A review by rileyo627
Dark Passage by Ridley Pearson

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

i have mixed feelings about this one. i feel like this rewrite relied heavily on on the character dynamics which isolates itself from the others but i really liked that. there weren’t many solo chapters– everyone always had at least one partner. it stayed pretty true to the original, although it was much shorter and i felt like there wasn’t really a true reason for it. i really only have two main problems with the book, and honestly it’s because of missing details in the previous books. 

the relationships between the characters are my favorite part, however it seems like finn and amanda are the only couple to actually have some sort of development. from the beginning, it’s clear that they like each other and it’s slowly been building up since. as for philby and willa, it’s been hinted but no real statements to indicate that they like each other. there have been comments and observations by other characters but that’s about it. there has been almost nothing that would have made me think maybeck and charlene liked each other, except for maybe a total of three lines in all six books. this means in the last chapter, when willa and charlene kiss the boys to wake them up, it seemingly comes out of nowhere. if i hadn’t read the original series, i probably would have been shocked and confused because there has been nothing in the previous books that led up to this.

my other problem was dillard. he has barely been in the series in general, and he’s supposed to be finn’s best friend. there’s supposed to be this tension because finn has other, “cooler” friends that dillard is jealous of, but there’s never any doubt that finn and dillard are incredibly close. this is what makes his death so impactful in the the original series. since him and finna have barely interacted in the rewrites, it’s hard to feel that sad about him dying in front of finn. i even feel like finn didn’t display a ton of emotion either. 

that being said, i didn’t hate it, but i didn’t love it either. i was a little disappointed, but at this point i wasn’t expecting much. it only makes me want to reread the original copies more.