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briannamwod's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Moderate: Child death and Suicide
analenegrace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Otherwise, this was a passable dystopian sci-fi with an interesting twist and ending that I wasn't expecting.
Moderate: Mental illness, Blood, Violence, and Child death
shanshantastic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Minor: Child death
firebreathingmermaid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Person complaints (pretty much spoiler free):
- I found the writing style irksome. I think a lot of people would probably enjoy it, but for me it veers into pretentious, pseudo-intellectual drivel that draws things out way more than they need to be drawn out. The main character's inner reflections and voice are almost insufferable to me, and they do not read like how a human thinks at all. I also was very confused by the choice of shifting POVs. I thought the reveal was going to provide some explanation as to why Proctor's POV was first person past tense but every one else would occassionally get third person present tense, but it never really felt clear to me how or why these shifts would occur.
- I think the book was too long and slow-paced. To be honest, for the amount of time i spent reading, not a whole lot happened. It could have definitely been pruned to be more concise and the pacing, in my opinion, would have worked better. Kind of in line with the first complaint, there were far too many moments when the narrative (especially Proctor's POV but also in the other POVs) just rambled far too long about something that, I think, the author felt was deep and reflective but it often just made me roll my eyes. I'm aactually suprirsed this book is mostly considered as "medium pace" from other StoryGraph reviewers as it felt slow to me.
The epilogue was completely unneccessary and boring. It made me even more mad at Proctor, and added literally nothing to the story IMO. I could have figured that was what his dream was going to be. It should have ended with Thea (though also the pregnancy trope is tired tbh).
- The characters. There was not a single character in this book I found likable. I don't mind an unlikable cast or protagonist, but I just wasn't even rooting for them at all. I felt no sympathy for them whatsoever even when they were doing wrong things. Especially Proctor.
he is a chronic cheater. He was constantly super moody and his actions and thoughts rapidly bounced all over the place between pleasant and kind to combatitive and rude to overly emotional rumination. I could not give you a single trait I feel was consistent in him other than being overly wordy, both in his dialogue and in his inner monologue. Additionally, he doomed thousands of people to be servant slaves for hundreds of years, and then his "repentence" for this was giving himself a literal dream life forever? that made no sense and it did NOT sit right with me. - Other character issues that mostly came toward the end so spoilers:
Why the hell did Thea insist on being thrown back into the dream only to have her legs immediately broken and contribute nothing LMAO. Warren was even more random than Proctor in whether or not he wanted to be evil or nice. I couldn't even keep track of half the other characters and nobody really had anything to make them stand out or make the reader interested, invested, or rooting for them.
- The pacing, again. I think this time I will say that it's not just about how it was slow for my opinion but how it seemed to change pace. It started so, so slow, and I felt like I was stuck in very boring mundane aspects of the world just wondering for ages what was going on. The actual revelatons don't happen until like 80% through the book.
- Again, thematically, the book was good and interesting, but the author BEATS YOU OVER THE HEAD with nonstop monologuing about things I think, to some extent, the reader should be able to pick up themselves. At times some of these lines were really great, but he tried so hard so many times that even when I happened upon a good, reflective, inspiring quote, I was already tired of the way he constantly tried to make them happen.
Moderate: Child death
kdelong's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Grief, Violence, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Police brutality, Child death, and Suicide
roses_and_alice's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
With a lengthy novel like this, there's a tendency for the ending to be either too neat or too rushed. The Ferryman's ending was neither of these and was rather bittersweet. Although things generally worked out, it is clear that things will not be easy from hereon. To say any more would be to stray into spoiler territory!
I loved The Passage trilogy and this definitely lived up to the hype for me. Can't wait for more from Justin Cronin.
Moderate: Child death
amhud1030's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Medical content, Police brutality, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident, Dementia, Alcohol, Confinement, Classism, and Infidelity
ppppaula's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Medical content
aileron's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Child death, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
Moderate: Death of parent and Infidelity
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident
jaygabler's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Child death and Violence