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A review by renuked
Elusion by Claudia Gabel, Cheryl Klam
3.0
I was so gosh darn excited for this book. A new technology that could allow people to escape their lives and enter a new reality? Umm, can I have one too? And obviously, there would be something darker and sinister attached to said device. Science-fiction is really awesome sometimes, so I had my fingers crossed that this would be a success.
But it wasn't. Not really. There was some interesting corporate conspiracy stuff. But the rest was just...mediocre. The technology was pretty confusing. The author did her best to explain, and I wrapped my head around most of it, but the "firewall" made zero sense. I had no idea what they meant by going "behind the wall." How the heck do you go behind a firewall??
The protagonist was utterly forgettable. I can't remember her name. (Honestly, wow what was it?) She was desperate, ignorant, confused, hasty, and not even likable. The romance? It was like a lame love triangle thing, but not really. The main love interest (forgot his name too) was just empty. He was supposed to have this dark past and military background but there sure wasn't much else to him. The only person I remember was Patrick. I liked and hated him, which is probably why I remember him. He was more three-dimensional than the rest, thank heavens.
The mystery aspects were good, I didn't know everything that was happening until the end...but then the end wasn't all that great either. I was disappointed by the confusing, messy plot twist that left us with a cliffhanger. Nothing felt explained. I didn't have any amazing revelation brought on by the end, and I sure don't feel desperate to read the next book (which is usually the point of a cliff hanger). Overall, yes, there were some good ideas in this book, (I liked the Detroit setting too), but none were executed to my satisfaction. It fell flat, and I wish it could have reached its full potential.
But it wasn't. Not really. There was some interesting corporate conspiracy stuff. But the rest was just...mediocre. The technology was pretty confusing. The author did her best to explain, and I wrapped my head around most of it, but the "firewall" made zero sense. I had no idea what they meant by going "behind the wall." How the heck do you go behind a firewall??
The protagonist was utterly forgettable. I can't remember her name. (Honestly, wow what was it?) She was desperate, ignorant, confused, hasty, and not even likable. The romance? It was like a lame love triangle thing, but not really. The main love interest (forgot his name too) was just empty. He was supposed to have this dark past and military background but there sure wasn't much else to him. The only person I remember was Patrick. I liked and hated him, which is probably why I remember him. He was more three-dimensional than the rest, thank heavens.
The mystery aspects were good, I didn't know everything that was happening until the end...but then the end wasn't all that great either. I was disappointed by the confusing, messy plot twist that left us with a cliffhanger. Nothing felt explained. I didn't have any amazing revelation brought on by the end, and I sure don't feel desperate to read the next book (which is usually the point of a cliff hanger). Overall, yes, there were some good ideas in this book, (I liked the Detroit setting too), but none were executed to my satisfaction. It fell flat, and I wish it could have reached its full potential.