Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The first half, honestly speaking, really dragged for me personally. Very classic Olivie Blake writing style, but it just cause the pacing to be unnecessarily long. However, once it is revealed who the narrator was, that was when the plot started to pick up pace and my interest. I really liked that the side characters, outside of the Wrens, were given some type of characterization and depth that made them stand out within this plot of character exploration.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow! What a rollercoaster of emotions. It's like a fever dream but a long one. I love it, but I also hate it? I don't know; I like the language she used in the book. I've never read a book that is filled with vocabularies I've never heard of before. It's refreshing.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There are three pov's, Meredith, Authur, and Eilidh. It's told in third-person. The narrative voice, which is unknown, stays consistent across the chapters. It's more a literary presence than a person providing commentary and critique from a higher level. The writing was witty, sharp, and a clever narration. The characters were morally grey and unlikeable. the narration and tone were snarky and metafictional. The pacing was a slow build-up with not a lot of magical elements during the plot. The siblings were dysfunctional. The commentary between the characters took up more spaced than needed.
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"Every year on his birthday she wandered around for the day, bereft, like she was missing an organ- like he'd physically stolen one of her lungs."
"That he had come into my life when I was too weak to love him."
This book had a lot going on and a lot going for it. The characters were complex and had complicated relationships, the siblings all have minor magic but it isn't really focused on as much as I would have liked.
The writing style was clever but I think some of the story could have been sectioned down or this could have been a series but overall, a pretty enjoyable read about sibling chaos and dynamics and a bit of nepotism.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes