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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
While the author’s prose is beautiful, the story falls so flat. Nothing much interesting happens and the stakes never felt high, despite being literally life-or-death.
I also had the same problem with this book as with Lauren Groff’s other book, The Matrix (which I DNF’d for largely the same reasons). As in The Matrix, our protagonist is seemingly perfectly talented and capable of doing anything with zero struggle or explanation. Everything comes so easily and we never hear how the protagonist accomplished something, just that she did it. The suspension of disbelief came to be too much for me when the whole story is based on the protagonist’s struggle to survive, which ends up feeling like no struggle at all. And what struggles the protagonist does have become very repetitive, so that it’s not even interesting to read about her overcoming them.
I also had the same problem with this book as with Lauren Groff’s other book, The Matrix (which I DNF’d for largely the same reasons). As in The Matrix, our protagonist is seemingly perfectly talented and capable of doing anything with zero struggle or explanation. Everything comes so easily and we never hear how the protagonist accomplished something, just that she did it. The suspension of disbelief came to be too much for me when the whole story is based on the protagonist’s struggle to survive, which ends up feeling like no struggle at all. And what struggles the protagonist does have become very repetitive, so that it’s not even interesting to read about her overcoming them.
dark
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Gorgeously written as always with Lauren Groff, and I so enjoy and appreciate the way she puts her characters (human or not) into a bad state and then gratifyingly fixes it (the hot springs! the honey!). But I wanted an event, or at least something more than just a direction, and most of all I really would have liked an ending.