Scan barcode
A review by ladyljd
The Project by Courtney Summers
2.0
The Project by Courtney Summers
Non-spoiler
I’d like to start out by thanking the publisher for providing a free e-book in exchange for an honest review. Please bear in mind the following only contains my opinions and reflects my experiences with the novel.
Undoubtedly, Courtney Summers is a talented writer. They know how to craft a story and as a reader you can tell they put research into provide a seemingly honest, if fictional, account of people that have been used by a cult. While I cannot be a voice that authenticates that journey, some of the information presented tracks with accounts provided by actual people that have shared their stories after “waking up” and leaving a cult.
Now to the meat and the bones of this review. Overall, my take away of The Project is that it’s interesting, but not gripping.
*Review lowered to a 2.5 star, rounded to 3, after sleeping on it. See spoiler section for details.
Potential and absolute spoilers
Very early on in the story there were mentions to the Trump administration. Considering the time period in which the novel takes place, it makes sense; however, it’s strange, not bad just strange, to read references to this deplorable era in American history when we are still freshly dealing with the horrific aftermath.
Jumping in to the criticism…
Nothing in this book was really surprising. Even without prior mention that they existed, it was clear who the person was that showed up to Arthur’s house once Casey arrived. As soon as it was mentioned Foster was having issues with the religion, the immediate thought was what happened. Once a murder was revealed, my first thought was, “of course she was murdered.” The story was predictable. Leading into the next point…
This is the fourth Courtney Summers book that I’ve read, and they all have glaring similarities. It seems the draft of these stories are laid out to include two sisters (or people with a familial bond), missing girl, assault, revelation that missing girl was raped and murdered, and conclusion. The details are different, but the beats are the same.
I think one of the most infuriating things about the story was that the novel entirely skipped over how Lo survived the final attack. The conclusion went straight from she’s dying into a time jump where she’s fine, well, alive to deal with the repercussions of what she’s been through. Absolutely no details on how she survived and her attacker died other than essentially, meh, it is what it is…moving on.
*Thinking more on this a day later. In my opinion skipping the details of the final battle is lazy storytelling. The entire story builds to this point and then a seemingly impossible situation was just resolved off page. It’s like if in Infinity War Thanos retrieved all of the infinity stones, snapped, and then the movie flashed forward to a point beyond Endgame where everything was fine. No information on how he was stopped other than a brief dialogue between the heroes like “yeah, Thanos is gone and we did the thing.” Lowering my rating from a 3 star to 2.5.
There are formatting issues in the advanced e-book I received that could absolutely be because it was an arc and not a final copy; however, these issues were enough to take me out of the story and I hope they were not included in the finished product.
Non-spoiler
I’d like to start out by thanking the publisher for providing a free e-book in exchange for an honest review. Please bear in mind the following only contains my opinions and reflects my experiences with the novel.
Undoubtedly, Courtney Summers is a talented writer. They know how to craft a story and as a reader you can tell they put research into provide a seemingly honest, if fictional, account of people that have been used by a cult. While I cannot be a voice that authenticates that journey, some of the information presented tracks with accounts provided by actual people that have shared their stories after “waking up” and leaving a cult.
Now to the meat and the bones of this review. Overall, my take away of The Project is that it’s interesting, but not gripping.
*Review lowered to a 2.5 star, rounded to 3, after sleeping on it. See spoiler section for details.
Potential and absolute spoilers
Very early on in the story there were mentions to the Trump administration. Considering the time period in which the novel takes place, it makes sense; however, it’s strange, not bad just strange, to read references to this deplorable era in American history when we are still freshly dealing with the horrific aftermath.
Jumping in to the criticism…
Nothing in this book was really surprising. Even without prior mention that they existed, it was clear who the person was that showed up to Arthur’s house once Casey arrived. As soon as it was mentioned Foster was having issues with the religion, the immediate thought was what happened. Once a murder was revealed, my first thought was, “of course she was murdered.” The story was predictable. Leading into the next point…
This is the fourth Courtney Summers book that I’ve read, and they all have glaring similarities. It seems the draft of these stories are laid out to include two sisters (or people with a familial bond), missing girl, assault, revelation that missing girl was raped and murdered, and conclusion. The details are different, but the beats are the same.
I think one of the most infuriating things about the story was that the novel entirely skipped over how Lo survived the final attack. The conclusion went straight from she’s dying into a time jump where she’s fine, well, alive to deal with the repercussions of what she’s been through. Absolutely no details on how she survived and her attacker died other than essentially, meh, it is what it is…moving on.
*Thinking more on this a day later. In my opinion skipping the details of the final battle is lazy storytelling. The entire story builds to this point and then a seemingly impossible situation was just resolved off page. It’s like if in Infinity War Thanos retrieved all of the infinity stones, snapped, and then the movie flashed forward to a point beyond Endgame where everything was fine. No information on how he was stopped other than a brief dialogue between the heroes like “yeah, Thanos is gone and we did the thing.” Lowering my rating from a 3 star to 2.5.
There are formatting issues in the advanced e-book I received that could absolutely be because it was an arc and not a final copy; however, these issues were enough to take me out of the story and I hope they were not included in the finished product.