Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Þernan by Nita Prose

275 reviews

emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Excellent mystery...

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hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix

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sad tense medium-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

Read 50% and then skimmed the rest. 

The portrayal of neurodivergent-but-unlabeled Molly bothered me. It made me feel like I did back in middle school when one of the neurodivergent-but-unlabeled students in my class would think they were getting along with a group of people for a change, but it was clear to everyone else that he was being used for entertainment. Even if they weren't saying anything openly hurtful, it was still a gross thing to do. I can't say how accurate of a portrayal Molly is because maybe there is someone out there who experiences the mental inconsistency of being perceptive and astute one moment and completely gullible and naive the next, but the treatment of the character in her own narrative didn't sit right with me.

I have more complaints. The writing is aiming for a more simplistic and whimsical style that flattens all the characters and undercuts any attempts at emotional depth in the storytelling. There is nothing to latch onto with any sense of grounding. 

Also, in my opinion a central purpose of a mystery is that the reader should be able to see the clues and connect the dots as they read. Perhaps they are hard to find and there are red herrings, but you should be able to get to the reveal and feel that it is plausible with the information you have. This book
arguably breaks the promise of the genre in favor of having the POV character obscure relevant information from an otherwise very detailed internal monologue. I did figure it out before the reveal, but not for the right reasons, and I can see how a reader would feel their trust in the mystery had been betrayed. It would be like reading a romance novel where you spend 90% of the book with one couple and then at the end they break up and date other people who were mentioned briefly in a random early chapter. That's not satisfying and that doesn't really qualify as a romance.
 

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mysterious fast-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

I hate it! The idea is fun but the writing is awful. Everything feels like a giant stereotype. 

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emotional mysterious 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

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mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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mysterious relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Started off a little slow but once I got into it I was in! Well written and kept me guessing until the very end. The end was a little more anticlimactic than I normally like, but was true to the main character. 

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hopeful tense medium-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: Complicated

I love Molly! When we meet her, we see her neurodivergence and her vulnerability. Her world is narrow in many ways, and she works hard at doing everything the correct way. 
As a guest is murdered in the hotel she works at, fingers are pointed at Molly. Who is ally, and who isn't?
I really enjoyed the twists, and the fact that I didn't see the final one coming. 
I look forward to reading the next book in the series. 

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mysterious 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

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funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book was delightful. I loved Molly the Maid - both as an unreliable narrator and as an ND character. All the gold stars to the author for portraying Molly in a realistic and respectful way. 

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