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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The cover said this is Donna Tartt-ish which is partly what drove me to it, but I found the characters lacked depth, this is more plot driven than character driven. There are also some plot holes, without revealing the story it's hard to say exactly but I found myself asking why did the author say X here if the author previously said Y?
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“All you needed to know was the right person for the world to open right up. You could take it all, as much as you wanted”
Darwent’s ‘The Things We Do to Our Friends’ is bordering on the edge of being a dark academia book and feels like it wants to be but just doesn’t quite do enough to make it such. It’s more just a thriller about a group of art history students studying at Edinburgh of whom’s lives revolve solely around one another, and therefore the studying and the city take a backseat. This was fine as the whole story itself was satisfactory and played with obsession, and it also played into the dark academia themes of the entire cast of characters being shitty people, but I feel an opportunity was missed to use the setting as a means to enhance the book. It’s so moody and gothic which works well with the plot but this wasn’t capitalised on at all, all I really note is a single chapter set in Greyfriars Kirkyard and the chapters are very short.
I mentioned the plot being interesting enough but I feel it weakened in the ending, not because of the final sequence of events themselves but rather that these events felt extremely predictable and that events cumulating in this way was inevitable. I also didn’t really get the grasp of what the groups business adjacent writing and editing was actually for despite it being referenced from time to time alongside their primary economic endeavours and Périgeux remained a bit of a mystery despite how often its teased though I think that was partly intentional.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was... dark and twisted, for sure. It absolutely did not go where I expected it to go and I don't know how much of that is that I don't generally read thrillers or just that it was fucked up in a way you weren't meant to see coming? So I can't really say anything else for risk of spoilers but as a debut novel? Yeah, this was memorable for sure, and I'm keeping an eye on this author for the future.
Oh and if you enjoy Edinburgh as a place, this will be fun for you, but maybe also dark too so fair warning.
Oh and if you enjoy Edinburgh as a place, this will be fun for you, but maybe also dark too so fair warning.
A very close “did not finish” but I kept pushing through with the hope that something in this story would make sense, and that moment never happened for me. This book was BORING, chaotic and slow.
I did like this book!
I was continuously debating in my head who the bad person was in this book. In the end I think everyone was horrible in their own way.
Clare is so incredibly weird, in an odd and emotionless way.
I was continuously debating in my head who the bad person was in this book. In the end I think everyone was horrible in their own way.
Clare is so incredibly weird, in an odd and emotionless way.
The whole thing was silly wasn't it?
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes