Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Just One Damned Thing After Another

Don't normally add reviews, but I haven't seen any trigger warnings about this book but it really needs them, as these things come out of nowhere and were completely unexpected. So, trigger warnings of sexual assault, miscarriage, and sex that is supposedly enjoyable but all the description of it could convince you otherwise.

This book has a really cool concept and was at times kind of fun to read, which is why I managed to finish it, but oh boy was it poorly executed. Such a disappointment as it could have been incredible.

Content Warnings

asinglebird's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

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mdpenguin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I had pretty much expected this to be a bit of a knockoff of Connie Willis' Oxford Time Travel series. It does have a couple of the more clever conceits from it, but Taylor definitely deserves credit for making it into its own thing. That said, a lot about it fell flat for me.

The overall story was good and there was some good adventure, but the characters were so poorly drawn and the in-story pacing wasn't clear. I'm not entirely sure how long of a period of time is covered in this book: the writing makes it feel like a year but certain lines in it suggest four or five or more. The characters, similarly, weren't clear. They'd get described as having such and such personality traits and then we'd never really see it. Mostly they were all pretty flat and sometimes they just didn't seem coherent. Sadly, that includes the protagonist and her love interest: the romance wasn't at all believable to me and even if it was, I just couldn't care because the characters were just plot devices. I'd shrug and say that it was just more plot-driven than I normally like but we're put in positions where we really are supposed to care about the characters and I just never felt it.

Overall, it's better than fair in as far as it's an entertaining novel playing with some entertaining ideas. If it didn't strive to be any more than that and maybe ended a little earlier in the story or let people be friends instead of lovers then I'd probably have a higher regard for it.

Content Warnings

sapphicsoilscientist's review against another edition

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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? Yes

2.75

It was okay. I came across it to find something similar to Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. The idea is similar, but the execution is very different. It was difficult to keep all the characters straight (I still don't know if the MC is actually called Lucy?) I found the constant failure rather boring, and the interesting back characters were not given as much screen time as the somewhat boring (but snarky) MC. The baddies were very predictable, which was a little bit of a shame and the ending didn't make a great deal of sense. Dinosaurs were lovely. Do heed content warnings.

Content Warnings

cj13's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.5

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