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A review by punkcalf
Wranglestone by Darren Charlton
2.0
Actual Rating 1.5/5
I wanted to like this book really bad and seeing as it was sort listed for the Costa awards gave me a lot of hope. [One of my favorite books was also short listed for that award a few years back]
But, sadly. It just doesn't work. I'll start with the things I did like first;
I liked the idea of the world building. We have so many books, movies and tv shows about what the world is like during the end. How people cope with the change and chaos of it all. So little stories are set after the end where people will try again to build communities and live life as best as they can. The thing is though; it doesn't work here because so little time is spend on it and the whole thing feels rushed.
I liked the first half of the book when it was just Cooper and Peter's budding relationship [also that one felt also rushed, I never figured if they had sex in that boathouse or not?] But it was cute and believable.
I also liked the
Now to what I didn't like as much;
The pacing This is really the one thing that made me claw through this book. It's either too fast paced or too slow. Characters are there and then they are not having run off. After they leave the island and go into the woods it becomes a downright mess of pacing issues. Characters do stuff on a whim, they trust one another on a whim and then betray that trust the second after. Characters are introduced only to be killed off. There are implicates of people doing horrid things but that is glossed over or said with a 'use your imagination'. A wish it was a case of show, not tell but they don't do either. Sure, I can fill in the blanks but I shouldn't, should I?
Us vs. Them And I don't mean the zombies. Peter from page one is different than the other men because he's more feminine. And it's clear there is a divide between him, his father, Cooper and the other men in the settlement. In the beginning points are made that people who sew and keep house are just as important in this new world than people who can fight and hunt, but then they throw that out of the window by making Peter prove himself in the wild anyway.
The women There are only a few women in this book and the writing of them in one word is abysmal. In more than one word;
The characterisation Its just weird. Some characters are set up to be homophobic only not turning out to be a page later. They distrust each other, they do weird stuff without explanation. Characters are killed off within seconds by their supposed allies who show zero remorse. It's a whole mess.
Finally what really did this book in was the overall writing. There are pages with just dialogue and it's impossible to figure out who is saying what. Some characters have a Southern drawl as an accent but me, as a non-native English speaker, got totally lost what they were saying most of the time. There are weird jumps in time with no warning at all. There are pages spend on describing trees but then they gloss over some important things that the reader should know.
I know this book tries to clean up it's messes by setting up a sequel hook but it just doesn't work. I finished it a few hours ago and I'm still not sure what just happened. I still don't know who betrayed them and who was on their side. I'm not sure who died and who is still alive and how they came to pass. I got no clue where the characters near the end come from and neither does the book.
I'm giving the 1.5 stars to the beginning of the book when it was just two boys falling in love. That was cute and well written but after that it just crumbles into a mess that would have been so much better if it was a series of books that didn't try to cramp everything into one book.
Even the interesting plot twist couldn't save it from being a mess.
I'm sorry.
I wanted to like this book really bad and seeing as it was sort listed for the Costa awards gave me a lot of hope. [One of my favorite books was also short listed for that award a few years back]
But, sadly. It just doesn't work. I'll start with the things I did like first;
I liked the idea of the world building. We have so many books, movies and tv shows about what the world is like during the end. How people cope with the change and chaos of it all. So little stories are set after the end where people will try again to build communities and live life as best as they can. The thing is though; it doesn't work here because so little time is spend on it and the whole thing feels rushed.
I liked the first half of the book when it was just Cooper and Peter's budding relationship [also that one felt also rushed, I never figured if they had sex in that boathouse or not?] But it was cute and believable.
I also liked the
Spoiler
idea of people not turning but instead being immune. That's really cool but it s not explored enough to be worthy of much praise, sadly.Now to what I didn't like as much;
The pacing This is really the one thing that made me claw through this book. It's either too fast paced or too slow. Characters are there and then they are not having run off. After they leave the island and go into the woods it becomes a downright mess of pacing issues. Characters do stuff on a whim, they trust one another on a whim and then betray that trust the second after. Characters are introduced only to be killed off. There are implicates of people doing horrid things but that is glossed over or said with a 'use your imagination'. A wish it was a case of show, not tell but they don't do either. Sure, I can fill in the blanks but I shouldn't, should I?
Us vs. Them And I don't mean the zombies. Peter from page one is different than the other men because he's more feminine. And it's clear there is a divide between him, his father, Cooper and the other men in the settlement. In the beginning points are made that people who sew and keep house are just as important in this new world than people who can fight and hunt, but then they throw that out of the window by making Peter prove himself in the wild anyway.
The women There are only a few women in this book and the writing of them in one word is abysmal. In more than one word;
Spoiler
The main woman character turns out to be a traitor, the other woman in the settlement is willing to kill everyone to prove a point. The two girls that came back to life are not so subtly used as sex slaves, the wife of one of the characters doesn't want anything to do with him and the only other teen-girl character makes an appearance in the last twenty pages as some big damned hero but not after killing an innocent man. it's just weird to read.The characterisation Its just weird. Some characters are set up to be homophobic only not turning out to be a page later. They distrust each other, they do weird stuff without explanation. Characters are killed off within seconds by their supposed allies who show zero remorse. It's a whole mess.
Spoiler
At one point Peter just shoots his father on a baseless suspicion he may be bad? Like? Why? That's stupid. Sorry, it's just stupid. His father gave him zero reason for Peter to doubt him so why?Finally what really did this book in was the overall writing. There are pages with just dialogue and it's impossible to figure out who is saying what. Some characters have a Southern drawl as an accent but me, as a non-native English speaker, got totally lost what they were saying most of the time. There are weird jumps in time with no warning at all. There are pages spend on describing trees but then they gloss over some important things that the reader should know.
I know this book tries to clean up it's messes by setting up a sequel hook but it just doesn't work. I finished it a few hours ago and I'm still not sure what just happened. I still don't know who betrayed them and who was on their side. I'm not sure who died and who is still alive and how they came to pass. I got no clue where the characters near the end come from and neither does the book.
I'm giving the 1.5 stars to the beginning of the book when it was just two boys falling in love. That was cute and well written but after that it just crumbles into a mess that would have been so much better if it was a series of books that didn't try to cramp everything into one book.
Even the interesting plot twist couldn't save it from being a mess.
I'm sorry.