Reviews

The Original by Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal

sehellys's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

An intriguing, if somewhat short mystery, set into a fictional future (I really enjoyed the idea of themes and what they hide and the realization of it at the forest theme park). Good action and an interesting mystery that keeps you reading (listening). The ending fell a bit flat for me though.

vishwesh's review against another edition

4.0

Surprisingly good for a short novel. Despite its concise story, Sanderson does an excellent job with world-building. The audiobook is narrated really well.

miguelito_juanito's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Slavery, Gun violence, and Body horror

leontyna's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

4.0

It was a really interesting world and I really enjoyed the way the audiobook was done, adding music was a great choice. I would love to see it adapted into a movie.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Death

thepalaceofchallis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

mightyjor's review against another edition

4.0

There’s some fun stuff here, but ironically not all that original. It seems to borrow heavily from Black Mirror, Upgrade, and Blade Runner. Wasn’t a huge fan of the ending. In concept I do like it, but I felt like we didn’t get a solid answer for the brutality of the murder. Maybe I missed something though.

sunsorbit's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

brokenjac's review against another edition

challenging mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

bookish_withsky's review against another edition

4.0

4.5
Genuinely one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. The story itself was interesting and really good but the audio added to it is what had me so invested. I absolutely loved the ending as well. The only thing I struggled with was some of the writing in certain points felt a little clunky. Certain things said by the main character felt oddly childish, but there could be an argument as to why that’s the case I guess. It just brought me out of the story a bit each time it happened. The story was still absolutely phenomenal, though.

ianacook's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Would've been 5 stars up until the ending, which just wasn't quite satisfying