Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by bellalalamay
War Hour by Lauren Loscig
1.0
DNF - 36% finished chapter 19
I cannot believe how many positive reviews this book has gotten. I really tried to brute force this book to give it a fair review but I just couldn't waste my time which sucks because I was excited for this to come out.
First of all, this story is awkwardly written in present tense for no apparent reason. Present tense can make a story more cinematic and climactic, but the narration is not compelling enough for that to be effective and the action does not last long enough for the tense to be warranted. The writing is sloppy and inelegant. Many details that would help with comprehension are just skipped (like characters entering or leaving a scene). Nothing in this book painted a picture in my head, there is barely any description of people and settings other than hair colour.
All of this build up for our protagonist to face her trial and then the trial is extremely simple and only lasts a chapter. Afterwards she says a few times that she nearly died but I don't buy it. She got bitten once. The only reaction that we get is a scream after the bite, there is no grasping her arm or even any hindrance to her abilities. Like sure, adrenaline or whatever, but her not reacting at all to then saying she nearly died is wrong.
None of the characters feel unique or compelling. They each have 0-1 personality traits. Even Lysta doesn't have a consistent personality; is she sarcastic or short tempered or composed? she shows all 3 traits in a very short time span which doesn't feel believable. Many of the interactions are just exposition that leave questions that aren't interesting enough for me to want to know the answer.
this really just feels like the author read the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and thought "I could do that" but really couldn't. Please do not take my review as your only reason not to read this book, clearly there are plenty of people who love it, it was just too poorly thought out and too simple for me.
EDIT: just letting people know that this author deletes any negative comments on her Instagram and blocks the accounts that leave them. I mentioned how disappointed I was and now I'm blocked.
I cannot believe how many positive reviews this book has gotten. I really tried to brute force this book to give it a fair review but I just couldn't waste my time which sucks because I was excited for this to come out.
First of all, this story is awkwardly written in present tense for no apparent reason. Present tense can make a story more cinematic and climactic, but the narration is not compelling enough for that to be effective and the action does not last long enough for the tense to be warranted. The writing is sloppy and inelegant. Many details that would help with comprehension are just skipped (like characters entering or leaving a scene). Nothing in this book painted a picture in my head, there is barely any description of people and settings other than hair colour.
All of this build up for our protagonist to face her trial and then the trial is extremely simple and only lasts a chapter. Afterwards she says a few times that she nearly died but I don't buy it. She got bitten once. The only reaction that we get is a scream after the bite, there is no grasping her arm or even any hindrance to her abilities. Like sure, adrenaline or whatever, but her not reacting at all to then saying she nearly died is wrong.
None of the characters feel unique or compelling. They each have 0-1 personality traits. Even Lysta doesn't have a consistent personality; is she sarcastic or short tempered or composed? she shows all 3 traits in a very short time span which doesn't feel believable. Many of the interactions are just exposition that leave questions that aren't interesting enough for me to want to know the answer.
this really just feels like the author read the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and thought "I could do that" but really couldn't. Please do not take my review as your only reason not to read this book, clearly there are plenty of people who love it, it was just too poorly thought out and too simple for me.
EDIT: just letting people know that this author deletes any negative comments on her Instagram and blocks the accounts that leave them. I mentioned how disappointed I was and now I'm blocked.