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bobbygw 's review for:

The Cipher by Kathe Koja
2.0
challenging dark tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Overwritten, narrated by an insipid, dull, masochistic man, Nicholas, who worships an obnoxious, controlling boring bully of a woman, Nakota. 

Kathe Koja takes a great concept - an alien/other hole in a storage room that transfigures in hideous, strange ways anything inserted into it - and drags the plot and story out over what felt like several hundred plodding pages but in fact was only 356. So disappointing, especially given that the novel won the Bram Stoker, and the Locus, both of which are prestigious awards.