Reviews

The Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood

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frogggirl2's review against another edition

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

2.5

I picked up this book because I very much enjoyed the author's subsequent books. Unfortunately, this book reads very much like an author's first attempt. This svengali class examination is dull and reads like so many other British, interclass romance, college age stories. The first paragraph starts with a mass murder and even that doesn't make the book interesting. I never did care who was gonna end up dead.

pollyhayes's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Not a bad book but fundamentally boring

montagves's review against another edition

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3.0

I don't really know what to gather from this book other than I'm glad I'm not a wealthy Cambridge student with a loony brother.

charlottej's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

romaverse's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

etherealacademia's review against another edition

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2.0

the characters were pretty one-dimensional. I felt like it was a rushed rip-off of The Secret History.
There were definitely some major parallels.
Henry Winter wanted to experience a bacchanal --> got the idea from his studies
Eden Bellwether wanted to heal people with music--> got the idea from his studies
-BOTH rope their classmates/best friends into participating
-both end up killing people
However, Eden is such an underdeveloped character. The book had so much potential but nothing really happened until the end, and even then, it was lackluster.
there are so many more comparisons i could make to the secret history, but henry winter doesn't deservE to be associated with this book. There was such an air of faux-pretentiousness in the story, and I really got tired of following oscar's perspective. Iris Bellwether talked like a 40 year old woman from the 1920's, but this book is set in the early noughties and she is around 20 years old. I don't care if she's a cambridge student, no 20 year old constantly calls people sweetheart.
so cringe. Also, her boring ass behaviour didn't suit the personality she seemed to have when she was introduced.
There is poor continuity in this book, period. And a couple of spelling mistakes. yikes