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A review by everybody
Year One by Nora Roberts
3.0
What makes this book exceptional to me is the intensity with which emotions are conveyed.
There are not a lot of dystopian novels that described the feel of living in one this well.
The despair and the coping, the hope, especially in the first half was incredibly believable to me. I was fully consumed in the emotional world of the characters which has become rare for me.
Now let's get to the flaws.
(all spoilers are mild)
There was a lot of hinting at stuff that never had any relevance. Lots of breadcrumbs that lead nowhere.
After experiencing the initial things meander for quite some time. We have lots of the usual tropes of dystopia. Evil people that are evil for the sake of being evil. The and lots of the other usual things none of which are particularly well executed. Most of it feels very formulaic which I find especially frustrating because the characters themselves, as well as the world, are well nuanced and lifelike. Not only that but a lot of all that ultimately leads nowhere. There is no payoff for at least 70% of the book's content. (This might all still come to fruition in later books and if that's the case scrap that part of the criticism.)
Finally, this book did something that was hinted at throughout and that I hate which is probably the main reason this didn't get 4 stars from me.
I almost always hate the whole prophecy chosen one thing.
Regardless of how many times characters are told that nothing is set in stone and free will is still a thing, I as a reader know. I know it will all occur. It takes a lot of the story away. Together with the heavy-handed foreshadowing all major plot twist and developments were predictable from a mile away which especially if they are bad always leave this dreadfull and depressing atmosphere over everything until they happen. Which might be the point but at the same time they assure you that certain things will not happen. In most cases they just give things away without adding anything.
There are examples of how prophecy can be done well but it always carries some problems. What is the point of a prophecy that only makes sense after the fact and if it doesn't its basically just a spoiler that narrows possibility and makes it hard to surprise the reader.
I find it is used way too much and often without adding anything to the story like in this case.
There are not a lot of dystopian novels that described the feel of living in one this well.
The despair and the coping, the hope, especially in the first half was incredibly believable to me. I was fully consumed in the emotional world of the characters which has become rare for me.
Now let's get to the flaws.
(all spoilers are mild)
There was a lot of hinting at stuff that never had any relevance. Lots of breadcrumbs that lead nowhere.
After experiencing the initial
Spoiler
apocalypseSpoiler
Small survivor town bigotry against people that are different.Spoiler
religious radicalsFinally, this book did something that was hinted at throughout and that I hate which is probably the main reason this didn't get 4 stars from me.
I almost always hate the whole prophecy chosen one thing.
Regardless of how many times characters are told that nothing is set in stone and free will is still a thing, I as a reader know. I know it will all occur. It takes a lot of the story away. Together with the heavy-handed foreshadowing all major plot twist and developments were predictable from a mile away which especially if they are bad always leave this dreadfull and depressing atmosphere over everything until they happen. Which might be the point but at the same time they assure you that certain things will not happen. In most cases they just give things away without adding anything.
There are examples of how prophecy can be done well but it always carries some problems. What is the point of a prophecy that only makes sense after the fact and if it doesn't its basically just a spoiler that narrows possibility and makes it hard to surprise the reader.
I find it is used way too much and often without adding anything to the story like in this case.