Scan barcode
megily's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
firefox's review against another edition
3.0
(Gifted ARC)
I really didn't understand the plot until like 58% into the book.
I really didn't understand the plot until like 58% into the book.
xavierdebecker's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
I picked this up at a bookstore in Australia on a whim, as the cover seemed pretty and the description on the back sounded interesting. As I mostly read books I have heard at least some people's opinions about, it is refreshing to let a tale unfold without the slightest idea what it is about, or what people think of it.
Now, the book itself is quite good, although it could have been a bit longer to fully delve into all the phylosophical questions it raises. For context, this book is set in a world where each body is inhabitated by two people. Each day-person just carries out their daily activities as normal, but when night falls, they go to sleep and their night-brother or night-sister wakes up in their body. There are a lot of interesting questions raised about how that would impact the relationship between two people who share a body without ever interacting, not to mention the complications of relationships, children, travel for work etc. A really interesting read for people who like to read 5 pages and then think for fifteen minutes about the implications.
Now, the book itself is quite good, although it could have been a bit longer to fully delve into all the phylosophical questions it raises. For context, this book is set in a world where each body is inhabitated by two people. Each day-person just carries out their daily activities as normal, but when night falls, they go to sleep and their night-brother or night-sister wakes up in their body. There are a lot of interesting questions raised about how that would impact the relationship between two people who share a body without ever interacting, not to mention the complications of relationships, children, travel for work etc. A really interesting read for people who like to read 5 pages and then think for fifteen minutes about the implications.
ellasbookishwonderland's review
3.0
3.5*
I received a free ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The world of Equinox, in which two people share the same body, one during the day and one at night, is super fascinating. I really enjoyed following witch hunter Christophor and his day-brother Alexsander as they try to solve the mystery and find the witch, and I think their relationship and their disagreements added an interesting, unique aspect to the story, especially since every other character also is two different people in the same body. Aside from this, there is also more magic to this world (hence the witch hunter profession), that ended up being more dark and horror-fairytale-esque than I expected, but I ended up having a really fun time reading it.
As for the plot, I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of it, especially with the witches and demons and war as an added bonus. The plot started out a bit shallow, in my opinion, I was afraid it was going to be too easy to figure out the mystery, but it was not, and towards the end I was very stressed and very concerned for everyone's well being. I did find it to be a bit inconsistent at times, for example in how a whole bunch of people died from some sort of plague that was over after like a week (post covid I feel like that's not how it works), and how someone dies and the very next day he's buried, complete with a headstone (shouldn't those be taking ages to make, especially in this preindustrial world?). Things are being glanced over, and it made the story feel lacking in depth. I think that even though the concept is very interesting, the book as a whole didn't reach its full potential.
Another minor issue I had was that the writing was confusing at times. I would have liked more information, first of all, I felt like I was lacking information I could have had, and there were too many things I was supposed to figure out on my own. Like the opposite of info dumps, if that makes any sense. Also, the language was sometimes weirdly poetic, and I found it difficult to tell whether certain sentences were meant to be literal or metaphorical. Could just be me being stupid, but I also can't remember ever having that issue before. Overall, these things didn't affect my enjoyment of the book too much, though.
I had a lot of fun reading Equinox, and although I didn't think it went all the way for me personally, I can imagine fans of horror fantasy or dark fairytales would really enjoy this!
I received a free ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The world of Equinox, in which two people share the same body, one during the day and one at night, is super fascinating. I really enjoyed following witch hunter Christophor and his day-brother Alexsander as they try to solve the mystery and find the witch, and I think their relationship and their disagreements added an interesting, unique aspect to the story, especially since every other character also is two different people in the same body. Aside from this, there is also more magic to this world (hence the witch hunter profession), that ended up being more dark and horror-fairytale-esque than I expected, but I ended up having a really fun time reading it.
As for the plot, I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of it, especially with the witches and demons and war as an added bonus. The plot started out a bit shallow, in my opinion, I was afraid it was going to be too easy to figure out the mystery, but it was not, and towards the end I was very stressed and very concerned for everyone's well being. I did find it to be a bit inconsistent at times, for example in how a whole bunch of people died from some sort of plague that was over after like a week (post covid I feel like that's not how it works), and how someone dies and the very next day he's buried, complete with a headstone (shouldn't those be taking ages to make, especially in this preindustrial world?). Things are being glanced over, and it made the story feel lacking in depth. I think that even though the concept is very interesting, the book as a whole didn't reach its full potential.
Another minor issue I had was that the writing was confusing at times. I would have liked more information, first of all, I felt like I was lacking information I could have had, and there were too many things I was supposed to figure out on my own. Like the opposite of info dumps, if that makes any sense. Also, the language was sometimes weirdly poetic, and I found it difficult to tell whether certain sentences were meant to be literal or metaphorical. Could just be me being stupid, but I also can't remember ever having that issue before. Overall, these things didn't affect my enjoyment of the book too much, though.
I had a lot of fun reading Equinox, and although I didn't think it went all the way for me personally, I can imagine fans of horror fantasy or dark fairytales would really enjoy this!
readingcrow's review against another edition
2.0
This was a really interesting book, but also very confusing. It's starts very slow even though it's not hard to read. But somewhere around the middle it's starts to pick up and then it just ends. Many things I'm still very confused about and even though I do wish to know more I thought some parts where so insignificant it could have been shorter.
mmacey1's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
palemon's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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? No
4.0
The writing is quite different from what I’m used to, so it took a bit of time to be able to read it smoothly.
I really liked the settings, the idea of dual characters - I’ve never really read anything with that kind of worldI wish the author explained it more in details like what’s up with the night/day children?? but at the same time I like how there’s still a bit of mystery that remains
I also really liked how we switched point of views in the middle of the story - it was quite unexpected. I could’ve guessed it but I guess I’m not that smart
The description of the world itself lacked a bit of definition but I didn’t mind it being overlooked because I was there for the investigation and not a politics thing :)
The mystery/investigation was well done and I was always wondering what was going to happen next. The ending was getting more and more obvious by the end, but I think that was intentional to better define the characters.Although, the ending scenes were a bit chaotic, I did not mind it - it felt adequate in order to represent the criminal.
I really liked the settings, the idea of dual characters - I’ve never really read anything with that kind of world
The description of the world itself lacked a bit of definition but I didn’t mind it being overlooked because I was there for the investigation and not a politics thing :)
The mystery/investigation was well done and I was always wondering what was going to happen next. The ending was getting more and more obvious by the end, but I think that was intentional to better define the characters.
tabithaecw's review against another edition
3.0
3/5
Trigger Warnings:
Gore
Graphic Descriptions of violence (including against children)
Ritual Violence
Review:
This fantasy novel pays homage to Jekyll and Hyde in a very interesting conceptual hook. In the kingdom of Reikova, people have a day version and a night version of themselves. Two entirely different minds and souls share one body. The novel opens with our protagonist, night-brother Christophor, who is sent by the King to the small town of Drekenford after it is revealed a ritual of witchcraft is being performed. Christophor's day-brother, the musician Aleksander, dislikes his night-brother's occupation but proves to be a very valuable asset in the end.
I loved the concept, a twist on Jekyll and Hyde had me hooked. But I must say that I thought the second half of the novel was far stronger than the first, this could be due to personal taste as the first half is narrated by Christophor, and the second half by Aleksander. I found Aleksander's narration to be more intriguing, but also the action in the latter half of the novel had a great rhythm to it. The first half was a push to get through, I was continually intrigued by the events of witchcraft, but I found Christophor's character rather tedious.
Towsey masterfully shows you both Christophor's version of Aleksander's events and vice versa, these unreliable narrators add another layer of intrigue to the mystery that encouraged me to continue on. I thought the descriptions and lore in the second half of the novel were very beautiful, and I really enjoyed Christophor's interactions with Victor and Julia, two young children who perform plenty of 'experiments' that help uncover the culprit of these crimes. The fantastical nature of the magic was also wonderful, especially the letter scene which I could picture so clearly in my head.
Unfortunately, I found the first half chose style over substance, which made it difficult to press through. Overall, I thought the world-building was strong but the plot was lacking depth, as the concluding pages of the novel provided me with an unsatisfying conclusion.
For anyone who is interested in a Jekyll and Hyde/V.E. Schwab cross-over, I would recommend this book. You will love the dark magic and secondary/tertiary characters, who really sprung off the page to me.
(A huge thank you to NetGalley, Head of Zeus, and Ad Astra for the eARC)
Trigger Warnings:
Gore
Graphic Descriptions of violence (including against children)
Ritual Violence
Review:
This fantasy novel pays homage to Jekyll and Hyde in a very interesting conceptual hook. In the kingdom of Reikova, people have a day version and a night version of themselves. Two entirely different minds and souls share one body. The novel opens with our protagonist, night-brother Christophor, who is sent by the King to the small town of Drekenford after it is revealed a ritual of witchcraft is being performed. Christophor's day-brother, the musician Aleksander, dislikes his night-brother's occupation but proves to be a very valuable asset in the end.
I loved the concept, a twist on Jekyll and Hyde had me hooked. But I must say that I thought the second half of the novel was far stronger than the first, this could be due to personal taste as the first half is narrated by Christophor, and the second half by Aleksander. I found Aleksander's narration to be more intriguing, but also the action in the latter half of the novel had a great rhythm to it. The first half was a push to get through, I was continually intrigued by the events of witchcraft, but I found Christophor's character rather tedious.
Towsey masterfully shows you both Christophor's version of Aleksander's events and vice versa, these unreliable narrators add another layer of intrigue to the mystery that encouraged me to continue on. I thought the descriptions and lore in the second half of the novel were very beautiful, and I really enjoyed Christophor's interactions with Victor and Julia, two young children who perform plenty of 'experiments' that help uncover the culprit of these crimes. The fantastical nature of the magic was also wonderful, especially the letter scene which I could picture so clearly in my head.
Unfortunately, I found the first half chose style over substance, which made it difficult to press through. Overall, I thought the world-building was strong but the plot was lacking depth, as the concluding pages of the novel provided me with an unsatisfying conclusion.
For anyone who is interested in a Jekyll and Hyde/V.E. Schwab cross-over, I would recommend this book. You will love the dark magic and secondary/tertiary characters, who really sprung off the page to me.
(A huge thank you to NetGalley, Head of Zeus, and Ad Astra for the eARC)
glorfindel13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0