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kawaiilotus 's review for:
Dust
by Kara Swanson
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gang imma be so for real, this book genuinely drove me past my limits. I’ve got so many issues with everything.
Also you know this review is gonna be bad when I barely type stuff out this long and if I would, I’d use my computer (I am so upset about this book that I am typing this on my phone).
1) The Characters:
Ok, so Peter is just selfish (which I know comes from the original tale) but it’s really hard to get attached to and love a selfish and prideful character. And with the amount of times he lied to Claire, I was more inclined not to like him because of how he was manipulating her. Also 90% of the time, his romance with Claire is giving whiplash. They go so back and forth, I’m not sure they even love each other. ALSO!! HE’S A JERK!! HE PUSHED CLAIRE OFF A ROOF UNPROMPTED AND THEN WAS UPSET THAT SHE WAS ON EDGE AROUND HIM!!
Claire is just kinda… meh. Honestly I couldn’t get behind her motives or her constant breakdowns. Like I understand she’s traumatized but she’s also so back and forth and literally can’t do anything for herself. Girl you have self esteem issues I get it, I’ve been there, but you’re literally hindering yourself.
Hook is genuinely just a predator. He is a graying old man and he calls Claire “love” and at one point says “that’s my girl”. No sir that is not your girl. Return to your old man cave or something and mope about your dead wife or whatever.
Tiger Lily is honestly the only reason this book gets a non-zero review. She was amazing I love her. Absolute queen.
2) The Plot:
You know what, for how much Connor is talked about, I would’ve loved more flashbacks, but no we didn’t get that at all. So it was really hard to get attached to the whole “find Connor narrative”.
Everything just felt really slow and then it would get fast and then it would get slow again. I genuinely have no idea how you can write a whole novel around going to Neverland and then the actual going to Neverland happens in the last 5 pages. Absolutely insane to me. I will not be reading the second book.
Also this doesn’t really fall into this category but genuinely why did everyone have knives and weapons and stuff and fight in public and not attract the police. Like at one point they’re in the grocery store and Hook and Nibs have actively surrounded Claire. In public! I just imagine being in that aisle as an onlooker and seeing an old man and like a teenage/YA boy going after this singular young girl. Hello? Anybody raising any eyebrows? Also with the amount of crazy laws England has around the possession of weapons, I don’t know how anyone hasn’t been arrested.
3) The Themes:
Please, please, please. Depression and suicide and crippling self-worth topics can be tacked so well in books, but this just wasn’t it. Especially with how it was handled.
Peter is giving this girl hope by lying to her! THAT’S NOT OK!! Especially with where Claire is at. And yes, I know Peter doesn’t know much about her, but he’s literally leading on and using the girl who has crippling self worth issues and thinks she’s a monster and tried to kill herself. You just don’t do that! All the while, he’s falling in love with her.
I genuinely feel like everyone in this book is abusing Claire for her magic, and for what? I don’t know how she wants to work with Hook or Peter. Like, girl, RUN. They’re just gonna use her and then drop her when she’s of no use anymore.
4) The Language:
Whenever a Peter chapter showed up I actually wanted to do something else entirely and put the book down. Because LET ME TELL YOU, the way he talked is giving American trying to write a British person. And I would know. I’ve been there, but like I did my research when writing my Doctor Who fanfic, okay.
Here’s some of what Peter says:
-Chap
-Bloomin’
-Blast it all
-Cor
-Blasted heck
There’s more but I definitely cannot remember because I erased so much of it from my mind since it was so bad (I legit actively cringed)
And listen, some of the words are used in regular British life, sure. But I have not heard them used as frequently as they were used in this book. Maybe if they were used more sparse it wouldn’t feel as cringe.
One last thing. I know this is a Christian novel so it’s void of any swearing. That’s not a bad thing necessarily, as I also try to avoid using swears when I write. But with the themes in this book, it’s very strange to me that these characters aren’t swearing or more bitter. Like Claire jumps out a second story window and has cut herself (iirc) and she’s just like “well gosh diggity dang it” (not an actual quote but you know what I mean). And Peter has literally seen death and had everything taken from him and he’s also the same way. It just doesn’t line up maturity-wise. It just feels strange.
5) The Racism:
This is gonna be brief. Can we please have other descriptions for indigenous characters aside from “dark” because every time I saw that being used to describe Tiger Lily, I wanted to scream.
Anyway, I have so much more to rant about but I genuinely do not wanna waste my time on this book anymore. Take it from me and do not read.
Also you know this review is gonna be bad when I barely type stuff out this long and if I would, I’d use my computer (I am so upset about this book that I am typing this on my phone).
1) The Characters:
Ok, so Peter is just selfish (which I know comes from the original tale) but it’s really hard to get attached to and love a selfish and prideful character. And with the amount of times he lied to Claire, I was more inclined not to like him because of how he was manipulating her. Also 90% of the time, his romance with Claire is giving whiplash. They go so back and forth, I’m not sure they even love each other. ALSO!! HE’S A JERK!! HE PUSHED CLAIRE OFF A ROOF UNPROMPTED AND THEN WAS UPSET THAT SHE WAS ON EDGE AROUND HIM!!
Claire is just kinda… meh. Honestly I couldn’t get behind her motives or her constant breakdowns. Like I understand she’s traumatized but she’s also so back and forth and literally can’t do anything for herself. Girl you have self esteem issues I get it, I’ve been there, but you’re literally hindering yourself.
Hook is genuinely just a predator. He is a graying old man and he calls Claire “love” and at one point says “that’s my girl”. No sir that is not your girl. Return to your old man cave or something and mope about your dead wife or whatever.
Tiger Lily is honestly the only reason this book gets a non-zero review. She was amazing I love her. Absolute queen.
2) The Plot:
You know what, for how much Connor is talked about, I would’ve loved more flashbacks, but no we didn’t get that at all. So it was really hard to get attached to the whole “find Connor narrative”.
Everything just felt really slow and then it would get fast and then it would get slow again. I genuinely have no idea how you can write a whole novel around going to Neverland and then the actual going to Neverland happens in the last 5 pages. Absolutely insane to me. I will not be reading the second book.
Also this doesn’t really fall into this category but genuinely why did everyone have knives and weapons and stuff and fight in public and not attract the police. Like at one point they’re in the grocery store and Hook and Nibs have actively surrounded Claire. In public! I just imagine being in that aisle as an onlooker and seeing an old man and like a teenage/YA boy going after this singular young girl. Hello? Anybody raising any eyebrows? Also with the amount of crazy laws England has around the possession of weapons, I don’t know how anyone hasn’t been arrested.
3) The Themes:
Please, please, please. Depression and suicide and crippling self-worth topics can be tacked so well in books, but this just wasn’t it. Especially with how it was handled.
Peter is giving this girl hope by lying to her! THAT’S NOT OK!! Especially with where Claire is at. And yes, I know Peter doesn’t know much about her, but he’s literally leading on and using the girl who has crippling self worth issues and thinks she’s a monster and tried to kill herself. You just don’t do that! All the while, he’s falling in love with her.
I genuinely feel like everyone in this book is abusing Claire for her magic, and for what? I don’t know how she wants to work with Hook or Peter. Like, girl, RUN. They’re just gonna use her and then drop her when she’s of no use anymore.
4) The Language:
Whenever a Peter chapter showed up I actually wanted to do something else entirely and put the book down. Because LET ME TELL YOU, the way he talked is giving American trying to write a British person. And I would know. I’ve been there, but like I did my research when writing my Doctor Who fanfic, okay.
Here’s some of what Peter says:
-Chap
-Bloomin’
-Blast it all
-Cor
-Blasted heck
There’s more but I definitely cannot remember because I erased so much of it from my mind since it was so bad (I legit actively cringed)
And listen, some of the words are used in regular British life, sure. But I have not heard them used as frequently as they were used in this book. Maybe if they were used more sparse it wouldn’t feel as cringe.
One last thing. I know this is a Christian novel so it’s void of any swearing. That’s not a bad thing necessarily, as I also try to avoid using swears when I write. But with the themes in this book, it’s very strange to me that these characters aren’t swearing or more bitter. Like Claire jumps out a second story window and has cut herself (iirc) and she’s just like “well gosh diggity dang it” (not an actual quote but you know what I mean). And Peter has literally seen death and had everything taken from him and he’s also the same way. It just doesn’t line up maturity-wise. It just feels strange.
5) The Racism:
This is gonna be brief. Can we please have other descriptions for indigenous characters aside from “dark” because every time I saw that being used to describe Tiger Lily, I wanted to scream.
Anyway, I have so much more to rant about but I genuinely do not wanna waste my time on this book anymore. Take it from me and do not read.