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Un bellissimo libro....... esteticamente. La trama non è male ma ci sono dei punti e dei personaggi che non mi hanno convinta e mi hanno fatto abbandonare il romanzo un paio di volte. Passiamo ad altro, ho urgente bisogno di un libro BELLO.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
This goes in my top 5 most boring books that I’ve ever finished. This is what I get for buying a book because it looked cool. I don’t think I cared about a single character - not that there was much to know about them - and there was basically no story to fall back on.
The anachronisms were jarring, the writing stilted, and the villain so lazily depicted as fat (my least favorite “literary device” a.k.a. fatphobia parade).
The anachronisms were jarring, the writing stilted, and the villain so lazily depicted as fat (my least favorite “literary device” a.k.a. fatphobia parade).
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The main character’s uncle is almost comically evil, he’s just so over-the-top stereotypically evil. I’m not loving it, and it’s too long to struggle through it.
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse
Minor: Grief
I read [b:Pandora|61102619|Pandora|Susan Stokes-Chapman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1653271542l/61102619._SY75_.jpg|86825120] from the first to the last page and closed the book with a feeling of... emptiness. Like the current was never switched on between us. And it was curiously the exact same sensation watching The Rings of Power.
(Maybe I should stop being over-dramatic, given that I only watched two episodes...)
ANYWAY
I thought a lot about this book after reading it and, comparing it to what Iexperienced did not experience watching the show, I can now think of two or three points which were the reasons this book felt flat to me.
1. Abundance of point of views kills the point of view (Can you even say that in English ?)
In Pandora, we follow three characters : our main girl Pandora, her uncle Hezekiah, the big bad guy of the story and our love interest whose name I don't remember (with also sometimes the point of view of his best friend or the sandy-servant of Hezekiah (Lottie ?) (they're actually the most interesting characters... ?)).
This way, you can be sure that the only interesting thing about the love interest (his tragic past) and the secrets buried by the uncle that made him search for the mysterious-crate-that-is-the-main-thread-of-the-scenario are all REVEALED IN THE FIRST CHAPTERS gegggggijjer
This is supposed to be a mystery, right ? What's the point if you already know what the villain behind the mystery thinks and does ? Reading Pandora felt like playing Cluedo knowing all along that it was Sir Hezekiah with the crate in the basement...
(the book did give cluedo vibes tho, with a very dark visual atmosphere and all clues to find in this old, antiques' shop)
It would have been much more relevant told only from the pov of Pandora.
Wait, no. Cause she's boring.
2. The characters are led by the story and not the other way round.
The characters in this story felt so passive to me. I felt like the author had written a great mystery scenario and just incorporated characters to validate the different steps. It's weird to say, but to me the main character in this book was the crate : everything revolves around it, there are, like, three things to discover and each part of this book is just the characters going back to the crate and the author checking in her to-do list a new level of discovery.
I'm critical, but now that I wrote it it feels kind of logical as the characters are... antiquarians.
(I should probably think again about this book)
(Maybe I will)
3. The team good characters are too perfect.
The characters forms are well-filled. The characters have interesting little facts about them (Pandora's bird was really cute), hobbies, motivations, check.
Pandora and the main guy, which are team good, have a line of "good" values that they follow in EVERYTHING and that's BORING. Like, they're so perfect ! that makes every move predictable. They're never messy, they never wander, they don't evolve. They felt flat to me because, from page one topage to last page, they do their job as the good team with little to no reflection on themselves.
On the other hand, the main guy 's best friend (from far my favorite character), which is team morally grey and Hezekiah, team evil, are not good people and they know it and have thoughts. That makes them messier, funnier, and deeper. For instance, Hezekiah acts out of revenge but does not have precise plans, which makes him unpredictable, and we also have a villain that is able to think : "should I really do that ? what would the impact be on my niece ?" which really is fresh air I think. And also the best friend evolution really was my favorite part : to me, his feelings felt genuine and the reflection that led him from "bad" decisions to "good" ones really was interesting. (And also he's giving the vibes of a character written by Oscar Wilde, which is cool).
(I just realized that I criticized this book for having too many povs but I would never have enjoyed Hezekiah and the best friend guy if there wasn't so many povs... )
(I'm incoherent. Again.)
To conclude... I did have fun reading the last part of Pandora, though, but everything was too predictable in the first ones. I would recommend it to anyone drawn to the "historical Cluedo" ambience and that predictable plot twists won't bother.
(Maybe I should stop being over-dramatic, given that I only watched two episodes...)
ANYWAY
I thought a lot about this book after reading it and, comparing it to what I
1. Abundance of point of views kills the point of view (Can you even say that in English ?)
In Pandora, we follow three characters : our main girl Pandora, her uncle Hezekiah, the big bad guy of the story and our love interest whose name I don't remember (with also sometimes the point of view of his best friend or the sandy-servant of Hezekiah (Lottie ?) (they're actually the most interesting characters... ?)).
This way, you can be sure that the only interesting thing about the love interest (his tragic past) and the secrets buried by the uncle that made him search for the mysterious-crate-that-is-the-main-thread-of-the-scenario are all REVEALED IN THE FIRST CHAPTERS gegggggijjer
This is supposed to be a mystery, right ? What's the point if you already know what the villain behind the mystery thinks and does ? Reading Pandora felt like playing Cluedo knowing all along that it was Sir Hezekiah with the crate in the basement...
(the book did give cluedo vibes tho, with a very dark visual atmosphere and all clues to find in this old, antiques' shop)
It would have been much more relevant told only from the pov of Pandora.
Wait, no. Cause she's boring.
2. The characters are led by the story and not the other way round.
The characters in this story felt so passive to me. I felt like the author had written a great mystery scenario and just incorporated characters to validate the different steps. It's weird to say, but to me the main character in this book was the crate : everything revolves around it, there are, like, three things to discover and each part of this book is just the characters going back to the crate and the author checking in her to-do list a new level of discovery.
I'm critical, but now that I wrote it it feels kind of logical as the characters are... antiquarians.
(I should probably think again about this book)
(Maybe I will)
3. The team good characters are too perfect.
The characters forms are well-filled. The characters have interesting little facts about them (Pandora's bird was really cute), hobbies, motivations, check.
Pandora and the main guy, which are team good, have a line of "good" values that they follow in EVERYTHING and that's BORING. Like, they're so perfect ! that makes every move predictable. They're never messy, they never wander, they don't evolve. They felt flat to me because, from page one to
On the other hand, the main guy 's best friend (from far my favorite character), which is team morally grey and Hezekiah, team evil, are not good people and they know it and have thoughts. That makes them messier, funnier, and deeper. For instance, Hezekiah acts out of revenge but does not have precise plans, which makes him unpredictable, and we also have a villain that is able to think : "should I really do that ? what would the impact be on my niece ?" which really is fresh air I think. And also the best friend evolution really was my favorite part : to me, his feelings felt genuine and the reflection that led him from "bad" decisions to "good" ones really was interesting. (And also he's giving the vibes of a character written by Oscar Wilde, which is cool).
(I just realized that I criticized this book for having too many povs but I would never have enjoyed Hezekiah and the best friend guy if there wasn't so many povs... )
(I'm incoherent. Again.)
To conclude... I did have fun reading the last part of Pandora, though, but everything was too predictable in the first ones. I would recommend it to anyone drawn to the "historical Cluedo" ambience and that predictable plot twists won't bother.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Nearly impossible to put down. A beautifully written intrigue, completely transportive to a gloomy British antiquities shop.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated