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3.12 AVERAGE
3.12 AVERAGE
For some reason I just didn’t get into this book. Parts of it were hard to follow, yet at the same time it weirdly felt slow until the final third of the book.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A nice surprise
This book works best if you know as little as possible about the story as possible. I saw a brief mention of it in a magazine and read the jacket description and that was all. There are some nice twists that you won't see coming, a few you will and events hinted at throughout the story that pay off at just the right time.
This book works best if you know as little as possible about the story as possible. I saw a brief mention of it in a magazine and read the jacket description and that was all. There are some nice twists that you won't see coming, a few you will and events hinted at throughout the story that pay off at just the right time.
A Lord of The Flies adjacent tale about a group of college students playing a seemingly harmless game. Dark, gripping, and thoroughly enjoyable.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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:
Complicated
I may get crucified for saying this, but I enjoyed this far more than I did The Secret History. That being said, it’s far from perfect and I have my qualms with it. I agree with most of the other reviewers that many intriguing plot points were left unexplored. Game Soc was so interesting, and they expanded on this minimally, for like a few pages at the end. I find that I don’t really grasp why the characters were that afraid of game soc/ playing a follow up game. And if they had reason to be truly afraid, why did Chad give up so easily, after waiting for 14 years? I also wish we saw more of the game playing and consequences overall. There were only brief mentions of the structure of the game, something with cards and dice, but I don’t understand how they were using “strategy” as the author discussed multiple times (playing a hand poorly, etc.). I think Game Soc and the game overall were the most interesting selling points of the book, but were disappointingly brushed over.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicide, Murder
Moderate: Stalking
(Read this review and more at Pretty Bookmarks!)
Disclaimer: I received a review copy c/o the publisher via Netgalley
Black Chalk had such great potential with its interesting premise but it lacked development to capture my attention.
Black Chalk takes place in the 90s where a group of friends at Harvard University decide to create a psychological game which is later backed by the Game Soc. The idea of this game is fairly simple: each player has to complete a series of embarrassing dares and forfeits. The final winner will win £10,00. Interesting? Yes. Well developed? Well... Almost.
I had many issues with Black Chalk, namely:
1. Characters
2. Pacing
3. Lack of development
4. Ending
I didn't quite get the characters. There were six main characters though none were particularly interesting. It was an odd group of six: Emilia, who I can't imagine would be friends with any of the five in reality, Jolyon who strikes me as unnecessarily complicated, Mark who I can't even describe because he's not that memorable or interesting, Jack who is kind of a dick, Chad who is just Chad and Dee who comes off rather confusing (for the lack of a better explanation).
The book is told in alternating timelines, the present and the past. Our narrator is unreliable and is later revealed as one of the six in the group. It was interesting at the start, but soon made the pacing a little jumpy. The present would start appearing whenever the past was getting good and it felt this whole alternating timeline was getting tiring. It didn't help that it took almost halfway through the book before it got interesting again. The inconsistent pacing of the book really bothered me.
One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the Game and more importantly the mysterious Game Soc. There was a lot that could have been done with this, the idea of a secret society, but it wasn't explored more and was glossed over. It felt underdeveloped and I didn't really know where this was going.
Finally, the ending. It ended too easily and too quickly that I got kind of pissed off. For this all to end like this feels like a cop out. It was confusing that I had to read it twice. The whole book felt like an overhype.
Black Chalk wasn't all bad; it did have its moments. Mark's revenge was fairly interesting and of course Game Soc (albeit underdeveloped) itself.
I struggled to read this book and I wanted to put it down several times. I'm glad I persevered enough to read the interesting bits, though I can't say I was fully impressed. It's readable; it is slow but still readable. However, I can't say that this is a book I'd recommend right off the bat.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy c/o the publisher via Netgalley
Black Chalk had such great potential with its interesting premise but it lacked development to capture my attention.
Black Chalk takes place in the 90s where a group of friends at Harvard University decide to create a psychological game which is later backed by the Game Soc. The idea of this game is fairly simple: each player has to complete a series of embarrassing dares and forfeits. The final winner will win £10,00. Interesting? Yes. Well developed? Well... Almost.
I had many issues with Black Chalk, namely:
1. Characters
2. Pacing
3. Lack of development
4. Ending
I didn't quite get the characters. There were six main characters though none were particularly interesting. It was an odd group of six: Emilia, who I can't imagine would be friends with any of the five in reality, Jolyon who strikes me as unnecessarily complicated, Mark who I can't even describe because he's not that memorable or interesting, Jack who is kind of a dick, Chad who is just Chad and Dee who comes off rather confusing (for the lack of a better explanation).
The book is told in alternating timelines, the present and the past. Our narrator is unreliable and is later revealed as one of the six in the group. It was interesting at the start, but soon made the pacing a little jumpy. The present would start appearing whenever the past was getting good and it felt this whole alternating timeline was getting tiring. It didn't help that it took almost halfway through the book before it got interesting again. The inconsistent pacing of the book really bothered me.
One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the Game and more importantly the mysterious Game Soc. There was a lot that could have been done with this, the idea of a secret society, but it wasn't explored more and was glossed over. It felt underdeveloped and I didn't really know where this was going.
Finally, the ending. It ended too easily and too quickly that I got kind of pissed off. For this all to end like this feels like a cop out. It was confusing that I had to read it twice. The whole book felt like an overhype.
Black Chalk wasn't all bad; it did have its moments. Mark's revenge was fairly interesting and of course Game Soc (albeit underdeveloped) itself.
I struggled to read this book and I wanted to put it down several times. I'm glad I persevered enough to read the interesting bits, though I can't say I was fully impressed. It's readable; it is slow but still readable. However, I can't say that this is a book I'd recommend right off the bat.
Ugh took me so long to get through this. And now I’m one book behind schedule.
Super interesting premise too, but like another review said, it lacked world building.
Yates glosses over so much about the game and the consequences. And I know that the narrator is essentially documenting the story, but it’s not an excuse for lazy writing. There was too much telling and not enough showing. I wanted to watch the games and the consequences, and you never get to actually watch the game, and you get details for like 20% of the consequences. At one point I felt like I literally read a paragraph that was like, “And then they made up rules for the game and then they played it and then they did their consequences” (with next to no detail).
I wouldn’t call it a thriller. Takes 250 pages for anything to start getting interesting. I called the twist early so it wasn’t surprising. Pacing felt slow.
Left so much unsaid about Game Soc, just alluded to them being connected to something bigger, but didn’t give us enough stakes or information to care.
Also the game felt so stupid? Like just quit if you don’t want to do something? Why did the final two need a weird 14 year pause? During which they could just decide to stop? Again, without high enough stakes from Game Soc, why am I supposed to be worried for them in this last round of the game?
Oh and surprise, they of course don’t show them playing. And the final consequence just feels silly. Without sharing exactly what the Game Soc consequences are if you leave the game, it just feels so arbitrary. Like you made it up, just stop.
Save yourself time and read something else. Clearly the people with quotes on the back of the book read a different story than me..
Super interesting premise too, but like another review said, it lacked world building.
Yates glosses over so much about the game and the consequences. And I know that the narrator is essentially documenting the story, but it’s not an excuse for lazy writing. There was too much telling and not enough showing. I wanted to watch the games and the consequences, and you never get to actually watch the game, and you get details for like 20% of the consequences. At one point I felt like I literally read a paragraph that was like, “And then they made up rules for the game and then they played it and then they did their consequences” (with next to no detail).
I wouldn’t call it a thriller. Takes 250 pages for anything to start getting interesting. I called the twist early so it wasn’t surprising. Pacing felt slow.
Left so much unsaid about Game Soc, just alluded to them being connected to something bigger, but didn’t give us enough stakes or information to care.
Also the game felt so stupid? Like just quit if you don’t want to do something? Why did the final two need a weird 14 year pause? During which they could just decide to stop? Again, without high enough stakes from Game Soc, why am I supposed to be worried for them in this last round of the game?
Oh and surprise, they of course don’t show them playing. And the final consequence just feels silly. Without sharing exactly what the Game Soc consequences are if you leave the game, it just feels so arbitrary. Like you made it up, just stop.
Save yourself time and read something else. Clearly the people with quotes on the back of the book read a different story than me..
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes