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kstaff's review
1.0
How did this end up on my kindle? I'm assuming it was a free or nearly free title that came up sometime ago. Since I do enjoy historical fiction, I guess I read enough in the short description to take the plunge. Regardless of the reason, I didn't get to reading it for over a year. And once I started, it became a pure hate read for me. Hands down the worst book I've read in a year.
First, it's obvious this is part of a series. I don't like coming into a series in the midpoint, but a halfway decent author will at least provide enough exposition that you not only can follow along, but will be enticed to go back and read what you missed. Not the case here - waaaaaay too many characters, with undefined and difficult to follow relationships with each other. With so many characters, they were always going to be one dimensional, and impossible for a newcomer to ever become invested in.
Second, this is loose historical fiction at best. The language, the interactions, the behaviors, it could have been based at anytime. Show, don't tell about the era. Once we veer too far from 1929, let's throw in a random passage with MORE characters to let us know it was different then. Homopbobia! Thank goodness that one wrapped up early. Societal gender roles! Racism! A few words on these topics and we are back to the uninteresting "plot".
First, it's obvious this is part of a series. I don't like coming into a series in the midpoint, but a halfway decent author will at least provide enough exposition that you not only can follow along, but will be enticed to go back and read what you missed. Not the case here - waaaaaay too many characters, with undefined and difficult to follow relationships with each other. With so many characters, they were always going to be one dimensional, and impossible for a newcomer to ever become invested in.
Second, this is loose historical fiction at best. The language, the interactions, the behaviors, it could have been based at anytime. Show, don't tell about the era. Once we veer too far from 1929, let's throw in a random passage with MORE characters to let us know it was different then. Homopbobia! Thank goodness that one wrapped up early. Societal gender roles! Racism! A few words on these topics and we are back to the uninteresting "plot".
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