Reviews with content warning for Blood - The One

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The One by John Marrs

72 reviews

sandysmith's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A brilliant unique concept, where a scientist discovers a gene in your DNA, where you can be matched to your prefect partner, the one you are genetically made for, so a perfect person for you. It's a dystopia read with psychological thriller thrown in. As a result it's really hard to say a specific genre. Told from 5 different points of view, Christopher, Ellie, Nick, Mandy, and Jade, with short, engaging chapters, each one leaving a cliff hanger. I was hooked, and the book was so hard to put down. Twisty and unpredictable. I love books that make you think, and this will stay with me. I have a book hangover. Overall, it was a dark, interesting, compelling ride of a book. The author is fast becoming one of my favourites. Excellent stuff.

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sarjmorg's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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juniper_b_jones's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

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nikkijeanreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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thelilbulldozer's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

The ending made it for me

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enmcurrie's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Confused as to why this book has such positive reviews .. it isn’t totally awful - the concept is so interesting, hence why I wanted to read it in the first place, and it felt very Black Mirror which is one of my favourite shows ever. The idea of a scientific ‘soulmate’ is so curious to me and it makes you consider what you would do in such a world.

However, personally I hated the fact that it’s made up of incredibly short chapters and like 5 different POVs. It just felt clunky and distracting and when something interesting happened at the end of one chapter it was slightly frustrating to have to wait for 4 more POVs before you got back to it. I think the author is over-reliant on using short and mysterious one liner cliff hangers at the end of each chapter to get you to continue reading it. Additionally, this book is riddled with cliches. Like sooooooo many. I appreciate a good twist here and there but it just felt comical and unbelievable at a point to be honest.

If I could sum it up I would say it’s one of the silliest and yet most addictive books I’ve read. It was definitely a page-turner but I genuinely wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone other than people that struggle to enjoy reading/are in a slump. The whole thing just felt slightly cringey. While it is a more ‘dystopian’ book, I think it’s important to keep it at least somewhat realistic at times, rather than just throwing a bunch of twists in there for the sake of it.

I think the concept and the tension was absolutely fantastic - the execution was just disappointing.

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