3.39 AVERAGE

emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
gloriaoliver's profile picture

gloriaoliver's review


It had an interesting premise, so that was good. My first hiccup was when the main character, after years of battling her adoptive parents, the system, other firemen, etc. as a black woman - the moment she becomes chief at her dream location, she makes a mistake. That part was understandable. What seemed to me 100% out of character was throwing all those years and all that effort away by quitting despite repeated attempts by everyone to get her to understand it happens. 

I decided to read on anyway. Then I hit the second - after joining in as a volunteer during a fire in the park of a famous sequoia, she is kidnapped by supernatural creatures helping nature. When they let her go, she stumbles back to where she had parked her car when she first came to help. A ranger she doesn't know stops her, tells her the park is closed, and asks what was she doing there. She said she'd been jogging. He lets her go... A woman who comes out of a fire-devastated area that took more than a day to put out is out jogging in it? Oh, come on! 

So while I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, that was enough for me. :(

mgk229's review

4.0
adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

The premise of this book was really cool which is why I wanted to read it, but I could not get into it. The entire thing was dreadfully unappealing and boring to me, I almost DNF this several times. There wasn’t much that I actually enjoyed about this unfortunately, it just didn’t resonate with me at all.

I wanted to love this, and at the beginning I really did! What a beautiful concept at its core. And I loved the poetry pieces sprinkled in. But for some reason the main them VS us VS other us fell flat for me - maybe because I was switching between audio narration and just reading and just never got into a good flow, I'm not sure. Same with Syrah's internal conflict - I get it, I understand it, but it just didnt feel fleshed out to me. I feel like there was so more to explore, but instead the same tiny bits were repeated again and again.

But I LOVE the concept of canopy keepers. I love the educational aspects here. I love the underground world and the commentary on human destruction. I love that it can open up important conversations. I might keep this one tucked away for a re-read, and I liked it enough to want to read the next in the series.

“What happens when nature will no longer stand by and accept its destruction?”

The premise of the book grabbed my attention. The idea of the book was absolutely wonderful , but the FMC fell flat. The second half of the book seemed rushed and thrown together with no real direction.

I still will probably read the second book because I liked what the story could have been.

sophiacha's review

2.0
adventurous informative mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
kat_333's profile picture

kat_333's review

5.0
inspiring medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

devrose's review


I’m not in the mood for a story that involves bullying right now.

Snore