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fruitcd 's review for:
This Ravenous Fate
by Hayley Dennings
I accepted that the plot of this book was going to make no sense about 50 pages in, and after that I had a good time reading this! While I have some critiques about the writing style/structure (like the book being divided into "acts" that seem to have no correlation to what is actually going on in the story, and how half the time chapters would just suddenly end in the middle of a scene), I didn't really get too hung up on these minor flaws because this is a debut YA novel and I tend to be more generous with those. And the complex and interesting relationship between Layla and Elise and the unique and thought-provoking use of vampires as social & racial commentary was definitely enough to keep me engaged despite those issues!
However, this book really flies off the handle at the 80% mark, with the pacing becoming incredibly rushed and the weak plot starting to collapse under its own weight. Pair this with the pretty sparse writing style and I genuinely could not understand anything that happened at the climax of this book. I had to go back and reread it and even then it just... makes no sense. This book needed at least another round of editing, maybe two, to iron out all these plot holes and more evenly distribute the plot so characters don't just have to explain their part in the plot in huge monologues at the end, to fix the structural issues, and to clean up some lingering awkward phrasing/grammar mistakes.
I still would be interested in reading the sequel because I do like these characters and I think all of my criticisms are things that can be improved with time and more editing!
However, this book really flies off the handle at the 80% mark, with the pacing becoming incredibly rushed and the weak plot starting to collapse under its own weight. Pair this with the pretty sparse writing style and I genuinely could not understand anything that happened at the climax of this book. I had to go back and reread it and even then it just... makes no sense. This book needed at least another round of editing, maybe two, to iron out all these plot holes and more evenly distribute the plot so characters don't just have to explain their part in the plot in huge monologues at the end, to fix the structural issues, and to clean up some lingering awkward phrasing/grammar mistakes.
I still would be interested in reading the sequel because I do like these characters and I think all of my criticisms are things that can be improved with time and more editing!