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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
I wanted to give Tana French a second chance. Her books get a lot of buzz and a lot of the authors that I like - seem to like her books. But I couldn't do it. This story held NO interest for me, and to make it worse, it seemed to go on forever. I'm not sure if this is a bad one for her, or if this is what all of her writing is like, but the characters were stale, the story was boring and I had to force myself to finish it. Because it's part of a detective series, maybe you have to know the main characters more to give a shit - maybe they doing something meaningful in another book but if you're just looking for something to pick up, I would definitely skip this one.
SO GOOD. A full review will be coming later, once I can get my hands on the Kindle version to highlight & re-read a few sections again for review purposes, but ahh, so good. If you can, get the audio version as the accents really bring you into the story in a way just the text would not.
4.5 stars, I think this was my favorite of her's so far.
I've tried to read these slowly but that plan was a flop, and I've devoured all 5 in a few months.
Hope she's hard at work on #6!!!
I've tried to read these slowly but that plan was a flop, and I've devoured all 5 in a few months.
Hope she's hard at work on #6!!!
Spoiler alert: if you’re looking for a happy ending, this...ain’t...it.
It wasn’t disappointing but it emotionally made me sad.
It wasn’t disappointing but it emotionally made me sad.
3.5* but after writing my review, I'm thinking of pushing it up to 4.
As is the usual pattern in this series, French reprises one of the characters from a previous book to become the narrator, while also bringing back other characters (who were sometimes narrators themselves) to play other roles. This is a great device that draws the books together without ever allowing them to become repetitive or formulaic.
I did not enjoy this book as much as I've enjoyed the others, but that's not to say this is of a lower standard - it's not. French's writing is as sharp as ever, she holds together a detailed narrative, and her characters are as complex and believable as ever. I think what didn't quite click with me on this one is that it has something of the vibe of the "young adult" genre (a tag that makes me hesitant to put any book on my to-read list).
That said, this is a long way from the things I often complain about regarding YA novels (shallow writing, the stereotyped characters, the meaningless storylines). However I found the teenage angst and bitchiness distracting, and sometimes, especially in the early chapters, I found it difficult to distinguish the various teenage girls and which group of friends they belonged to. But maybe that was deliberate? Maybe that's how teenagers are often seen by adults? - as "all the same" until they do something specific to make them stand out as individuals? Certainly my feelings on the "supernatural" aspect - not the supposed sightings of the ghost, which I found completely credible (old buildings, teenagers, first - for most of them - close-up experience of death) but the girls being able to do things like shatter lightbulbs by the power of concentration - my feelings on this were changed when I read French's comment: "I think one of the core things about adolescence is that reality is fluid - it's defined more by the world shared between you and your closest friends than by the outside world." Suddenly this made more sense to me, I was reminded that we are always being shown events from inside the characters' reality, and that these particular characters are, in more complex ways than most, unreliable narrators.
I think one of French's strengths is that there is so much below-the-surface commentary in her books - I haven't yet re-read any of the series (because there are more in the series, so I have to read those first, of course!) but I do think they'll bear re-reading.
As is the usual pattern in this series, French reprises one of the characters from a previous book to become the narrator, while also bringing back other characters (who were sometimes narrators themselves) to play other roles. This is a great device that draws the books together without ever allowing them to become repetitive or formulaic.
I did not enjoy this book as much as I've enjoyed the others, but that's not to say this is of a lower standard - it's not. French's writing is as sharp as ever, she holds together a detailed narrative, and her characters are as complex and believable as ever. I think what didn't quite click with me on this one is that it has something of the vibe of the "young adult" genre (a tag that makes me hesitant to put any book on my to-read list).
That said, this is a long way from the things I often complain about regarding YA novels (shallow writing, the stereotyped characters, the meaningless storylines). However I found the teenage angst and bitchiness distracting, and sometimes, especially in the early chapters, I found it difficult to distinguish the various teenage girls and which group of friends they belonged to. But maybe that was deliberate? Maybe that's how teenagers are often seen by adults? - as "all the same" until they do something specific to make them stand out as individuals? Certainly my feelings on the "supernatural" aspect - not the supposed sightings of the ghost, which I found completely credible (old buildings, teenagers, first - for most of them - close-up experience of death) but the girls being able to do things like shatter lightbulbs by the power of concentration - my feelings on this were changed when I read French's comment: "I think one of the core things about adolescence is that reality is fluid - it's defined more by the world shared between you and your closest friends than by the outside world." Suddenly this made more sense to me, I was reminded that we are always being shown events from inside the characters' reality, and that these particular characters are, in more complex ways than most, unreliable narrators.
I think one of French's strengths is that there is so much below-the-surface commentary in her books - I haven't yet re-read any of the series (because there are more in the series, so I have to read those first, of course!) but I do think they'll bear re-reading.
This book was odd. Odd like someone threw Mean Girls, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Faithful place in a blender, drank the resulting mess, and puked it out onto a paperback. I'm not saying it was all bad, but MAGIC? Why?
Anyway, the premise of the book is, a student was murdered in a prestigious snooty school and a year later, someone announces that they know what happened. This brings the Murder Squad (This time featuring Stephen Moran) onto the scene to save the day. This, and how they go about solving the murder, is the good bit.
The not so good bit is the full dive into the world of snotty teens that we take. I don't know how necessary the deep dive was. The utterly weird bit was the witchcraft with the lights and the electricity. If the story was simply about the murder and who did it (which was way obvious around mid-book), this would gave been a hundred pages lighter and an easier, more satisfying read.
The only thing that salvages this is the return of Frank Mackey. Honestly the fifty pages with him in it are almost the best thing about the book
Anyway, the premise of the book is, a student was murdered in a prestigious snooty school and a year later, someone announces that they know what happened. This brings the Murder Squad (This time featuring Stephen Moran) onto the scene to save the day. This, and how they go about solving the murder, is the good bit.
The not so good bit is the full dive into the world of snotty teens that we take. I don't know how necessary the deep dive was. The utterly weird bit was the witchcraft with the lights and the electricity. If the story was simply about the murder and who did it (which was way obvious around mid-book), this would gave been a hundred pages lighter and an easier, more satisfying read.
The only thing that salvages this is the return of Frank Mackey. Honestly the fifty pages with him in it are almost the best thing about the book
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
I might have liked this one best of the series. I know some people had issues with the whole magic thing, but I didn't. Old building. See what you want to see. Believe your magical together. I can get behind that.
After having read two of this series’ installments, I’m going to say that French definitely knows how to write well - like, her actual prose style, which is readable and occasionally clever. But her plotting veers on the idiotic side. This one is worse, because it’s not very engaging or memorable, and builds to a pointless climax. Here the Creative Writing 101 structure weakens the whole book. For something like alternating between two main time frames/(set of/) POVs, each half of the narrative should feel equally worth reading.
But the incredibly generically asshatty team of detectives in the present day seem to show French’s refusal to create more than a handful of actual characters, such that I wanted them to not solve the case. The Likeness focused very closely on a tight-knit group of...five people, I think? So she could at least try to make each of them seem like an actual person (with varying levels of success). But, omg, here there are 2 girl quartets, and boy potential love interests, and Holly’s dad returning from his own stint as a protagonist. No room to give personalities to the detectives too. And I must say that even the way they quickly zoom in on the two girl quartets feels contrivedly convenient to make the suspect pool (for two different things) shallower.
I probably would have preferred, like, most of the book being stuff leading up to the crime and occasional interludes about the investigation a year later. Because the latter mostly bores in a repetitive fashion.
Oh, also there’s some a bit of randomly inserted supernatural nonsense just because French feels like it.
But the incredibly generically asshatty team of detectives in the present day seem to show French’s refusal to create more than a handful of actual characters, such that I wanted them to not solve the case. The Likeness focused very closely on a tight-knit group of...five people, I think? So she could at least try to make each of them seem like an actual person (with varying levels of success). But, omg, here there are 2 girl quartets, and boy potential love interests, and Holly’s dad returning from his own stint as a protagonist. No room to give personalities to the detectives too. And I must say that even the way they quickly zoom in on the two girl quartets feels contrivedly convenient to make the suspect pool (for two different things) shallower.
I probably would have preferred, like, most of the book being stuff leading up to the crime and occasional interludes about the investigation a year later. Because the latter mostly bores in a repetitive fashion.
Oh, also there’s some a bit of randomly inserted supernatural nonsense just because French feels like it.
I love Tana French books! Another solid one, with a few distracting extraordinary elements (that prove unnecessary to the plot and out of step with the series - it’s odd that she included them) and another cast of fascinating, distinct characters.
This series can be read in any order, but I’d recommend tackling this one *after* reading Faithful Place.
This series can be read in any order, but I’d recommend tackling this one *after* reading Faithful Place.