Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by slowreaderpeter
Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
Okay, I found this book to be delightful, a bit of a mess, and with a bunch of promise for both the series and the author.
The first thing I’ll say is that of all the characters, only Eva is truly fleshed out and developed thoroughly. We have bits and pieces of other characters, but they all feel a bit “stand-in,” to some extent? Like, the family members feel a bit generic-y family based on tropes or archetypes, the various crew members largely feel like they’re just filling the role of “you are pilot, you are spunky best friend,” etc. Which doesn’t give us a whole lot of depth, but at least they are loosely established for hopefully more development later.
I also thought that occasionally the author would just sort of not explain things or describe them, which I found odd and a smidge frustrating. Throughout the book we are treated to a large variety of alien species, sometimes only in passing, others in more extended spurts. But for the most part they aren’t really described much. So, we know these aliens exist, but we don’t have a thorough understanding of what most of them look like. I also thought similar problems came up in moments of action, where the descriptions were just sort of lacking or incomplete, and it made situating action pieces and scenes to be challenging at times.
Now, all of that said, this was a fun book, and I felt the author actually had a lot of technically well-written moments. You can really see the promise in her ability to grow. The story never once slowed down, and a couple moments felt a bit nonsensical. But I had a very enjoyable time reading this book and definitely plan to continue on with the series.
The first thing I’ll say is that of all the characters, only Eva is truly fleshed out and developed thoroughly. We have bits and pieces of other characters, but they all feel a bit “stand-in,” to some extent? Like, the family members feel a bit generic-y family based on tropes or archetypes, the various crew members largely feel like they’re just filling the role of “you are pilot, you are spunky best friend,” etc. Which doesn’t give us a whole lot of depth, but at least they are loosely established for hopefully more development later.
I also thought that occasionally the author would just sort of not explain things or describe them, which I found odd and a smidge frustrating. Throughout the book we are treated to a large variety of alien species, sometimes only in passing, others in more extended spurts. But for the most part they aren’t really described much. So, we know these aliens exist, but we don’t have a thorough understanding of what most of them look like. I also thought similar problems came up in moments of action, where the descriptions were just sort of lacking or incomplete, and it made situating action pieces and scenes to be challenging at times.
Now, all of that said, this was a fun book, and I felt the author actually had a lot of technically well-written moments. You can really see the promise in her ability to grow. The story never once slowed down, and a couple moments felt a bit nonsensical. But I had a very enjoyable time reading this book and definitely plan to continue on with the series.