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A review by crofteereader
Playing with Fire by April Henry
4.0
3.5 stars rounded up.
Well written, descriptive, and fast paced (and short!), Playing With Fire follows 12 people in a desperate race to escape a raging wildfire. It was a lot of characters to juggle and, as such, it was easy to either forget about them or accidentally conflated them, but Henry kept them distinct by giving each character a set of one-on-one encounters with main character Natalia. That's how you handle a large cast without relying on stereotypes instead of characterization.
The one thing that I struggled with, though, was the sheer amount of stuff that went wrong. It was a Murphy's Law hike: literally anything you might think could go wrong did. We have a panic attack, an athsma attack, anyphalactic shock (I probably spelled that horribly wrong), diabetic rapid blood sugar loss, falls, slips, stumbles, broken or dislocated bones. Like... It was an entire season of Grey's Anatomy in one 250 page book.
But because of the pacing and the clear distinction of characters, it was a fast and entertaining read. And, as someone whose biggest fear is house fires, it was occasionally rather hard to read.
{Thank you Fierce Reads for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}
Well written, descriptive, and fast paced (and short!), Playing With Fire follows 12 people in a desperate race to escape a raging wildfire. It was a lot of characters to juggle and, as such, it was easy to either forget about them or accidentally conflated them, but Henry kept them distinct by giving each character a set of one-on-one encounters with main character Natalia. That's how you handle a large cast without relying on stereotypes instead of characterization.
The one thing that I struggled with, though, was the sheer amount of stuff that went wrong. It was a Murphy's Law hike: literally anything you might think could go wrong did. We have a panic attack, an athsma attack, anyphalactic shock (I probably spelled that horribly wrong), diabetic rapid blood sugar loss, falls, slips, stumbles, broken or dislocated bones. Like... It was an entire season of Grey's Anatomy in one 250 page book.
But because of the pacing and the clear distinction of characters, it was a fast and entertaining read. And, as someone whose biggest fear is house fires, it was occasionally rather hard to read.
{Thank you Fierce Reads for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review; all thoughts are my own}