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stucifer_ 's review for:
Into This River I Drown
by TJ Klune
I got about halfway through and gave up. Sorry, TJ Klune, I am trying so hard to enjoy your earlier writing, because Cerulean Sea is such magic, but... it's a struggle for me.
In fairness, this novel has a few elements against me enjoying it from jump. This is in first person narration, which is not my favorite. It's about a fallen guardian angel, and (from the just-shy of half I read) relies on broadly Christian ideas of God, Heaven, etc., for worldbuilding, which is not something I enjoy either. It's another early twenties protagonist stuck in his small PNW hometown after a family tragedy leaves him with outsized responsibility, although here (as opposed to Bear,Otter, and the Kid) the protag wants to be there. But where that universe was farcical and entertaining, this one is brooding and sulky, which is a drag. Benji, the MC, is understandably grief-stricken, but being in his POV means that the reader is subjected to his rambling train of thought, him telling us what he is thinking instead of the story showing us. And it's just slow-moving and dull, with little to lighten or even vary the mood.
I'm going to keep trying Klune, because I do appreciate the queer writing, but I'm not going to have my hopes up, or try to push through things I am just not enjoying.
In fairness, this novel has a few elements against me enjoying it from jump. This is in first person narration, which is not my favorite. It's about a fallen guardian angel, and (from the just-shy of half I read) relies on broadly Christian ideas of God, Heaven, etc., for worldbuilding, which is not something I enjoy either. It's another early twenties protagonist stuck in his small PNW hometown after a family tragedy leaves him with outsized responsibility, although here (as opposed to Bear,Otter, and the Kid) the protag wants to be there. But where that universe was farcical and entertaining, this one is brooding and sulky, which is a drag. Benji, the MC, is understandably grief-stricken, but being in his POV means that the reader is subjected to his rambling train of thought, him telling us what he is thinking instead of the story showing us. And it's just slow-moving and dull, with little to lighten or even vary the mood.
I'm going to keep trying Klune, because I do appreciate the queer writing, but I'm not going to have my hopes up, or try to push through things I am just not enjoying.