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A review by snaillydia
The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake
Did not finish book.
DNF @ 132 pages
I cannot stress enough how much I wanted to enjoy this book. I bought it new, in hardback, I nearly never do that. I waited for the perfect moment when I'd need a heartwrenching sapphic YA, and that moment finally came.
But nope. No satisfaction. No heart wrenching or swooning to be found.
I suppose that this book just ticked too many of my random pet-peeves. I hate when characters break into song. I hate characters self diagnosing. I hate manic pixie dream girls that are squeaky clean. I dislike love triangles.
So the novel was already stretching the limits of my patience by the 130 page mark, when I realized how little had happened by that point. Seriously. This book moves at a snail's pace, attempting to focus of characters and their relationships. Which I usually love! Some of my favorite books are commonly criticized for their pace. But those books managed to get me to care about their characters. The Last True Poets of the Sea never gets me to care, not even a little bit. The protagonist is as interesting as a saltine cracker, and the rest of the characters have zero edge.
I thought that, with a whimsical title like 'The Last True Poets of the Sea', I would be in for some nice, poetic prose at least. Nope, the writing falls short. Nothing special, no spark, nothing to separate it from every contemporary YA novel I've ever read.
Yawn.
I cannot stress enough how much I wanted to enjoy this book. I bought it new, in hardback, I nearly never do that. I waited for the perfect moment when I'd need a heartwrenching sapphic YA, and that moment finally came.
But nope. No satisfaction. No heart wrenching or swooning to be found.
I suppose that this book just ticked too many of my random pet-peeves. I hate when characters break into song. I hate characters self diagnosing. I hate manic pixie dream girls that are squeaky clean. I dislike love triangles.
So the novel was already stretching the limits of my patience by the 130 page mark, when I realized how little had happened by that point. Seriously. This book moves at a snail's pace, attempting to focus of characters and their relationships. Which I usually love! Some of my favorite books are commonly criticized for their pace. But those books managed to get me to care about their characters. The Last True Poets of the Sea never gets me to care, not even a little bit. The protagonist is as interesting as a saltine cracker, and the rest of the characters have zero edge.
I thought that, with a whimsical title like 'The Last True Poets of the Sea', I would be in for some nice, poetic prose at least. Nope, the writing falls short. Nothing special, no spark, nothing to separate it from every contemporary YA novel I've ever read.
Yawn.