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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Somewhere between 2 and 3 stars - a very easy read. Marred by inconsistencies and plot 'twists' that are just too 'convenient'.
http://www.anurseandabook.com/2016/04/fellside-by-mr-carey.html
I never did read The Girl With All the Gifts, even though I wanted to and everyone raved about it. So I was really excited to get an ARC of Fellside by M.R. Carey.
It was a really unusual story. Jess is a junkie, addicted to heroin and a bad boyfriend. She has a passing relationship with the little boy upstairs, she feels vaguely sorry for him, although he probably has more reason to feel sorry for her.
One day, Jess wakes up in the hospital, recovering from burns and not much memory of what has happened to her. As she pieces things together, she finds that she is going to trial for purposefully setting a fire in her apartment building, which ultimately led to the little boy dying.
Jess wants to pay for her sin, so refuses to defend herself, she just wants to die. She goes on a hunger strike and brings herself to the brink of death, but then has a visit from the little boy who she thinks she killed, and he wants her help to find the real killer.
The rest of the book is set in a women's prison (not my favorite setting) and many parts of it were reminiscent of "Orange is the New Black" without the funny bits. There are judgmental nurses, corrupt guards and inmates running drug rings. All of their lives overlap with each others, even when they don't want to be involved.
Towards the second half of the book, it almost read like a fever dream. The little boy evolves into something else, Jess continues to try to do the right thing, although her life is continually in danger.
It was an extremely different read, not my normal cup of tea, but it stays with you.
I never did read The Girl With All the Gifts, even though I wanted to and everyone raved about it. So I was really excited to get an ARC of Fellside by M.R. Carey.
It was a really unusual story. Jess is a junkie, addicted to heroin and a bad boyfriend. She has a passing relationship with the little boy upstairs, she feels vaguely sorry for him, although he probably has more reason to feel sorry for her.
One day, Jess wakes up in the hospital, recovering from burns and not much memory of what has happened to her. As she pieces things together, she finds that she is going to trial for purposefully setting a fire in her apartment building, which ultimately led to the little boy dying.
Jess wants to pay for her sin, so refuses to defend herself, she just wants to die. She goes on a hunger strike and brings herself to the brink of death, but then has a visit from the little boy who she thinks she killed, and he wants her help to find the real killer.
The rest of the book is set in a women's prison (not my favorite setting) and many parts of it were reminiscent of "Orange is the New Black" without the funny bits. There are judgmental nurses, corrupt guards and inmates running drug rings. All of their lives overlap with each others, even when they don't want to be involved.
Towards the second half of the book, it almost read like a fever dream. The little boy evolves into something else, Jess continues to try to do the right thing, although her life is continually in danger.
It was an extremely different read, not my normal cup of tea, but it stays with you.
I've never read a book set in a prison and this is like nothing I've ever read before. All the twists and turns of this story are so engrossing and I really enjoyed and appreciated the journey that M.R. Carey took the reader on.
It does start off rather slowly and it does take a meandering route to get to the final drama. But I do think that it does the story justice and works for what M.R. Carey was trying to do. The individual plot points wind together and overall it allows the reader to try and puzzle out what is going on as well.
It does start off rather slowly and it does take a meandering route to get to the final drama. But I do think that it does the story justice and works for what M.R. Carey was trying to do. The individual plot points wind together and overall it allows the reader to try and puzzle out what is going on as well.
Great writing and great narration. However, this had to lose a star for me because many of the characters made me tense in the wrong sorts of ways. The kinds of ways that don't get me excited, but rather make me stressed, worried, or unhappy. So while it was rather well out together, I just didn't enjoy this one as much.
OMG such a good book. Only reason it wasn’t a 5 is because it was longer than I would’ve preferred. But the twists and turns were awesome even if they were a bit predictable. The intricacies of each character were great and the added element outside of just being another women’s prison thriller was what helped this boo stand out. I really enjoyed this and would absolutely recommend especially to read during the month of October when it’s the spooky season 👻
2.5 stars.
This was an interesting premise, and I was really enjoying it for a while. But it just kept going on and on and on and I started getting bored, particularly since there was a lot going on but none of it was as interesting to me as the initial plotline. I also felt that for such a long book, I didn't really get to know any of the characters at any deeper level. My other big issue was that the author wrapped the book up with a chapter of "here's how everything worked out for everyone!" which doesn't always bother me, but often does, and I felt it was a particularly "meh" way to end this book since I really didn't care what happened to anybody besides Jess...
I think Carey is an interesting writer so I'll definitely read his next book, but I think this one could've used some serious editing.
This was an interesting premise, and I was really enjoying it for a while. But it just kept going on and on and on and I started getting bored, particularly since there was a lot going on but none of it was as interesting to me as the initial plotline. I also felt that for such a long book, I didn't really get to know any of the characters at any deeper level. My other big issue was that the author wrapped the book up with a chapter of "here's how everything worked out for everyone!" which doesn't always bother me, but often does, and I felt it was a particularly "meh" way to end this book since I really didn't care what happened to anybody besides Jess...
I think Carey is an interesting writer so I'll definitely read his next book, but I think this one could've used some serious editing.
After a bit of a slow start, Fellside was quite good. I was engaged with all of the narrative threads/POVs and found many of the characters, though not all, to be quite sympathetic. The ending was sad, but quite touching as well.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wonderfully well written intriguing supernatural thriller full of fascinating characters. Really dont think it should be categorized in the horror section at Indigo though. The horror in this tale is more the evil that we can do to each other and how our pain can turn us into monsters. I was a wee bit disappointed only because I was expecting something more creepy like The Girl with All the Gifts. This has nothing to do with the talent of the author, just my expectations of what this was going to be. I was just expecting something more creepy, and this is more of a Prison drama. Again, not a bad thing, just I was expecting something very different
Jess is a unreliable narrator and very damaged, but you find yourself intrigued by her and hoping she will make it. She's oh so very human and her development from someone to be pitied to, well I cannot go into more as that would ruin the story, is fabulous. The secondary characters are also fully developed, no one is a caricature or acts in ways that you see coming. The plot is interesting, with some wondrous moments of true uniqueness but I felt like it was trying to be too many things.
The pacing of the story is a little off, and the story drags a wee bit, but the writing is what keeps you interested. Though I didn't love this one, I will still pick up his next book.
Favorite Quotes
"Clearly there was no God, no justice, nobody at the switchboard. The universe was a badly written soap opera where every plot twist strained credibility just that little bit further.”
"Only our souls were made not out of wood and nails but out of the good or bad things we did."
3.5 Dewey's
I borrowed this one from a friend, and am in no way required to share my opinion
Jess is a unreliable narrator and very damaged, but you find yourself intrigued by her and hoping she will make it. She's oh so very human and her development from someone to be pitied to, well I cannot go into more as that would ruin the story, is fabulous. The secondary characters are also fully developed, no one is a caricature or acts in ways that you see coming. The plot is interesting, with some wondrous moments of true uniqueness but I felt like it was trying to be too many things.
The pacing of the story is a little off, and the story drags a wee bit, but the writing is what keeps you interested. Though I didn't love this one, I will still pick up his next book.
Favorite Quotes
"Clearly there was no God, no justice, nobody at the switchboard. The universe was a badly written soap opera where every plot twist strained credibility just that little bit further.”
"Only our souls were made not out of wood and nails but out of the good or bad things we did."
3.5 Dewey's
I borrowed this one from a friend, and am in no way required to share my opinion
I'm getting really tired of reading crappy books, this is the 4th one I've read in a row that's turned out to be so! I really hope the next one is a winner... now onto the review.
In short, this novel fell flat in most respects. Its merits included decent writing and description but beyond that I can't find much to compliment it.
The story itself was turgid, meandering and quite frankly; boring. You'd think a mash up of prison and the paranormal would be somewhat engaging but it's just not. It's like a really boring episode of Orange is the New Black where we get the backstory of some self-pitying sob-story inmate who can't come to terms with what they did to land them in prison and you just keep waiting for the story to go back to one of the interesting characters except it never does because apparently all the characters are flat and boring stock type characters you'll find in any prison narrative.
I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters. Jess was whiney, annoying and self-pitying, I didn't care that she might be innocent because there was virtually nothing interesting about her. I didn't care about Alex either because there were no details about him that made me want to care. When we finally get the big reveal and *spoiler alert* we find out that Alex isn't Alex, I again don't give a crap, it's like the most IDGAF moment. Oooh it's actually psycho Lizzie's girlf... zzzzzz
Some of the characters were just plain weird and unrealistic and felt like they were there just as plot devices- take weirdo self harming stalker lawyer...? Do I even need to to go into that? Just Ugh.
In short, this novel fell flat in most respects. Its merits included decent writing and description but beyond that I can't find much to compliment it.
The story itself was turgid, meandering and quite frankly; boring. You'd think a mash up of prison and the paranormal would be somewhat engaging but it's just not. It's like a really boring episode of Orange is the New Black where we get the backstory of some self-pitying sob-story inmate who can't come to terms with what they did to land them in prison and you just keep waiting for the story to go back to one of the interesting characters except it never does because apparently all the characters are flat and boring stock type characters you'll find in any prison narrative.
I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters. Jess was whiney, annoying and self-pitying, I didn't care that she might be innocent because there was virtually nothing interesting about her. I didn't care about Alex either because there were no details about him that made me want to care. When we finally get the big reveal and *spoiler alert* we find out that Alex isn't Alex, I again don't give a crap, it's like the most IDGAF moment. Oooh it's actually psycho Lizzie's girlf... zzzzzz
Some of the characters were just plain weird and unrealistic and felt like they were there just as plot devices- take weirdo self harming stalker lawyer...? Do I even need to to go into that? Just Ugh.