Scan barcode
A review by barometz
Medusa Uploaded by Emily Devenport
3.0
I did really want to like this one, and I think other under circumstances, I might have.
I went into it knowing that other people did have issues with how the story was structured, and thought "I've heard stories told out of order before; I'm sure it's not as bad as it sounds." It may not have been that bad, if it hadn't happened so many times. Having so many instances where Oichi told us how something turned out before telling us the steps that led to that point really took a lot of the suspense out of what should have been a thriller. This, coupled with the idea that Oichi was raised to be emotionless and logical (which the author did execute so flawlessly that I really felt absolutely nothing for almost the entire the book), made a lot of the first 50-60% of the novel drag for me.
But the story underneath had such good bones that I have a hard time writing it off completely. If it had been presented in a more linear (and therefore more suspenseful) fashion and/or with a little more indulgence for Oichi's emotions, I think it really would have been quite good.
I went into it knowing that other people did have issues with how the story was structured, and thought "I've heard stories told out of order before; I'm sure it's not as bad as it sounds." It may not have been that bad, if it hadn't happened so many times. Having so many instances where Oichi told us how something turned out before telling us the steps that led to that point really took a lot of the suspense out of what should have been a thriller. This, coupled with the idea that Oichi was raised to be emotionless and logical (which the author did execute so flawlessly that I really felt absolutely nothing for almost the entire the book), made a lot of the first 50-60% of the novel drag for me.
But the story underneath had such good bones that I have a hard time writing it off completely. If it had been presented in a more linear (and therefore more suspenseful) fashion and/or with a little more indulgence for Oichi's emotions, I think it really would have been quite good.