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podanotherjessi 's review for:
Our Infinite Fates
by Laura Steven
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What I wanted: Meet Me in Another Life, but make it romance this time
What I got: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, but way worse
I really should have DNF'd this book. About a quarter of the way through, I considered it, and I noted down all of the problems I had. By the end, none of those things had improved, and more problems cropped up. But I had an advanced copy of this, so I felt compelled to push through.
To be concise, here are my issues, in a quick (ish) list:
1. We never actually see love develop between the characters, we're just told that they have loved each other before.
2. Their souls aren't bound to a certain sex or race, and that would be interesting is addressed, but aside from one brief conversation, it's never really discussed. This feels like a plot device for the sake of variation more than anything thought out and intentional.
3. There's so much potential in exploring international relations or how different life is for different people, but it's just not. They live one life in the body of French soldiers, and the next in recently liberated Algeria! Tell me more about the complex interplay between those identities!
4. "No book has ever made me understand telling instead of showing like this.When Evelyn talks to Carey trying to figure out if he's Arden, for example, can't just let the reader understand the undercurrent. Every single line had to be explained. Did he say that because he's genuinely new and doesn't know or because he's Arden and wants to throw me off? Is he doing that because Arden is an old soul or because Carey is just quirky?? It was so exhausting having my hand held to drag me through the story." (quote from my journal update at 26%)
5. The characters were inconsistent across different lives! Most of why I read reincarnation or alternate reality books is to see how authors show the same character but raised in different circumstances. But that wasn't done here. Evelyn-in-2022 would show no interest in something, until it was introduced in a flashback to a previous life, and then suddenly it would be a trait in the present.
6. This is technically a spoiler, but it's not a plot thing, butThe fact that Arden gets to draw the line on not having sex with Evelyn, but he's not a virgin. He has sex in various lives. But Evelyn never has. She's a virgin. What purpose does that serve??
7. The reveal wasn't even good! I'll give the book it's flowers that I wasn't expecting that, but I wasn't expecting it because there was no reason to ever think that was even a possibility.
What I got: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, but way worse
I really should have DNF'd this book. About a quarter of the way through, I considered it, and I noted down all of the problems I had. By the end, none of those things had improved, and more problems cropped up. But I had an advanced copy of this, so I felt compelled to push through.
To be concise, here are my issues, in a quick (ish) list:
1. We never actually see love develop between the characters, we're just told that they have loved each other before.
2. Their souls aren't bound to a certain sex or race, and that would be interesting is addressed, but aside from one brief conversation, it's never really discussed. This feels like a plot device for the sake of variation more than anything thought out and intentional.
3. There's so much potential in exploring international relations or how different life is for different people, but it's just not. They live one life in the body of French soldiers, and the next in recently liberated Algeria! Tell me more about the complex interplay between those identities!
4. "No book has ever made me understand telling instead of showing like this.
5. The characters were inconsistent across different lives! Most of why I read reincarnation or alternate reality books is to see how authors show the same character but raised in different circumstances. But that wasn't done here. Evelyn-in-2022 would show no interest in something, until it was introduced in a flashback to a previous life, and then suddenly it would be a trait in the present.
6. This is technically a spoiler, but it's not a plot thing, but
7. The reveal wasn't even good! I'll give the book it's flowers that I wasn't expecting that, but I wasn't expecting it because there was no reason to ever think that was even a possibility.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Murder
Moderate: Death of parent