A review by oohsnickers
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The story started off a bit slow for me, partly because the characters--so well-developed from the start--are kind of annoying. But I relished how annoying they were, if that makes sense. No one comes away clean in this. The main villain is maybe a little too mustache-twirling evil? But again, I feel like there's real-world precedent for that. Anyway, this is one of the few books of 2024 so far that I actually truly enjoyed.