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A review by stiricide
Sky on Fire by Emmy Laybourne
1.0
Why do I keep listening to these? I hate these books. They're fine, banal, unsurprising, until, at unpredicitable moments, Laybourne decides to get REALLY inside the head of a teenage boy, describing their lusts and desires and sex acts in just the most awkward, cringe-worthy ways possible. And then you're listening to it via audiobook, so can't just skim over it, because you don't know when it will end.
The "romance" in these books is - well, it's Romeo and Juliet romance. Characters fall in and out of capital L Love on the daily, and experience capital H Heartbreak whenever something goes awry. Of course, they're teenagers. This is generally a true to life perception, but in the course of this story, it's a distracting undermining of the worldbuilding and plot advancing that COULD be going on.
There's a similar cavalier attitude to death - and murder. The world has collapsed, and suddenly, inside of a few days, these kids have become almost totally at peace with murdering other human beings. It just takes me so quickly out of the story that I can't look past it.
And with so many superfluous characters - figure, we started with 14 from the last book, then we meet new ones along the road here - it's impossible to keep track of everyone. And you KNOW that with this many people, some of them are going to end up being cannon fodder.
But the library keeps having these available on tape, so I keep listening to them, because I am an idiot.
The "romance" in these books is - well, it's Romeo and Juliet romance. Characters fall in and out of capital L Love on the daily, and experience capital H Heartbreak whenever something goes awry. Of course, they're teenagers. This is generally a true to life perception, but in the course of this story, it's a distracting undermining of the worldbuilding and plot advancing that COULD be going on.
There's a similar cavalier attitude to death - and murder. The world has collapsed, and suddenly, inside of a few days, these kids have become almost totally at peace with murdering other human beings. It just takes me so quickly out of the story that I can't look past it.
And with so many superfluous characters - figure, we started with 14 from the last book, then we meet new ones along the road here - it's impossible to keep track of everyone. And you KNOW that with this many people, some of them are going to end up being cannon fodder.
But the library keeps having these available on tape, so I keep listening to them, because I am an idiot.