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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I'm rounding up from 3.5. I haven't been able to get into Beukes before this, maybe I'll try her other work again. At any rate, I agree with other reviewers that the main character, Bridget, doesn't have much depth. In fact, her one thing, the obsession with reaching her mother, is both annoying in its persistence and puzzling in that it doesn't seem to be based on anything, i.e., they don't have much relationship to build on.
Dom is a great character but listening to this as audio, I feel like the "they" pronoun is gramatically annoying. It's almost unavoidable, with this much dialogue and Dom as a major character, that there would be parts where the "they" being referred to was unclear.
The audio rendition of the black South African scientist was cringeworthy. Otherwise I liked it as an audio experience.
Dom is a great character but listening to this as audio, I feel like the "they" pronoun is gramatically annoying. It's almost unavoidable, with this much dialogue and Dom as a major character, that there would be parts where the "they" being referred to was unclear.
The audio rendition of the black South African scientist was cringeworthy. Otherwise I liked it as an audio experience.
interesting concept, but execution did not work for me at all. characters felt flat and generic, the writing felt artificially youthful, the plot and POVs all felt very crowded, so crowded it was tough to distinguish meaningful movement anywhere. had to will myself through the last half and kinda wish i hadn’t bothered.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It took me so long to get through this book, and I am single-handedly blaming it for my reading slump this month. I couldn’t get invested in the story until halfway through when it almost does an entire genre switch and becomes more of a thriller than of a rambling melodramatic, sci-fi adventure with idiotic protagonist ingesting ‘worms’ to find her mother across realities. This truly was almost a one star for me, but I actually do quite like the character turns and the culmination of some late action set pieces. But everything up until the last third of the novel is so boring, and you’re just waiting for these different POVs and pieces of knowledge to finally intersect so that something interesting happens. I just couldn’t bring myself to care very much about the dreamworm. I guess I did enjoy the representation in this book, but can we please stop writing cringy dialogue such as “no way in frozen hell!” or having narrators that cannot speak a lick of Spanish speak for a heavily bilingual character?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Terminal illness, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Stalking, War
I had a good feeling I was going to like this, but it exceeded my expectations. Favorite book from this author so far.
[4.5 stars]
[4.5 stars]
mysterious
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:
Yes
Lauren Bruce’s creates a vivid, compelling and intriguing world in Bridge. After Bridge’s mom Jo dies from brain cancer, she discovers the dreamworm while cleaning out her mom’s home. Her memories of traveling to new realities with her mom Jo resurface, memories she has corrected as magical thinking through years of therapy. Now, it looks like her mom might not have been as crazy as she thought, and it seems there’s something Jo wanted Bridge to discover.
I loved the high concept premise of multiple realities, and was very intrigued by how everything would be connected. For me, by the end, I felt like I didn’t really know much emotionally about Bridge, didn’t really feel the stakes of her relationship with her mom, and felt like the ending was rushed and incomplete.
This one is hard for me because I loved many parts of it, but it just didn’t all come together for me in a satisfying way.
I loved the high concept premise of multiple realities, and was very intrigued by how everything would be connected. For me, by the end, I felt like I didn’t really know much emotionally about Bridge, didn’t really feel the stakes of her relationship with her mom, and felt like the ending was rushed and incomplete.
This one is hard for me because I loved many parts of it, but it just didn’t all come together for me in a satisfying way.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
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:
Yes