A review by keepreadingbooks
Euphoria by Lily King

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Euphoria is a tense, intelligent and utterly immersive novel taking place in the early 1930s in New Guinea, and I completely devoured it. Three anthropologists, two of them a married couple, are studying the relatively unknown tribes along the Sepik River, and before long their wildly different passions, desires, temperaments and (questionable) choices bring them all to a dangerous point of no return. There is an almost unbearable sense of foreboding and psychological build-up – you feel certain very early on that an explosion will happen, it’s only a matter of when (and what the consequences will be). I admit to flipping pages ahead several times to get an idea of what and when something would happen; it’s a terrible habit of mine when the tension gets too much! 
 
It’s interesting how different Euphoria is from Writers & Lovers; they are nothing alike and might as well have been written by two different authors. The pace and writing, the themes, the setting, none of it is similar, and I can see from reviews that some fans of Writers & Lovers have been disappointed by this one. I’m just lucky that Euphoria caters to just as many parts of me as Writers & Lovers did, particularly my more scientific and feminist sides, and my passion for historical settings. This is my third Lily King book, and she hasn't disappointed this reader yet! 
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