A review by mmefish
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I've been enjoying "Half A Soul" up until the very end—even with all its  plotholes, somehow repetitive writing, at times wonky dialogues and a caricatorius villian—but the last sentence spoiled the effect. If I'm not mistaken, This MC's "condition" is an allegory to autism, and if so, then the whole message about being accepted as you are, deserving love even if you're different etc. gets destroyed by the end of the novel.
In the epilogue, after the story already came to it's natural—and satisfying—conclusion, the MC, apparently, somehow gets her soul restored. It's a terrible decision that erases all the character growth and quite literally the whole point of the story.
 
It could be a nice, heart-warming fantasy romance but ended up being an OK-written underbaked Disney-like adventure with a shaky background instead.
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