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A review by talia_redhotink
The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin
2.0
2.5 "You're my preferred method of self-harm" stars.
I know that after this rating a lot of you will want my head on a pike. First of all, I read the Mara Dyer's trilogy in 2014 and it was the reason I even signed up on GR. I loved it that much, so of course my expectations for The Becoming of Noah Shaw were sky high.
Secondly, still connected to the first statement, I read the trilogy 3 years ago. Many things happened in three years, and reading-wise my tastes have changed. YA aren't my usual go-to read anymore, but still, genre notwithstanding, I had expected to like this one way more than I did.
You can't keep a secret from the person you love and expect it not to change him, too. She doesn't trust me with something, which makes me distrust her, and that makes our hands miss each other when we pass something over the table. It makes my mouth just miss hers when I lean to kiss her lips and end up with cheek instead.
When I first heard about this book being in the making, I was beyond thrilled. Noah's character had stayed in the back of my mind as a special kind of hero. Complex, self-destructive, desperate, ambiguous, and epicly in love with Mara, the girl who was going to love him to ruin. Together, they were the best kind of union: the one that everyone is betting against, but that the characters believe in so strongly they will face every judgement and every ounce of common sense to keep alive.
Being inside Noah's head was supposed to be a treat. And it was... for about 10%. The other 90% it felt like being inside any other random character's mind. Nothing too special. Nothing that blew my mind, beside his insight when it came to suicidal behavior and all comes with it. Hodkin has a tendency for darkness that goes beyond what would be traditionally portrayed in a YA. This I appreciated.
This is what people who have never wanted to die don't understand: the worst thing for those of us who do is feeling like we have to live when we don't want to. We have to do things we don't want to. We have to be where we don't want to be. What we want is nothingness, numbness, because that seems better than living a life of quiet desperation. Quiet desperation is torture.
The second issue I had was the pacing. 80% in I realized I still hadn't felt any sort of rush or scared palpitations. If the trilogy had been full of twist and turns, surprises, ah-ah moments and plot earthquakes, this plot was as eventful as a 5 o'clock tea party.
The main idea for the mystery was intriguing and unconventional, but it didn't make me feel hopeless, or like I was going mad, or didn't know what was happening. My lack of investment in the unfortunate characters was probably one cause.
"I'm rather sentimental about the ruins -- as a child, I halfheartedly attempted suicide there now and again, always returning from post-tourist-hours expeditions with knees winking with cuts, and the occasional fracture or two"
Another thing that made me scrunch my nose was definitely the romance. In the past I had described Noah and Mara's love as epic. After everything they went through... and yet here Mara's character was used mostly as dark comical relief and Noah seemed more in love with Daniel than her, giving how much time he spent waxing poetics on that guy. BTW, I got that they bonded during The Retribution, but we didn't get to see that, so all the bromance going on here was absolutely out of context for me.
I've seen her in the middle of the night and the middle of the day, with makeup and without, with her hair done up and when it's been unwashed for days. I've seen her in jeans and in silk and in nothing- I would gladly spend the rest of my life just looking at her.
There were a couple new additions in the gang, and while I liked Goose, his development as a character stopped after a while. Then there was Leo. While at first I liked his ambiguity, he soon became the most boring character out of all, not really adding much.
"I'll dress myself, thank you," I say, trying to edge in ever so casually. Which bad did I put the documents in? I can't even remember.
She shrugs. "Okay. IF you wear the blue stripey shirt, I'll have sexx with you later. But it's up to you."
"Will you hand me my bollocks when you get a moment? They're in one of your bags, I think."
In favor of this book I will definitely call forth the style, which was beyond amazing, the setting (a few blocks from were I live), which had that bohemiene/steam-punk touch that's always nice in original narrations and the ending.
I suppose I'm not sure what I was expecting. The man looks rather... like a pedophile, really. He has this soft, moony, harmless look about him, and yet. His button-down shirt is tight around the middle, and he has the sort of work-out, drawn, put-upon appearance, as if he's been a prisoner of war but doesn't quite remember the experience an would be embarrassed if anyone mentioned it.
Upon reading the ending, which I would have never, never, never seen coming, I almost considered giving 4 stars. But in the end I decided that I needed to rate the book on my enjoyment and I was yawning my was through it most of the time. The ending was probably the best part. Unexpected, and horrifying, but somehow salvaging the romantic-ness of it all.
Will I keep reading this series? Beside the fact that the kindle cost more than the paperback, I will probably keep reading it because I'm invested in the series and I hold the hope that this book was kind of an introduction to something better, faster paced, more romantic and intrigued, twisted and complicated.
All in all, it didn't blow me away. It wasn't awful, but it was so not what I was expecting that is not even funny
This is the essential truth about me: Mara makes me happy. The problem of Mara makes me happy. I shouldn't say it, but it's true. I shouldn't think it, but I do. She's this endlessly complex, chaotic person, but there's a method to her madness, and I want to know it.
I know that after this rating a lot of you will want my head on a pike. First of all, I read the Mara Dyer's trilogy in 2014 and it was the reason I even signed up on GR. I loved it that much, so of course my expectations for The Becoming of Noah Shaw were sky high.
Secondly, still connected to the first statement, I read the trilogy 3 years ago. Many things happened in three years, and reading-wise my tastes have changed. YA aren't my usual go-to read anymore, but still, genre notwithstanding, I had expected to like this one way more than I did.
You can't keep a secret from the person you love and expect it not to change him, too. She doesn't trust me with something, which makes me distrust her, and that makes our hands miss each other when we pass something over the table. It makes my mouth just miss hers when I lean to kiss her lips and end up with cheek instead.
When I first heard about this book being in the making, I was beyond thrilled. Noah's character had stayed in the back of my mind as a special kind of hero. Complex, self-destructive, desperate, ambiguous, and epicly in love with Mara, the girl who was going to love him to ruin. Together, they were the best kind of union: the one that everyone is betting against, but that the characters believe in so strongly they will face every judgement and every ounce of common sense to keep alive.
Being inside Noah's head was supposed to be a treat. And it was... for about 10%. The other 90% it felt like being inside any other random character's mind. Nothing too special. Nothing that blew my mind, beside his insight when it came to suicidal behavior and all comes with it. Hodkin has a tendency for darkness that goes beyond what would be traditionally portrayed in a YA. This I appreciated.
This is what people who have never wanted to die don't understand: the worst thing for those of us who do is feeling like we have to live when we don't want to. We have to do things we don't want to. We have to be where we don't want to be. What we want is nothingness, numbness, because that seems better than living a life of quiet desperation. Quiet desperation is torture.
The second issue I had was the pacing. 80% in I realized I still hadn't felt any sort of rush or scared palpitations. If the trilogy had been full of twist and turns, surprises, ah-ah moments and plot earthquakes, this plot was as eventful as a 5 o'clock tea party.
The main idea for the mystery was intriguing and unconventional, but it didn't make me feel hopeless, or like I was going mad, or didn't know what was happening. My lack of investment in the unfortunate characters was probably one cause.
"I'm rather sentimental about the ruins -- as a child, I halfheartedly attempted suicide there now and again, always returning from post-tourist-hours expeditions with knees winking with cuts, and the occasional fracture or two"
Another thing that made me scrunch my nose was definitely the romance. In the past I had described Noah and Mara's love as epic. After everything they went through... and yet here Mara's character was used mostly as dark comical relief and Noah seemed more in love with Daniel than her, giving how much time he spent waxing poetics on that guy. BTW, I got that they bonded during The Retribution, but we didn't get to see that, so all the bromance going on here was absolutely out of context for me.
I've seen her in the middle of the night and the middle of the day, with makeup and without, with her hair done up and when it's been unwashed for days. I've seen her in jeans and in silk and in nothing- I would gladly spend the rest of my life just looking at her.
There were a couple new additions in the gang, and while I liked Goose, his development as a character stopped after a while. Then there was Leo. While at first I liked his ambiguity, he soon became the most boring character out of all, not really adding much.
"I'll dress myself, thank you," I say, trying to edge in ever so casually. Which bad did I put the documents in? I can't even remember.
She shrugs. "Okay. IF you wear the blue stripey shirt, I'll have sexx with you later. But it's up to you."
"Will you hand me my bollocks when you get a moment? They're in one of your bags, I think."
In favor of this book I will definitely call forth the style, which was beyond amazing, the setting (a few blocks from were I live), which had that bohemiene/steam-punk touch that's always nice in original narrations and the ending.
I suppose I'm not sure what I was expecting. The man looks rather... like a pedophile, really. He has this soft, moony, harmless look about him, and yet. His button-down shirt is tight around the middle, and he has the sort of work-out, drawn, put-upon appearance, as if he's been a prisoner of war but doesn't quite remember the experience an would be embarrassed if anyone mentioned it.
Upon reading the ending, which I would have never, never, never seen coming, I almost considered giving 4 stars. But in the end I decided that I needed to rate the book on my enjoyment and I was yawning my was through it most of the time. The ending was probably the best part. Unexpected, and horrifying, but somehow salvaging the romantic-ness of it all.
Will I keep reading this series? Beside the fact that the kindle cost more than the paperback, I will probably keep reading it because I'm invested in the series and I hold the hope that this book was kind of an introduction to something better, faster paced, more romantic and intrigued, twisted and complicated.
All in all, it didn't blow me away. It wasn't awful, but it was so not what I was expecting that is not even funny
This is the essential truth about me: Mara makes me happy. The problem of Mara makes me happy. I shouldn't say it, but it's true. I shouldn't think it, but I do. She's this endlessly complex, chaotic person, but there's a method to her madness, and I want to know it.