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chamelodius 's review for:
Lucky Day
by Chuck Tingle
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was very much looking forward to this one because I've been wanting to read a Chuck Tingle book and the summary of this intrigued me. This book reminded me a lot of Prophet by Macdonald and Blache, so if you liked that one this might be up your alley—a bizarre and mind-bending occurrance killing people in crazy ways, and two people joining forces to solve it (but no romance in this one). Also like Prophet, it fell down a little in the last third.
The first half of this book really sucked me in. The mystery of what was going on, Vera's complete apathy toward life, and the agent who appeared to snap her out of it. I enjoyed their dynamic a lot. But for me, the ending was a bit of a letdown. The big climactic scene kind of stalled, turning deeply philosophical in a way that didn'te quite land for me. For a book with so much tension early, there was practically none in the final moments.
My biggest problem with this book was Agent Layne. At first I loved him—he was just so weird, and it seems like there's more going on, but I feel like we don't get to explore enough of his character. Also, I'm not sure what the point ofthe biphobic comments from him were, other than to signal he was actually a 'bad guy' . It just ended up feeling like a loose end that was never tied up.
All that said, I did really enjoy Tingle's writing (even though I usually dislike first person present tense), and overall the book did suck me in. It was such an interesting look at the concept of luck and fate, nihilism, and what it means to care about the world.
Thanks to NetGally for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review of this book.
The first half of this book really sucked me in. The mystery of what was going on, Vera's complete apathy toward life, and the agent who appeared to snap her out of it. I enjoyed their dynamic a lot. But for me, the ending was a bit of a letdown. The big climactic scene kind of stalled, turning deeply philosophical in a way that didn'te quite land for me. For a book with so much tension early, there was practically none in the final moments.
My biggest problem with this book was Agent Layne. At first I loved him—he was just so weird, and it seems like there's more going on, but I feel like we don't get to explore enough of his character. Also, I'm not sure what the point of
All that said, I did really enjoy Tingle's writing (even though I usually dislike first person present tense), and overall the book did suck me in. It was such an interesting look at the concept of luck and fate, nihilism, and what it means to care about the world.
Thanks to NetGally for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Animal death