Reviews

Forty Acres: A Thriller by Andre Blake, Dwayne Alexander Smith

bredison's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

shortstackz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.5

The plot carries the book. I found it to be a little clunky particularly in Martin's self assessment of different ongoings at the plantation. 

Usually when something falls below a 3* I DNF it, the premise and setting are interesting enough where I wanted to keep reading despite the flat characters. Honestly if there were more consistent POVs from Anna (or they had been longer) I probably would have rage quit, but women are there for the Martin's personal growth! Silly me.

It suffered from having very 1 dimensional characters. Almost camp like in how each one is a characature. This might have been more effective if we got little vignets into either Dr. kasim or Oscar's POV more frequently. There was only a handful of chapters into other people's heads, otherwise we are discovering it through Martin's perspective. 

In the mine it would have been really interesting to have Oscar's camera in the sky POV, and hear what the Dr is thinking behind the scenes. There are definitely a lot of places where it feels like the author was trying to be subtle and then have a dramatic reveal, at no point was I shocked by that reveal. He is not a subtle author and (based on his female characters) has never authentically interacted with women. They are almost all set dressing, there is no conversation which passes the bechdel test. Some of the wives are literally described as "perfect and beautiful" while only existing to their husbands for sex and then vanishing and their independent hobbies is unimportant. Damon flipping sides felt more like it was there for plot convenience and a way to keep Martin alive than actually realizing that he was not doing something wrong. It happened so suddenly and he went from trying to save his own skin to oh let me die trying to save people despite knowing all the precautions of forty acres and emergency plans.

jaimee_thompson's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

heyysimone's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

njlohrman's review against another edition

5.0

Loved it! I couldn't read it fast enough. The premise of the book is not the same as every other thriller on the shelf. The controversy over race issues is what made the book such a compelling read. The author does a fabulous job of making me care about and relate to the protagonist. Definitely a recommended read!

thestarkening's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 -- Verbose and a bit of a slog. But a great idea. Really slow at times but I was invested in the characters. I enjoyed it though.


As an afterthought for the ending --
I do not believe those were vitamins.

md11's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

books4bee's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

This is a story that did not need to be written. 

_kayrae's review against another edition

Going to have to come back to this one. 

writingbookscoffee's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.25

This was a wild ride and I think everyone should read this book! Parts were hard to read but the short chapters definitely helped. I will be checking out more of his work.