A review by readwithria
Lore by Alexandra Bracken

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Lore was not what I wanted it to be, but that’s not the book’s fault.

I love a mythology retelling or reimagining, and that’s what I thought Lore would be. Instead, it was a giant game of hide and seek with a couple of Greek gods and multiple McGuffins. This was more of a thriller through a filter of mythology instead of what I was hoping it would be.

I think that part of the problem was the pacing. I found the first ~60-70% to be kinda boring. Once we got to the climax it definitely became more interesting, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time given to the resolution for that climax to feel impactful. Part of that is because this book takes place over seven days, and that’s not very long, but there’s a lot of exposition and expository monologues.

Another issue I had was with the romance subplot. I did not feel any chemistry between the two love interests until the very end of the book. The pining between  two secondary characters was more compelling for me. Honestly, Miles and Van are the two most interesting characters and we don’t spend nearly enough time getting to know them.

All in all, this book was fine. It did what it set out to do, I’m just not convinced that what it set out to do was particularly interesting. 3.5 stars.

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