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A review by wanderinglynn
The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young
slow-paced
1.5
Overall, disappointed.
Some of the issue is that the world building is minimal, if non-existent. And what little existed was well explained. Some of it is that the plot is predictable and really lacked any real purpose. The story lacked the tension needed in a fantasy to drive the story forward. Everything felt choppy, particularly when the story went back and forth not only between Tova and Halvard but between past and present of <i>both</i> POVs. And some of it was the pacing was off. The nearly two-thirds of the book, nothing really happens. I started skimming more and more because it was just boring.
I also never really connected to the characters—there was just something missing. I thought they lacked any realness and depth. There was no real emotion. Here's a girl who has spent a dozen years thinking her clan had thrown her out. Her "adopted" clan thinks she a pariah. And yet, I felt none of the anguish, none of the isolation, none of the grief she should have been feeling.
There are threads of an idea but it was poorly executed. It seemed the author was trying to explore the concept of fate” but it came across as a cheap plot device to make the ending work.
Unfortunately, this one just completely fell flat for me.
Some of the issue is that the world building is minimal, if non-existent. And what little existed was well explained. Some of it is that the plot is predictable and really lacked any real purpose. The story lacked the tension needed in a fantasy to drive the story forward. Everything felt choppy, particularly when the story went back and forth not only between Tova and Halvard but between past and present of <i>both</i> POVs. And some of it was the pacing was off. The nearly two-thirds of the book, nothing really happens. I started skimming more and more because it was just boring.
I also never really connected to the characters—there was just something missing. I thought they lacked any realness and depth. There was no real emotion. Here's a girl who has spent a dozen years thinking her clan had thrown her out. Her "adopted" clan thinks she a pariah. And yet, I felt none of the anguish, none of the isolation, none of the grief she should have been feeling.
There are threads of an idea but it was poorly executed. It seemed the author was trying to explore the concept of fate” but it came across as a cheap plot device to make the ending work.
Unfortunately, this one just completely fell flat for me.