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orlaelan's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
3.5
sarah_in_scotland's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-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
3.5
gicuzziol's review against another edition
2.0
Atualizando a review em Agosto/2021: fazia tempo que eu não via um grupo de personagens mais tosco que esse. Especialmente a Biba. Céus, não achei que eu fosse sobreviver. Duas estrelas pela “reviravolta” óbvia no final.
lumbermouth's review against another edition
2.0
Wanted desperately to be The Likeness. Was not The Likeness. Fortunately it didn't take very long to read.
cosg777's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
emilyyjjean's review against another edition
4.0
This book was okay...
I say this because it only got me totally hooked until about 3/4 of the way through. The beginning was okay, but riddled with details that I thought were sometimes unnecessary. The questions were always there of who was killed and who had done the killing, so the book had me hooked and I knew I had to finish it; it just took me way longer to read it than what I originally thought.
Another aspect of the book that made it harder to read was the fact that it switched between present and past so much and sometimes without warning. At first I thought I had got the system down (past one chapter, present the next), but I was clearly wrong about that because the book switched between past and present in the same chapter and between paragraphs without any indication or break. Sometimes I would start reading with the mindset of it being in one time period and then some clue later on would allow me to realize that I had been thinking the wrong time frame, so it would force me to kind of skim back through what I had read to properly read it.
This story though...I was not able to predict everything in the ending, and that's why I gave the book 4 stars instead of 3. There were two twists that I kind of predicted in my notes, but I wasn't 100% certain when I wrote them down. The rest it totally blew my mind. That ending and last chapter!
If you don't mind trudging through the first part, but want to be completely surprised at the ending I would definitely recommend this book.
I say this because it only got me totally hooked until about 3/4 of the way through. The beginning was okay, but riddled with details that I thought were sometimes unnecessary. The questions were always there of who was killed and who had done the killing, so the book had me hooked and I knew I had to finish it; it just took me way longer to read it than what I originally thought.
Another aspect of the book that made it harder to read was the fact that it switched between present and past so much and sometimes without warning. At first I thought I had got the system down (past one chapter, present the next), but I was clearly wrong about that because the book switched between past and present in the same chapter and between paragraphs without any indication or break. Sometimes I would start reading with the mindset of it being in one time period and then some clue later on would allow me to realize that I had been thinking the wrong time frame, so it would force me to kind of skim back through what I had read to properly read it.
This story though...I was not able to predict everything in the ending, and that's why I gave the book 4 stars instead of 3. There were two twists that I kind of predicted in my notes, but I wasn't 100% certain when I wrote them down. The rest it totally blew my mind. That ending and last chapter!
If you don't mind trudging through the first part, but want to be completely surprised at the ending I would definitely recommend this book.
secre's review against another edition
2.0
I struggled to engage with this on a multitude of levels and so whilst I finished it, it was very much out of a sense of duty rather than enjoyment. The best past of the novel in fact is the last five percent and it was only really in those last pages that I really engaged with the novel.
There are any number of reasons for this; firstly, it's slow, really really slow. The plot seems to take forever to inch it's way forward, despite not being a huge book on length. Secondly, the flicks between present and past when neither story is particularly interesting except in small blasts of the story make this dragging out actively painful. This would have been better told as a consecutive tale rather than the pointless faffing, which is I suppose intended to raise tension but instead serves as an exercise in tedium.
Thirdly, the characters are annoying and it is difficult to empathise with virtually any of them. Biba only cares about herself, Rex is rather weak and wimpy, Karen is supposedly smart and yet utterly falls for these two wasters head over heels and makes a series of seriously poor decisions impacting her future. The rest of the characters are virtual non entities. The only real empathy I felt was for our protagonists father at one very heartfelt moment... but that's a single moment with a secondary character in an entire book.
All in all, it's a shame because the writing shows promise, but this just didn't live up to expectations.
There are any number of reasons for this; firstly, it's slow, really really slow. The plot seems to take forever to inch it's way forward, despite not being a huge book on length. Secondly, the flicks between present and past when neither story is particularly interesting except in small blasts of the story make this dragging out actively painful. This would have been better told as a consecutive tale rather than the pointless faffing, which is I suppose intended to raise tension but instead serves as an exercise in tedium.
Thirdly, the characters are annoying and it is difficult to empathise with virtually any of them. Biba only cares about herself, Rex is rather weak and wimpy, Karen is supposedly smart and yet utterly falls for these two wasters head over heels and makes a series of seriously poor decisions impacting her future. The rest of the characters are virtual non entities. The only real empathy I felt was for our protagonists father at one very heartfelt moment... but that's a single moment with a secondary character in an entire book.
All in all, it's a shame because the writing shows promise, but this just didn't live up to expectations.
prof_shoff's review against another edition
3.0
While well written, the characters were so exceptionally unlikeable, I found it difficult to care about the story.
paulineerika's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. Hard to really care about any of the characters and the plot was uneven.
emmasamm's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
Minor: Rape