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A review by stephxsu
The Season by Sarah MacLean
2.0
On one level, Alex’s world seems great: the glamour, the scintillating company, the witty banter between siblings and friends. But that’s just it; all of these things only occur on one level. I couldn’t help but feel like the characters were merely putting on a role, saying lines dictated to them without really meaning it.
With so many characters packed into this book, it was hard for me to keep track of who is who, what their personalities were like. I was constantly mixing up Alex’s brothers, Nick, Will, and Kit, because they are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Similarly, I disliked how Vivi and Ella were shallowly portrayed mostly as Alex’s “ladies-in-waiting,” always just reacting to Alex’s crises and never, seemingly, having desires or even opinions of their own. I would’ve loved to see all the secondary characters change more through the book. THE SEASON centers around Alex and Gavin’s relationship, yes, but for a book that depends so much on the characters’ interactions with one another, shouldn’t equal care be put into developing the others’ personalities as well?
Another thing that led to me being unable to get into this book was the pacing. For some reason, I had thought that the mystery behind the earl’s death, and the impending danger on Gavin and Alex, would have been given more time and explanation.However, the murder mystery ended up feeling like one great big plot device. Nothing remarkable happens until more than halfway into the book, which is where the relationship between Gavin and Alex intensified, and things started to pick up with the murder mystery. But if it takes a book half its length to get the ball rolling, I’m not sure if I’d be willing to stick it out until then. Unless it gets really, really good at the end. Which it doesn’t. It’s sad if I feel like I don’t need to read most of the book in order to understand what’s going on.
While it lacked the substance for my taste, I will still read Sarah MacLean’s future works, because I do believe she has the talent to create three-dimensional characters that we’ll end up liking and caring about.
With so many characters packed into this book, it was hard for me to keep track of who is who, what their personalities were like. I was constantly mixing up Alex’s brothers, Nick, Will, and Kit, because they are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Similarly, I disliked how Vivi and Ella were shallowly portrayed mostly as Alex’s “ladies-in-waiting,” always just reacting to Alex’s crises and never, seemingly, having desires or even opinions of their own. I would’ve loved to see all the secondary characters change more through the book. THE SEASON centers around Alex and Gavin’s relationship, yes, but for a book that depends so much on the characters’ interactions with one another, shouldn’t equal care be put into developing the others’ personalities as well?
Another thing that led to me being unable to get into this book was the pacing. For some reason, I had thought that the mystery behind the earl’s death, and the impending danger on Gavin and Alex, would have been given more time and explanation.However, the murder mystery ended up feeling like one great big plot device. Nothing remarkable happens until more than halfway into the book, which is where the relationship between Gavin and Alex intensified, and things started to pick up with the murder mystery. But if it takes a book half its length to get the ball rolling, I’m not sure if I’d be willing to stick it out until then. Unless it gets really, really good at the end. Which it doesn’t. It’s sad if I feel like I don’t need to read most of the book in order to understand what’s going on.
While it lacked the substance for my taste, I will still read Sarah MacLean’s future works, because I do believe she has the talent to create three-dimensional characters that we’ll end up liking and caring about.