Take a photo of a barcode or cover
humblebee20 's review for:
The Other Lives of Miss Emily White
by A.J. Elwood
A book start promising an intriguing premise, ramps up to a cool conclusion and then fades out with a whimper. The idea of a teacher in multiple places at once was an interesting one, and I really wanted to see where it would go. The setting is well-presented and the atmosphere builds wonderfully in the first hundred pages. And then it stagnates with how little the mystery of the mystery book is presented, to the point where it seems like little more than a thing that just happens. The main character starts as a casual YA protagonist that wants to fit in but isn't of "pure blood". Fine concept, but what killed me was her constant namedropping of herself. "Ivy" and "I" (as a nickname to mean "alone") became such an overdone thing in the span of 300 pages. I knew her name better than what she looked like, to the point that I forgot she was a redhead until the overdrawn epilogue. She consistently bemoans her aloneness and then runs from everyone. Some of the conflict is well done in the beginning, with the quarrels between Ivy and her rival feeling real and grounded in reality, but towards the end, Ivy is always running away, from pretty much and confrontation, or even conversation that's too close to her.
And then there's the name of the book and its namesake, Emily. *spoilers* Emily is boring, I mean really boring. The girls all have whispers of personalities, with Ivy and Sofia feeling the most fleshed out, but Emily is nothing. I hate not writing a character and saying that it makes them mysterious. So little is spent on Emily other than a weird, queerbaity relationship with Ivy or being a teacher that is at the school. There were so many surface level hints to something more that just fizzle out and never go anywhere, and the handwavy explanation of "maybe Ivy has manifestation powers is just disassociating" meant nothing more than a cheap cop out to me. Not to mention the epilogue's big "reveal" that Daisy wasn't real only to double down and say "oh it was Flora who was your sister but you killed her with neglect and made Daisy up to cope" was worse. If this were a reveal done earlier in the book, maybe I could have looked over it, but the triumph with which its revealed made me wish it wasn't included at all. What a tired trope. It felt more like a crutch to prop up the rest of the book, but ruined the rest in retrospect. *spoilers*
This book is ok. A cool concept that was sadly fumbled, wrapped a clean YA victorian package. I liked the atmosphere but the book began to wear on me after the first half and disappointed me with its last half.
And then there's the name of the book and its namesake, Emily. *spoilers* Emily is boring, I mean really boring. The girls all have whispers of personalities, with Ivy and Sofia feeling the most fleshed out, but Emily is nothing. I hate not writing a character and saying that it makes them mysterious. So little is spent on Emily other than a weird, queerbaity relationship with Ivy or being a teacher that is at the school. There were so many surface level hints to something more that just fizzle out and never go anywhere, and the handwavy explanation of "maybe Ivy has manifestation powers is just disassociating" meant nothing more than a cheap cop out to me. Not to mention the epilogue's big "reveal" that Daisy wasn't real only to double down and say "oh it was Flora who was your sister but you killed her with neglect and made Daisy up to cope" was worse. If this were a reveal done earlier in the book, maybe I could have looked over it, but the triumph with which its revealed made me wish it wasn't included at all. What a tired trope. It felt more like a crutch to prop up the rest of the book, but ruined the rest in retrospect. *spoilers*
This book is ok. A cool concept that was sadly fumbled, wrapped a clean YA victorian package. I liked the atmosphere but the book began to wear on me after the first half and disappointed me with its last half.