A review by craftyhilary
Chasing The Light by Alexis Hall

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

3.0

Alexis Hall takes the absent villain, Marius, from Waiting for the Flood and makes him the protagonist of this slightly longer novella. There's a similar style meet-cute, similar whimsical banter, and a love interest who is, like Adam in Waiting for the Flood, a bit vaguely drawn compared to the main character. Plus the usual metaphor stuff. Marius spends the vast majority of the book behaving like a colossal jerk. It turns out he's dealing with something that most reasonable people would find devastating, and yet it seems that he was always a difficult person, so it's hard to attribute all of his terrible behavior to that one thing, which might make it more understandable, if not necessarily forgivable. This was prettily written, but I think it was unwise to draw Marius as such a bad guy and then try to give him a redemption arc. I also had some issues with the love interest's backstory, but I can't address them without spoilers. Overall, I found the book unconvincing.
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