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sianiebananie 's review for:
The Becoming of Noah Shaw
by Michelle Hodkin
Despite knowing that the chances of this one being good were very low, I was still so f*cking disappointed.
The reason I don't like continuations of series after they've already been completed (e.g City of Fallen Angels to name one) is very simple: it's completely undermines the all the effort and completeness of the series itself, previous to the release of new ones. Obviously, the author originally decided to end the series for a reason, right?
This book confirmed that dislike.
The Mara Dyers series is one of my all time favourite series and this book, set immediately after the end of The Retribution of Mara Dyer, was a disaster.
Let's start with the writing: unremarkable. That's all there is to say.
I thought reading in Noah's perspective would be fun but it was honestly... dull. The biggest reason the Mara Dyer series was so awesome was because it was Mara narrating, as a crazy unreliable narrator, and not Noah. Dull.
The plot itself was over complicated and unnecessary (the series had already FUCKING ENDED). It was apparent that Hodkin was grasping at the plot lines that were deliberately left open at the end of Retribution and trying to turn them into a novel.despite the complication of the plot, the book lacked the same excitement and mystery as the rest of the series.
The ending was also really fucking stupid. Like, bringing back the OG Mara from the grave doesn't make sense. The fact that Noah told Mara he didn't ever want to see her again after finding out she killed his dad - who he HATED and was a murderer and was going to hurt more people - was so out of character and completely destroyed the relationship of unconditional love that they swore on in the previous series. Also, the fact that their powers were 'cut off' is ridiculous. You can't 'cut off' genes. It's genetically written in their DNA like wtf?
Other little stuff:
Maybe it's just me - but I don't remember Mara hating Sophie as much as she did in this one. Either way, Sophie was such an ungrateful bitch. Mara saved her life over and over again and then she constantly points fingers and blames her for being 'evil' or a bad person.
Really not loving the finger pointing towards Mara either. Even Noah started to doubt her. Maybe she's really better off without him if he isn't going to trust her?
The characters were all pretty sucky in this one. Not written as well at all.
The original trilogy is absolutely hilarious despite how dark it is. So not the case in this one, even with Noah as the main.
Abel Lukumi needs to gtfo.
Making Sophie and Goose Carriers was a stupid plot line. So now there's the one token 'human' character and everyone else is just 'randomly' granted superhero powers.
Honestly, this was pretty bad. It gets two stars because as much as it was a hot mess that ruined the original series, the book did pick up around 60% of the way through and I do want to see if Hodkin can save this mess of a story.
I still wish I'd never read it and I will continue to deny the existence of this series. Taherah Mafi better not disappoint.
And I'm obviously not the only one who hates this one considering how low the ratings are in comparison to the original three 🤷🏻♀️
The reason I don't like continuations of series after they've already been completed (e.g City of Fallen Angels to name one) is very simple: it's completely undermines the all the effort and completeness of the series itself, previous to the release of new ones. Obviously, the author originally decided to end the series for a reason, right?
This book confirmed that dislike.
The Mara Dyers series is one of my all time favourite series and this book, set immediately after the end of The Retribution of Mara Dyer, was a disaster.
Let's start with the writing: unremarkable. That's all there is to say.
I thought reading in Noah's perspective would be fun but it was honestly... dull. The biggest reason the Mara Dyer series was so awesome was because it was Mara narrating, as a crazy unreliable narrator, and not Noah. Dull.
The plot itself was over complicated and unnecessary (the series had already FUCKING ENDED). It was apparent that Hodkin was grasping at the plot lines that were deliberately left open at the end of Retribution and trying to turn them into a novel.despite the complication of the plot, the book lacked the same excitement and mystery as the rest of the series.
The ending was also really fucking stupid. Like, bringing back the OG Mara from the grave doesn't make sense. The fact that Noah told Mara he didn't ever want to see her again after finding out she killed his dad - who he HATED and was a murderer and was going to hurt more people - was so out of character and completely destroyed the relationship of unconditional love that they swore on in the previous series. Also, the fact that their powers were 'cut off' is ridiculous. You can't 'cut off' genes. It's genetically written in their DNA like wtf?
Other little stuff:
Maybe it's just me - but I don't remember Mara hating Sophie as much as she did in this one. Either way, Sophie was such an ungrateful bitch. Mara saved her life over and over again and then she constantly points fingers and blames her for being 'evil' or a bad person.
Really not loving the finger pointing towards Mara either. Even Noah started to doubt her. Maybe she's really better off without him if he isn't going to trust her?
The characters were all pretty sucky in this one. Not written as well at all.
The original trilogy is absolutely hilarious despite how dark it is. So not the case in this one, even with Noah as the main.
Abel Lukumi needs to gtfo.
Making Sophie and Goose Carriers was a stupid plot line. So now there's the one token 'human' character and everyone else is just 'randomly' granted superhero powers.
Honestly, this was pretty bad. It gets two stars because as much as it was a hot mess that ruined the original series, the book did pick up around 60% of the way through and I do want to see if Hodkin can save this mess of a story.
I still wish I'd never read it and I will continue to deny the existence of this series. Taherah Mafi better not disappoint.
And I'm obviously not the only one who hates this one considering how low the ratings are in comparison to the original three 🤷🏻♀️