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A review by shadowbunny101
The Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Honestly? I had a really hard time getting emotionally invested in this book/in the characters. I don’t know how to explain this without spoiling things so im going to use the spoiler function.
Iris’ death? Not expected but also not surprising? A bit underwhelming actually. I think that stems from the fact that she was a difficult character to fall in love with (believe this was intentional). She felt superficial and manipulative and was all around dull. Oscar saw a pretty face and fell for it. I think one general issue I had was that the characters were meant to be unlikeable and truly were. Not in the sense that they were bad people but that they were all pretty dull. While the writing was good I couldn’t connect to any of them. This can partially be attributed to the fact that very little of the book is dedicated to yin jane and Marcus. They are truly side-main characters if that makes sense.
I know this has been compared to the secret history and I can definitely see why but I didn’t feel the same emotions when reading this. When Henry died in the secret history I actually cried. God knows why I cried over the death of a fictional narcissist but I did. Iris? Not a tear shed. There was no emotional attachment to this book from my end and I don’t know if that’s a reflection of my mood or if that’s an issue with this book. Read it yourself and find out.
My favorite character was crest hands down. I would read any of his novels in a heart beat and I think the author did a really good job developing him (the boat. The BOAT!!!). Otherwise, while this was a solid overall read. I don’t feel anything in particular now that I’ve finished it and that’s somewhat disappointing.
Anyway. Thank you if you got this far into my nonsensical ramblings.
Iris’ death? Not expected but also not surprising? A bit underwhelming actually. I think that stems from the fact that she was a difficult character to fall in love with (believe this was intentional). She felt superficial and manipulative and was all around dull. Oscar saw a pretty face and fell for it. I think one general issue I had was that the characters were meant to be unlikeable and truly were. Not in the sense that they were bad people but that they were all pretty dull. While the writing was good I couldn’t connect to any of them. This can partially be attributed to the fact that very little of the book is dedicated to yin jane and Marcus. They are truly side-main characters if that makes sense.
I know this has been compared to the secret history and I can definitely see why but I didn’t feel the same emotions when reading this. When Henry died in the secret history I actually cried. God knows why I cried over the death of a fictional narcissist but I did. Iris? Not a tear shed. There was no emotional attachment to this book from my end and I don’t know if that’s a reflection of my mood or if that’s an issue with this book. Read it yourself and find out.
My favorite character was crest hands down. I would read any of his novels in a heart beat and I think the author did a really good job developing him (the boat. The BOAT!!!). Otherwise, while this was a solid overall read. I don’t feel anything in particular now that I’ve finished it and that’s somewhat disappointing.
Anyway. Thank you if you got this far into my nonsensical ramblings.