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2.73 AVERAGE
2.73 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This had potential, but that ending…😬
2.5 out of 5 Stars
I won this book as a free giveaway through Goodreads, thank you!
This book describes itself as a gothic psychological thriller with a haunting twist. I'd say for half the first half of the book it somewhat delivers on that until you hit around the 100 pages to go in the book when you hit the twist and everything the book was building up goes off the rails.
Mavi is chosen to be a teacher at a school for daughters of the world elite that is reopening with a questionable history. Mavi is young, running away from a government that took her mother away. She is a compassionate character for the girls that she is caring for and for the most part I liked her. It is in her chapters that the majority of the psychological thriller parts take place. She seems to not be fully affected by it like the other students and teachers are. Digging through the mystery to try and solve whether it is the curse or something more simple of people trapped far away with the weather slowly closing in on them.
The unfortunate part is that there is another character, Angel, who we also get chapters from their point of view. Angel is one of the others and during their chapters we get insights into how the others are haunting the school. Any tension and suspense that gets built up during Mavi's chapters immediately disintegrates once we switch over to Angel. Not only that, Angel's chapters just don't work with whatever the book was trying to do. Mavi is in the 1970s while Angel is a modern character with modern pop culture references that bleed over into Mavi's chapters when the characters interact with each other. Everyone about this two point of view style just doesn't work for what the book wants to be.
Speaking of, what the book wants to be seems to be all over the place. The twist is laughably out of place with the rest of the book. It takes it from being a thriller with possible ghost stories and haunting to something that feels more like a Black Mirrors episode or wants to be another version of Westworld. Instead of being one or the other it tries to be both and fails to execute on both levels. Its a shame because there are quite a few good and interesting bits within this book.
I won this book as a free giveaway through Goodreads, thank you!
This book describes itself as a gothic psychological thriller with a haunting twist. I'd say for half the first half of the book it somewhat delivers on that until you hit around the 100 pages to go in the book when you hit the twist and everything the book was building up goes off the rails.
Mavi is chosen to be a teacher at a school for daughters of the world elite that is reopening with a questionable history. Mavi is young, running away from a government that took her mother away. She is a compassionate character for the girls that she is caring for and for the most part I liked her. It is in her chapters that the majority of the psychological thriller parts take place. She seems to not be fully affected by it like the other students and teachers are. Digging through the mystery to try and solve whether it is the curse or something more simple of people trapped far away with the weather slowly closing in on them.
The unfortunate part is that there is another character, Angel, who we also get chapters from their point of view. Angel is one of the others and during their chapters we get insights into how the others are haunting the school. Any tension and suspense that gets built up during Mavi's chapters immediately disintegrates once we switch over to Angel. Not only that, Angel's chapters just don't work with whatever the book was trying to do. Mavi is in the 1970s while Angel is a modern character with modern pop culture references that bleed over into Mavi's chapters when the characters interact with each other. Everyone about this two point of view style just doesn't work for what the book wants to be.
Speaking of, what the book wants to be seems to be all over the place. The twist is laughably out of place with the rest of the book. It takes it from being a thriller with possible ghost stories and haunting to something that feels more like a Black Mirrors episode or wants to be another version of Westworld. Instead of being one or the other it tries to be both and fails to execute on both levels. Its a shame because there are quite a few good and interesting bits within this book.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I absolutely loved this book. Mavi and Angel's Characters are so relatable. The duel POV between was done so well. All the twist and turns were paced out just right for me. The end floored me!
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I had to tell my husband about this book as I thought he would appreciate it, but I had to tell him that it made me mad. I’m usually pretty good at guessing plot twists, and maybe it would have been different if I was reading a copy instead of listening to the audiobook, but I didn’t for this book. Therein lies where I got mad. The promise this book made and the suspended disbelief that I went through because of how things were introduced felt like they got betrayed once the twist came to life. That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the book, however, or how it wrapped in the end. I will recommend it to others without spoilers, but they will know my conflicted feelings over it (and wanting to discuss how it made you feel).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes