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A review by bookaquarius
An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson
3.0
*Reba’s voice* I’m a surviiiivorrrr!
I finished An Academy For Liars last night. This book really took me on a journey. From the beginning I was very intrigued by the premise—a woman who has always felt a bit like a misfit ends up at a mysterious school to develop power she never knew about. The desire to see how that would develop and the little bread crumbs I was given each chapter to keep me interested enough were the highlight of the book. I think we as readers were introduced to a lot of intriguing ideas (persuasion as power, the alternate reality where magic users are influencing the course of history, travel to other points in time, professors obviously up to something). Ultimately, having made it through to the end, I think those were all roads leading to nowhere as they were unexplored and abandoned almost immediately upon introduction most times. So no lack of intrigue… just characters that don’t really give a damn about knowing anything!
Enter Lennon. Perhaps the most unserious and unwell protagonist ever? You could study her in a psych class. Her tunnel vision towards finding new toxic men to attach herself to by any means necessary coupled with her pathological self interest all topped off with the refusal to change… she’s really something! Her refusal to latch on to any interesting ideas or follow the mystery anywhere other than the situations it brought her into the path of a man was frustrating. We even get to meet her family and hear from them how she does this all the time. And we get to watch it in action as she uses the people around her without abandon to get what she wants! Having a conversation with her would be as close as you could possibly come to knowing what it feels like to be a vending machine. She’s there for the treat she wants and you’re just there to dispense it. The idea that she inspired any sort of loyalty among students at the end came out of nothing and made me laugh.
We explored almost nothing with Lennon. Her interest began and ended at whatever was in front of her at the moment extending only as far as necessary to include wherever her creepy professor was. I thought the end was rushed & sloppy, a bit nonsensical.
I finished An Academy For Liars last night. This book really took me on a journey. From the beginning I was very intrigued by the premise—a woman who has always felt a bit like a misfit ends up at a mysterious school to develop power she never knew about. The desire to see how that would develop and the little bread crumbs I was given each chapter to keep me interested enough were the highlight of the book. I think we as readers were introduced to a lot of intriguing ideas (persuasion as power, the alternate reality where magic users are influencing the course of history, travel to other points in time, professors obviously up to something). Ultimately, having made it through to the end, I think those were all roads leading to nowhere as they were unexplored and abandoned almost immediately upon introduction most times. So no lack of intrigue… just characters that don’t really give a damn about knowing anything!
Enter Lennon. Perhaps the most unserious and unwell protagonist ever? You could study her in a psych class. Her tunnel vision towards finding new toxic men to attach herself to by any means necessary coupled with her pathological self interest all topped off with the refusal to change… she’s really something! Her refusal to latch on to any interesting ideas or follow the mystery anywhere other than the situations it brought her into the path of a man was frustrating. We even get to meet her family and hear from them how she does this all the time. And we get to watch it in action as she uses the people around her without abandon to get what she wants! Having a conversation with her would be as close as you could possibly come to knowing what it feels like to be a vending machine. She’s there for the treat she wants and you’re just there to dispense it. The idea that she inspired any sort of loyalty among students at the end came out of nothing and made me laugh.
We explored almost nothing with Lennon. Her interest began and ended at whatever was in front of her at the moment extending only as far as necessary to include wherever her creepy professor was. I thought the end was rushed & sloppy, a bit nonsensical.