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A review by theshiftyshadow
To the Warm Horizon by Jin-Young Choi
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
I was wildly disappointed with this. The blurb sounds so amazing but the book doesn't deliver on it's promise.
I haven't read that much East Asian literature, so maybe there's a marked difference in story structure, or maybe something is lost in translation, but I just couldn't connect with any of the characters. We jump from POV to POV so fast that there's no time to get invested in any of them, or in their relationships. It's billed as a love story between two young women set against this post apocalyptic crumbling world, but there's barely any substance to their relationship, they meet, they're in love, they're separated, it all happens so quickly that it left me cold and unattached to any of it.
There's a lot of horrible things happen in this book too, but they're just mentioned in like 2 lines and then the story moves on. There's literally a paragraph where 5 family members die in the space of half a page. And it's maybe the first book I've ever felt the need to actually flag up for trigger warnings.
Honestly, this feels like the bare bones of a really great story, a story I would love to have read, but as it is it's lacking any substance and is just kind of depressing.
I haven't read that much East Asian literature, so maybe there's a marked difference in story structure, or maybe something is lost in translation, but I just couldn't connect with any of the characters. We jump from POV to POV so fast that there's no time to get invested in any of them, or in their relationships. It's billed as a love story between two young women set against this post apocalyptic crumbling world, but there's barely any substance to their relationship, they meet, they're in love, they're separated, it all happens so quickly that it left me cold and unattached to any of it.
There's a lot of horrible things happen in this book too, but they're just mentioned in like 2 lines and then the story moves on. There's literally a paragraph where 5 family members die in the space of half a page. And it's maybe the first book I've ever felt the need to actually flag up for trigger warnings.
Honestly, this feels like the bare bones of a really great story, a story I would love to have read, but as it is it's lacking any substance and is just kind of depressing.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape