Electric Kingdom kept me guessing right up until the final pages. I had fun reading this even though things got pretty dark at times. The story twists and turns, and ends in a way that I never would have guessed. I really enjoyed it and my only big complaint would be the unsatisfying ending.
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-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
I took me a bit longer than usual to come back and write a review for this one and I do have to say that in the moment of finishing it I would give it a 4 star, but about 2 weeks after its more like a three star bc like what was that novel?
The Pros: this book has some really unexpected gore and the explanation for the Fly Flu is very well thought out. I also really appreciated the journey of the characters and some of the more poetic descriptions that Arnold used to describe the world.
The Cons: However, this book is wacky tobacky. I did not get the sense this was going to a time travel esq. story at all and as such I feel like this book had a grounded concept and just went left field with it. I am cool with that in a lot of sense, but you basically get no answers for the reasons behind things and instead just have to take the logic of the book on face value since its not a scifi novel, but instead more of a general ya fiction with self discovery elements and SCIFI sprinkled on top. Idk that just didn't set all that well with me as I wish I had known a bit more of what I was getting myself into.
Overall: It was cool. I recommend it, but didn't love it and if this were story graph would rank closer to a 3.
The Pros: this book has some really unexpected gore and the explanation for the Fly Flu is very well thought out. I also really appreciated the journey of the characters and some of the more poetic descriptions that Arnold used to describe the world.
The Cons: However, this book is wacky tobacky. I did not get the sense this was going to a time travel esq. story at all and as such I feel like this book had a grounded concept and just went left field with it. I am cool with that in a lot of sense, but you basically get no answers for the reasons behind things and instead just have to take the logic of the book on face value since its not a scifi novel, but instead more of a general ya fiction with self discovery elements and SCIFI sprinkled on top. Idk that just didn't set all that well with me as I wish I had known a bit more of what I was getting myself into.
Overall: It was cool. I recommend it, but didn't love it and if this were story graph would rank closer to a 3.