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A review by bookstobarbells
Fly by Night by Tara O'Connor
2.0
Meh. I wanted so much more from this. The premise was really interesting and had so much potential; instead, this fell flat for me.
With such a gorgeous cover, I expected more dynamic pages, not just black and white. This could be because I have an ARC, but I felt it made the storyline less effective. With such a focus on the environment and the pine lands, you’d think there would be a showcase of that environment. I also would’ve loved to see what Veradys looked like in full color.
The plot was also extremely predictable. I predicted a lot of what was coming and felt uninterested in our MC’s journey. The connection between her missing sister and the pine lands was not well done either. Her just stumbling into a tree, finding a creature, and then it makes a super random massive connection at the end? There wasn’t enough build in the middle to make it feel cohesive. Instead, there were a lot of fluffy plot lines thrown in that didn’t need to be there and just created noise for me.
I didn’t feel much of a connection to any of the characters either. Dee didn’t have much going for her. She felt like a bit of a throwaway character. I didn’t feel like I learned much about her through any of the story. She’s slightly edgy, but that’s about all I really know. Tobi was a little more dynamic, but not by much. She at least seemed to fit the story more. And the parents? Just a real weird tense relationship that’s explained out in like two pages and then just dropped to pop up whenever they need a tense, awkward moment.
I wanted to like this, but just left feeling like I didn’t get to take away much. It did have a diverse looking cast and a good idea, just poor execution all around, in my opinion.
Thank you to the publisher for supplying an advanced reader copy.
With such a gorgeous cover, I expected more dynamic pages, not just black and white. This could be because I have an ARC, but I felt it made the storyline less effective. With such a focus on the environment and the pine lands, you’d think there would be a showcase of that environment. I also would’ve loved to see what Veradys looked like in full color.
The plot was also extremely predictable. I predicted a lot of what was coming and felt uninterested in our MC’s journey. The connection between her missing sister and the pine lands was not well done either. Her just stumbling into a tree, finding a creature, and then it makes a super random massive connection at the end? There wasn’t enough build in the middle to make it feel cohesive. Instead, there were a lot of fluffy plot lines thrown in that didn’t need to be there and just created noise for me.
I didn’t feel much of a connection to any of the characters either. Dee didn’t have much going for her. She felt like a bit of a throwaway character. I didn’t feel like I learned much about her through any of the story. She’s slightly edgy, but that’s about all I really know. Tobi was a little more dynamic, but not by much. She at least seemed to fit the story more. And the parents? Just a real weird tense relationship that’s explained out in like two pages and then just dropped to pop up whenever they need a tense, awkward moment.
I wanted to like this, but just left feeling like I didn’t get to take away much. It did have a diverse looking cast and a good idea, just poor execution all around, in my opinion.
Thank you to the publisher for supplying an advanced reader copy.