wintershyacinth 's review for:

The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley

4.0

challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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 Beautifully written book that does an amazing job telling the horrors and dread of living a secret town in Soviet Russia and how the fear of failing or standing out effects everyone, as a simple phone call feels like life or death. 50% of the book is just about radiation, but it does a good job explaining it, and Valery is definitely the highlight of the book.

Personally was hard for me to love Valery and Shenkov's romantic plot. Not because it wasn't cute, but it feels like a Yaoi version of "I Fell in Love With my Mob Boss" in 60's Russia. Shenkov is a likebly character and his and Valery dynamic is enjoyable, but it felt weird when one feels comfortable hanging around the other guy who just set a house on fire with people inside it.