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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Surprisingly cerebral for a thriller!
It made me wonder about free will vs fare and how our views of it affect our lives. Very interesting read. Boring the first half or so, but aren’t most thrillers? The end was worth it.
It made me wonder about free will vs fare and how our views of it affect our lives. Very interesting read. Boring the first half or so, but aren’t most thrillers? The end was worth it.
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
That’s was… lame. That was so boring. There wasn’t any twists or turns. Everything was pretty damn predictable. Not a single thing I couldn’t see coming. The books actual structure was atrocious. It bounced around a tonne. It wasn’t an enjoyable read.
3.5 rounded up - just confused for a lot of the book. It was audio so maybe it was a me problem but I couldn’t follow along so great
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn't affected the content of my review.
This could have been so much better. I originally rounded down to two stars, but a good night's sleep gave me some perspective, so it's rounded up to three now. I've rated books I liked a lot less than this one three stars, but this one did that thing where it failed in very specific ways while still holding my interest and dangling potential in front of me, so it made me mad and I punished it. I have now rescinded my punishment and I'm just disappointed.
Not gonna bother with synopsis, just want to start on the thoughts, which are numerous and conflicted. The actual prose of this book was clear and interesting, and I never once lost interest when listening (the audio narrator's voice was fantastic as well). I also liked the story! (Well, I could have done without the paranormal elements, they just felt like a distraction.) The problem is twofold. First, nothing in this book was developed properly. This was an eight hour audiobook, only 336 pages in hard copy. For everything North wanted to do, that was not enough pages. None of the characters were fully developed, and neither were any of the plots fully realized. It felt very surface level and went incredibly fast, which meant that I never got really emotionally invested, and there was a lot of room to explore themes and character here.
The biggest problem, though, is that the way North structured the book was incredibly confusing. I am a good reader! I am very good at reading comprehension! I will not lie it is probably the thing I am best at because I do it the most of any thing that I do. I know how to read books, and I am rarely confused by a book that is not meaning to confuse me. But this book was confusing, and not in a way that the author meant it to be. There were too many POV characters, and the POVs jumped often and sudden between themselves. He also jumped time periods. At least fifteen times while listening to this book (probably more) I would be listening to the book and following along with what was happening and then the next thing I knew we were following some other character in some other time and place and I would have to rewind to figure out what was happening, and I had to do this multiple times. I also had to rewind during the two biggest reveals, because the way that they were revealed made no sense. One of the reveals only made sense twenty pages later when another character was thinking about it.
So: a good premise, a good writing style, made frustrating by a confusing structure and a lack of development. Not the worst thing I've ever read, but I'm not sure I'll be trying any other books from this author if this is what they're like.
[2.5 stars]
This could have been so much better. I originally rounded down to two stars, but a good night's sleep gave me some perspective, so it's rounded up to three now. I've rated books I liked a lot less than this one three stars, but this one did that thing where it failed in very specific ways while still holding my interest and dangling potential in front of me, so it made me mad and I punished it. I have now rescinded my punishment and I'm just disappointed.
Not gonna bother with synopsis, just want to start on the thoughts, which are numerous and conflicted. The actual prose of this book was clear and interesting, and I never once lost interest when listening (the audio narrator's voice was fantastic as well). I also liked the story! (Well, I could have done without the paranormal elements, they just felt like a distraction.) The problem is twofold. First, nothing in this book was developed properly. This was an eight hour audiobook, only 336 pages in hard copy. For everything North wanted to do, that was not enough pages. None of the characters were fully developed, and neither were any of the plots fully realized. It felt very surface level and went incredibly fast, which meant that I never got really emotionally invested, and there was a lot of room to explore themes and character here.
The biggest problem, though, is that the way North structured the book was incredibly confusing. I am a good reader! I am very good at reading comprehension! I will not lie it is probably the thing I am best at because I do it the most of any thing that I do. I know how to read books, and I am rarely confused by a book that is not meaning to confuse me. But this book was confusing, and not in a way that the author meant it to be. There were too many POV characters, and the POVs jumped often and sudden between themselves. He also jumped time periods. At least fifteen times while listening to this book (probably more) I would be listening to the book and following along with what was happening and then the next thing I knew we were following some other character in some other time and place and I would have to rewind to figure out what was happening, and I had to do this multiple times. I also had to rewind during the two biggest reveals, because the way that they were revealed made no sense. One of the reveals only made sense twenty pages later when another character was thinking about it.
So: a good premise, a good writing style, made frustrating by a confusing structure and a lack of development. Not the worst thing I've ever read, but I'm not sure I'll be trying any other books from this author if this is what they're like.
[2.5 stars]
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Totally forgot the writing style of Alex North books. Very scattered ideas of “how do all these things go together?” In the beginning, but by the halfway mark it’s a “OHHHHH I Get it!!” And I really enjoy that in a thriller!
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated