A review by halefa
The Price by

dark reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This was a very interesting read! The world building and concept was interesting and nicely described. "The Price" describes a common distopian society with some tropes showing up, however, there was not a lot of hand holding of the reader or loredrop which made it actually easy to read. The only information you were fed was the information relevant to the character you're following.

Speaking of characters - there is not a single main character or POV. The book has a total of 12 chapters and each chapter follows their own character. They are all more or less loosely related and connected to the plot, but you don't get to really fall in love and stick with one of them.
In general the narration feels distanced to what is going on. Some of the characters' feelings are being touched upon, but the narrator is never really going deep and discussing their thoughts, considerations, etc. At times it feels a bit like a report describing what happened based on interviews with the different characters.

It requires a bit of getting used to. I feel like it works well with the length of the book - it's not too long to make one get annoyed about just being a drone hovering over the character.  (Maybe that is the impression the reader was supposed to have - like being a drone?)

The ending came kinda abrupt and feels like a cliffhanger. The political and societal structures were built so detailed and a lot of questions were raised about  how the problems could be resolved - I felt a bit lost and left alone when everything suddenly ended without being resolved or explained. This might have been intentional.

It is not my new favorite book and at times it was a bit dragging to read, but overall I found "The Price" interesting and refreshing compared to what I usually read. The length was perfect even though I would have wished for an epilogue to end things plot-wise.

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Copy received for free through NetGalley