Scan barcode
A review by readingthestars
Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
2.0
Sigh. I really should just stick with her YA books.
A brief history of me and Olivie Blake's writing: I read The Atlas Six a few years ago because it was popular and I couldn't tell you a single thing that happened in it. There was so much philosophy in it, everyone spoke in riddles, and not much plot occurred. I gave the author another chance by reading the YA novel My Mechanical Romance, written under the name Alexene Farol Follmuth, and I loved it for its depiction of STEM and the chemistry between the two characters. The writing had none of the pretentiousness/aloofness that originally turned me off from The Atlas Six, and I figured I would give Olivie Blake and her adult writing another shot. I've seen this book online a lot, and it was pretty short so it was a good one to try. Unfortunately, I think her adult writing just isn't for me and I'll have to stick with her YA novels.
This book, despite having a similar writing style to The Atlas Six, started out pretty well to me. I was listening to it on audiobook, and quickly noticed that the format was different than a regular novel - there was an intermittent giving stage directions, and it made for an interesting reading experience. The beginning of the plot was easy to follow, with the two main characters eventually meeting and hanging out more often. The writing was, yes, pretentious, and it wasn't surprising to me because the characters are 1. an artist and 2. a mathematician. Both sort of belong in the pretentious category (I am also a mathematician, so Aldo talking about how he could learn abstract algebra for years and years and still not know anything really spoke to the part of me who did not like that class).
For a bit, the story was moving along, although sometimes the conversations became boring. Characters would just go off about something for a while, and while there are for sure a lot of quotable lines in this book, each one means a bit less to me when pretty much the entire book is made to sound the same. And then in the 60-80% section, the plot just sort of disappeared and long conversations about how special Regan and Aldo were commenced using superfluous descriptions. One thing I don't like is when books tell me a character is really special without any evidence as to why I should believe it, and this portion made me space out a bit. The ending was alright, and I did like how it related back to the beginning when they met.
But I don't really think I've gotten anything super special out of this book. It was a good and short listen, and now I know for sure that Olivie Blake's writing just isn't for me. If you're into lush prose and very character-driven stories, her adult books may work for you!
A brief history of me and Olivie Blake's writing: I read The Atlas Six a few years ago because it was popular and I couldn't tell you a single thing that happened in it. There was so much philosophy in it, everyone spoke in riddles, and not much plot occurred. I gave the author another chance by reading the YA novel My Mechanical Romance, written under the name Alexene Farol Follmuth, and I loved it for its depiction of STEM and the chemistry between the two characters. The writing had none of the pretentiousness/aloofness that originally turned me off from The Atlas Six, and I figured I would give Olivie Blake and her adult writing another shot. I've seen this book online a lot, and it was pretty short so it was a good one to try. Unfortunately, I think her adult writing just isn't for me and I'll have to stick with her YA novels.
This book, despite having a similar writing style to The Atlas Six, started out pretty well to me. I was listening to it on audiobook, and quickly noticed that the format was different than a regular novel - there was an intermittent giving stage directions, and it made for an interesting reading experience. The beginning of the plot was easy to follow, with the two main characters eventually meeting and hanging out more often. The writing was, yes, pretentious, and it wasn't surprising to me because the characters are 1. an artist and 2. a mathematician. Both sort of belong in the pretentious category (I am also a mathematician, so Aldo talking about how he could learn abstract algebra for years and years and still not know anything really spoke to the part of me who did not like that class).
For a bit, the story was moving along, although sometimes the conversations became boring. Characters would just go off about something for a while, and while there are for sure a lot of quotable lines in this book, each one means a bit less to me when pretty much the entire book is made to sound the same. And then in the 60-80% section, the plot just sort of disappeared and long conversations about how special Regan and Aldo were commenced using superfluous descriptions. One thing I don't like is when books tell me a character is really special without any evidence as to why I should believe it, and this portion made me space out a bit. The ending was alright, and I did like how it related back to the beginning when they met.
But I don't really think I've gotten anything super special out of this book. It was a good and short listen, and now I know for sure that Olivie Blake's writing just isn't for me. If you're into lush prose and very character-driven stories, her adult books may work for you!