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adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War
Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Violence, Death of parent
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
I'm really torn on what to rate this book. On the one hand, the premise is incredible, and many of the flashback chapters shine. The start of this book is quite strong, and the writing is good, poignant even which is tricky with books like this - deeply preoccupied with romantic love, they can often get quite caught up in their own poignancy and get pretentious and unbearable. However... as the book continued, the quotable bits felt less and less real and true, and more and more like parts of the book the author was writing to be quoted. Ooooo look how clever and deep and real this book is about love and grief! Except it rang increasingly hollow.
Not only that, but our characters reincarnate over and over again, living their lives from birth to 17. About half of this book takes place in the year 2022, with Evelyn, the viewpoint protagonist, being 17 about to turn 18. Her younger sister has extremely serious cancer and she's about to donate stem cells in an attempt to save her sister, but the usual deadline for her eternal lover/enemy to show up and kill her is looming. Throughout the modern sections of this book, Evelyn, a character younger than me by five years, who would have grown up even that much more of a digital native, constantly reflects ideas about the modern world and modern technology that don't match either a modern teenager OR in my opinion, someone who has actually lived through the past. At one point the author uses one of the worst similes I've read in a while to talk about modernization, which was especially jarring because despite making me want to roll my eyes at points, the actual quality of the prose was good! I found it completely defied belief that Evelyn, who has lived through a millennia of a mostly not-modern world would complain about smartphones and neon lighting and brush past the miracle of modern medicine in a single sentence when modern medicine is the plot point the entire modern half of the story revolves around? Without it, her sister would have been long dead, and she wouldn't have a remote chance of actually being involved in saving her. I've spent a lot of words on this, but this part was so jarring and struck me as deeply ahistorical, and the author projecting her/our attitudes about modern life onto a character who has actually lived through times before now that we look back on with some strange nostalgia. Sure, they didn't have smartphones; they also didn't have any cures for cancer.
And the ending... truly whatever. I enjoyed the epilogue, but the way the climax of the plot goes is so cliche I didn't even read it, I fully skimmed through those two chapters basically yawning. I thought perhaps we might go somewhere interesting after Arden finally revealed information but no.No, despite Evelyn being a devil, what makes her special and beautiful is her empathy and then they kill the embodiment of human suffering with the power of looooovvvee heart emoji heart emoji heart emoji. Kill me.
At the end of the day, if you aren't a jaded aroace low empathy autistic person who's tired of stories this deeply up their ass about romantic love and the power of empathy to make even monsters human, you might enjoy this book. I just want to roll my eyes out of my skull.
Not only that, but our characters reincarnate over and over again, living their lives from birth to 17. About half of this book takes place in the year 2022, with Evelyn, the viewpoint protagonist, being 17 about to turn 18. Her younger sister has extremely serious cancer and she's about to donate stem cells in an attempt to save her sister, but the usual deadline for her eternal lover/enemy to show up and kill her is looming. Throughout the modern sections of this book, Evelyn, a character younger than me by five years, who would have grown up even that much more of a digital native, constantly reflects ideas about the modern world and modern technology that don't match either a modern teenager OR in my opinion, someone who has actually lived through the past. At one point the author uses one of the worst similes I've read in a while to talk about modernization, which was especially jarring because despite making me want to roll my eyes at points, the actual quality of the prose was good! I found it completely defied belief that Evelyn, who has lived through a millennia of a mostly not-modern world would complain about smartphones and neon lighting and brush past the miracle of modern medicine in a single sentence when modern medicine is the plot point the entire modern half of the story revolves around? Without it, her sister would have been long dead, and she wouldn't have a remote chance of actually being involved in saving her. I've spent a lot of words on this, but this part was so jarring and struck me as deeply ahistorical, and the author projecting her/our attitudes about modern life onto a character who has actually lived through times before now that we look back on with some strange nostalgia. Sure, they didn't have smartphones; they also didn't have any cures for cancer.
And the ending... truly whatever. I enjoyed the epilogue, but the way the climax of the plot goes is so cliche I didn't even read it, I fully skimmed through those two chapters basically yawning. I thought perhaps we might go somewhere interesting after Arden finally revealed information but no.
At the end of the day, if you aren't a jaded aroace low empathy autistic person who's tired of stories this deeply up their ass about romantic love and the power of empathy to make even monsters human, you might enjoy this book. I just want to roll my eyes out of my skull.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content
Moderate: Suicide, Torture
There is a whole chapter set in an extremely abusive 1800s asylum, it talks in pretty graphic detail about therapies of the time, confinement, and generally is a brutal read.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I would have liked a little more depth to the two main characters relationship. It often felt repetitive at times without much clarity on the direction the book was going. That is, until closer to the end when the climax was reached. I wish I had felt more emotion from the characters in the way of the writing instead of being told their emotions through the author themselves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, War
Minor: Torture, Suicide attempt
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed the book. It was very fast paced and there was a build up with every chapter. I think the writing was so good and made you truly feel a connection of sorts with death.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Confinement, Torture, War
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-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:
Yes
I enjoyed this story but I don’t think I’ll go back to reread it. First of all this book was much slower than I expected. I loved reading everything in the first half but by the time I got to the second half I was only really invested in the current storyline. The past settings were hard for my brain to wrap around as I kept having to look up time and area specific terms and the supporting characters didn’t feel as fleshed out. However!!! Evelyn and Arden’s love story is one for ages and I thought that in addition to writing of the story, the poetry was fitting and beautiful. I also loved the ending!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Medical content, Murder, War
Minor: Car accident
mysterious
slow-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
✨I should've DNF'd this✨
I did not enjoy this and I was relieved to finally be done with it. This may end up being a harsh review, so apologies in advance. While I could appreciate the prose within this book, the story just fell so incredibly short to me. The mystery revolving around Arden murdering Evelyn before turning 18 very quickly lost its shine and soon became a strong annoyance. This book was repetitive and it felt shallow to me. With how often this story jumped between lives and time periods, I found it extremely difficult to feel any sort of connection to these characters. Not to mention, I stopped caring about when, where, or who we were with each jump. It was challenging to keep my mind from wandering while working through this story.
This reminded me of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and I honestly didn't care much for that story either yet it was a lot better than this one. The romance did absolutely nothing for me. I think the inability to develop a connection to these characters played a huge part in that sentiment. The minute I felt like I was getting comfortable with where the story was headed, we were thrown into another life and time period and all of that progress went back to 0. This turned into a massive slog for me.
When the motivations behind Arden's murders were finally revealed, I found myself unable to care. I just wanted to be done reading.
Beautiful writing, but the structure and characters really did not work for me at all. I heard such great things about this book and desperately wanted to give it a chance but I should've saved myself the trouble.
Here's to hoping that my next read is leagues more enjoyable than this one.
Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7366091847
Fable Review: https://fable.co/review/7dd18eb6-ee01-4f98-a1bd-ac9d0c716f72/share
I did not enjoy this and I was relieved to finally be done with it. This may end up being a harsh review, so apologies in advance. While I could appreciate the prose within this book, the story just fell so incredibly short to me. The mystery revolving around Arden murdering Evelyn before turning 18 very quickly lost its shine and soon became a strong annoyance. This book was repetitive and it felt shallow to me. With how often this story jumped between lives and time periods, I found it extremely difficult to feel any sort of connection to these characters. Not to mention, I stopped caring about when, where, or who we were with each jump. It was challenging to keep my mind from wandering while working through this story.
This reminded me of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and I honestly didn't care much for that story either yet it was a lot better than this one. The romance did absolutely nothing for me. I think the inability to develop a connection to these characters played a huge part in that sentiment. The minute I felt like I was getting comfortable with where the story was headed, we were thrown into another life and time period and all of that progress went back to 0. This turned into a massive slog for me.
When the motivations behind Arden's murders were finally revealed, I found myself unable to care. I just wanted to be done reading.
Beautiful writing, but the structure and characters really did not work for me at all. I heard such great things about this book and desperately wanted to give it a chance but I should've saved myself the trouble.
Here's to hoping that my next read is leagues more enjoyable than this one.
Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7366091847
Fable Review: https://fable.co/review/7dd18eb6-ee01-4f98-a1bd-ac9d0c716f72/share
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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
Je pense que c’est honnêtement un des meilleurs livres que j’ai jamais lu et une des plus belles histoires d’amour écrites.
J’ai à peine les mots pour décrire ce livre car tout était parfait du début à la fin, en 350 pages ce livre m’a complètement retourné.
Ce livre est concentré sur une timeline en particulier : 2022 en Écosse mais tout au long de l’histoire il y a des flashbacks de leurs vies antérieures, qui nous transportent à travers le temps et les époques. L’autrice a su me faire voyager dans une dizaine de pays, que ce soit en Sibérie, au Peru, en Chine, au Vietnam, aux États-Unis, en France mais aussi à travers toutes les époques et civilisations. Les protagonistes ont vécues milles vies, ils ont étés pauvres, riches, dans la famille royales, soldats, voleurs, pirates, expéditeurs et j’en passe. Les chapitres ont beaux êtres courts j’ai vraiment été transporté et j’ai l’impression d’avoir vécues ces choses avec eux.
Dans leurs différents vies ils ont étés hommes et femmes, parfois deux hommes, parfois deux femmes, parfois un homme et une femme, leur amour a travers n’importe quels genres. J’ai beaucoup aimé cette aspect là car ce sont bien plus que deux corps genrés : ce sont deux âmes qui se retrouvent à chaque fois.
La plume de l’autrice est magnifique, j’ai plusieurs fois été bouleversée par des citations car il y a des réflexions sur la vie, la mort, le deuil, l’amour, le bien, le mal et l’existence.
« life gives us grief like mounds of wet clay,
ripe and heavy beneath our reluctant hands,
and with it we can do one of three things.
we can carry it with us wherever we go,
stooped beneath its awful weight,
we can shove it back of a wardrobe,
buried beneath an old waxed coat,
or we can make something beautiful,
and let it live on beyond us »
Leur histoire amour est absolument magnifique, malgré tout les obstacles ils finissent toujours par se retrouver. J’ai à peine les mots pour décrire la beauté de leur amour, si beau et pur.
Je pense que la meilleure manière de décrire Evelyn c’est par cette citation :
« The Evelyn I know… they love over and and over and over again, even thought it can only ever end in tragedy. Even though they’ve lost everyone they’ve ever loved, and they miss them in the next life, and the next, and the next. Never have they developed hard edges, like I have. Never have they tried to protect themselves from that pain. They love softly, and fiercely, and openly, and it’s the bravest thing I know. The most human thing I know. »
Evelyn aime entièrement dans chacune de ses vies, même si elle sait que ses proches vont finir par mourir et qu’elle aussi va finir par mourir, elle n’a pas peur du deuil alors qu’Arden s’est construit une carapace au fil des siècles, pour se protéger contre toute cette souffrance, existence après existence et j’aime beaucoup ces deux aspects de ces personnages.
« My heart feels like an open wound. I don’t understand how everyone just… walks around with the knowledge that everyone they love will soon be dead. I look at my sister, my mum, and it’s all I can see. Inevitable loss »
Comment parler de la fin ? De ce plot twist qui m’a retourné le cerveau ? De cette décision impossible ? De la tristesse que j’ai ressentie même si elle est mêlé a beaucoup d’espoirs…
« Then again, I had always found a way to live with the grief of the loves I had lost - to carry them inside me like candles that never blew out, until the slow tide of time eventually extinguished the memories »
Tout dans ce livre était absolument incroyable, c’est le parfait cocktail : un one shot relativement court, des chapitres concis, une histoire d’amour belle et tragique, des personnages attachants et torturés, un univers qui nous fait voyager, des plot twists, une touche de fantasy et une fin qui accroche aux tripes.
J’ai à peine les mots pour décrire ce livre car tout était parfait du début à la fin, en 350 pages ce livre m’a complètement retourné.
Ce livre est concentré sur une timeline en particulier : 2022 en Écosse mais tout au long de l’histoire il y a des flashbacks de leurs vies antérieures, qui nous transportent à travers le temps et les époques. L’autrice a su me faire voyager dans une dizaine de pays, que ce soit en Sibérie, au Peru, en Chine, au Vietnam, aux États-Unis, en France mais aussi à travers toutes les époques et civilisations. Les protagonistes ont vécues milles vies, ils ont étés pauvres, riches, dans la famille royales, soldats, voleurs, pirates, expéditeurs et j’en passe. Les chapitres ont beaux êtres courts j’ai vraiment été transporté et j’ai l’impression d’avoir vécues ces choses avec eux.
Dans leurs différents vies ils ont étés hommes et femmes, parfois deux hommes, parfois deux femmes, parfois un homme et une femme, leur amour a travers n’importe quels genres. J’ai beaucoup aimé cette aspect là car ce sont bien plus que deux corps genrés : ce sont deux âmes qui se retrouvent à chaque fois.
La plume de l’autrice est magnifique, j’ai plusieurs fois été bouleversée par des citations car il y a des réflexions sur la vie, la mort, le deuil, l’amour, le bien, le mal et l’existence.
« life gives us grief like mounds of wet clay,
ripe and heavy beneath our reluctant hands,
and with it we can do one of three things.
we can carry it with us wherever we go,
stooped beneath its awful weight,
we can shove it back of a wardrobe,
buried beneath an old waxed coat,
or we can make something beautiful,
and let it live on beyond us »
Leur histoire amour est absolument magnifique, malgré tout les obstacles ils finissent toujours par se retrouver. J’ai à peine les mots pour décrire la beauté de leur amour, si beau et pur.
Je pense que la meilleure manière de décrire Evelyn c’est par cette citation :
« The Evelyn I know… they love over and and over and over again, even thought it can only ever end in tragedy. Even though they’ve lost everyone they’ve ever loved, and they miss them in the next life, and the next, and the next. Never have they developed hard edges, like I have. Never have they tried to protect themselves from that pain. They love softly, and fiercely, and openly, and it’s the bravest thing I know. The most human thing I know. »
Evelyn aime entièrement dans chacune de ses vies, même si elle sait que ses proches vont finir par mourir et qu’elle aussi va finir par mourir, elle n’a pas peur du deuil alors qu’Arden s’est construit une carapace au fil des siècles, pour se protéger contre toute cette souffrance, existence après existence et j’aime beaucoup ces deux aspects de ces personnages.
« My heart feels like an open wound. I don’t understand how everyone just… walks around with the knowledge that everyone they love will soon be dead. I look at my sister, my mum, and it’s all I can see. Inevitable loss »
Comment parler de la fin ? De ce plot twist qui m’a retourné le cerveau ? De cette décision impossible ? De la tristesse que j’ai ressentie même si elle est mêlé a beaucoup d’espoirs…
« Then again, I had always found a way to live with the grief of the loves I had lost - to carry them inside me like candles that never blew out, until the slow tide of time eventually extinguished the memories »
Tout dans ce livre était absolument incroyable, c’est le parfait cocktail : un one shot relativement court, des chapitres concis, une histoire d’amour belle et tragique, des personnages attachants et torturés, un univers qui nous fait voyager, des plot twists, une touche de fantasy et une fin qui accroche aux tripes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Car accident
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-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:
No
Stunning language, imagery, and inventive plotting
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, War
Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Death of parent