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A review by awyl
Strange Creatures by Phoebe North
2.0
1.5/5
Link to TikTok explaining the plot: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdDJaA8M/
Strange Creatures follows a pair of siblings who have drifted apart over the years. Whilst Jamie, the older brother, seems to have moved on from the boy he was and the childhood him and his sister shared, Annie seems to still be very attached to the past and has hope that Jamie will one day return to how he used to be. However, things take a turn for the worse when one day Jamie mysteriously disappears, seeming to have run away without a word.
I'm not really sure what I expected going into this novel but it wasn't this. Strange Creatures is a contemporary novel with fantasy elements interwoven in the narrative at the beginning of each chapter, telling a whole new story, which I loved. However it does get a little confusing as you don't learn until well into the book the significance of it.
On the whole, I felt that this was a very slow book, though particularly at the beginning so it took a while to get into. I also couldn't connect to any of the characters because they - especially Annie - were generally so annoying and unlikeable. I could never understand her reasonings and found myself getting very frustrated, to the point where I had to close the book and walk away.
Also as the book is told from multiple perspectives, the writing style was kind of weird, specifically for Jamie's character which had me rereading several pages because I was so confused.
What the characters experienced is definitely heartbreaking and shocking, but I really didn't feel anything whilst reading about it, mostly because of the lack of connection between me and the characters (or maye I'm just very coldhearted lol).
Overall I think this book had a nice idea, but the execution of it fell a little flat for me.
TW: violence, rape, abuse, kidnapping, abduction, assault, neglect(?)
Link to TikTok explaining the plot: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdDJaA8M/
Strange Creatures follows a pair of siblings who have drifted apart over the years. Whilst Jamie, the older brother, seems to have moved on from the boy he was and the childhood him and his sister shared, Annie seems to still be very attached to the past and has hope that Jamie will one day return to how he used to be. However, things take a turn for the worse when one day Jamie mysteriously disappears, seeming to have run away without a word.
I'm not really sure what I expected going into this novel but it wasn't this. Strange Creatures is a contemporary novel with fantasy elements interwoven in the narrative at the beginning of each chapter, telling a whole new story, which I loved. However it does get a little confusing as you don't learn until well into the book the significance of it.
On the whole, I felt that this was a very slow book, though particularly at the beginning so it took a while to get into. I also couldn't connect to any of the characters because they - especially Annie - were generally so annoying and unlikeable. I could never understand her reasonings and found myself getting very frustrated, to the point where I had to close the book and walk away.
Also as the book is told from multiple perspectives, the writing style was kind of weird, specifically for Jamie's character which had me rereading several pages because I was so confused.
What the characters experienced is definitely heartbreaking and shocking, but I really didn't feel anything whilst reading about it, mostly because of the lack of connection between me and the characters (or maye I'm just very coldhearted lol).
Overall I think this book had a nice idea, but the execution of it fell a little flat for me.
TW: violence, rape, abuse, kidnapping, abduction, assault, neglect(?)