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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I'm not sure why I keep reading pandemic novels. This one involves a cancer-causing disease that targets males and we follow a mother and son as they try to escape a government control and a sister with crime connections. It's a pretty wild story and mostly keeps moving, though it did start to feel a little long.
Thrilling and bizarrely close to home - “You can’t imagine how much the world can change in six months. You just can’t.” Lauren Beukes is incredible at world-building and she created three very distinct, engaging voices for Cole, Miles, and Billie. I was SO engrossed throughout the section with The Church of All Sorrows. I was left wanting a bit - maybe more emotion, more on the trauma. Maybe I just want more Lauren Beukes. I think that must be it.
Who knew a book about the apocalypse would ever hit so close to home? It was eerie reading this with everything going on in the world right now, it was just a little too close for comfort. I definitely wasn’t expecting to be so creeped out by this! It was a bit of a slow go at first and I was finding myself wishing it would just got on with it and that’s part of the reason why I had to dock a star. Once it did get going though I couldn’t get enough of it and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to find out how it would end. The end wasn’t really the bang I was hoping for but I didn’t totally hate it, I just wanted more from it. Beukes is quickly becoming a favourite author of mine, she has a really gritty, dark and totally original writing style that I really enjoy!
DNF @ 22% Couldn’t bare to read any more of this, no character development or plot. So dull and the writing is so bad it’s almost cringeworthy.
I really enjoyed the conceit of Beukes' novel, a virus that kills most men. Some are immune and they are in a lot of danger. I struggled with Beukes' writing of a teenager. It felt too forced and meme filled.
3.5 stars rounded down
3.5 stars rounded down