Scan barcode
A review by _haggis_
Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
The title is apt! It really did feel like one thing after another.
I feel rather mixed about the book. The first half was really enjoyable - fast paced, interesting characters, quirky plot - and I devoured it in hours. The concept - time travelling historians - was really fun and the book seemed the perfect light-read entertainment novel.
BUT. About midway it just ---- flopped? I dunno. Max is a fun character and had good comradery with the others and then there was this wonderful tease of a romance (I'm a sucker for slowburn) and then suddenly BAM! They're randomly having graphic sex on the bonnet of a car. Like comeon. really? It felt lazy writing and a bit of a betrayal as the goofy-clumsy characters were inexplicably sex-crazed and horny. I didn't think it fit with the story at all....
This was a weird but forgivable change in the book's development but I do wish I had stopped reading at that point because it just got worse. I mean true - we got to hang out with dinosaurs - but this gets side-lined by a lazy, boring (and frankly upsetting) plot twist. At this point I put the book down and refused to pick it up for daysThe attempted rape scene and sexual assault left a nasty taste in my mouth and it was really difficult reading it. There was nothing on the back cover to suggest that the content might be triggering/18+ and I definitely wasn't expecting it. Which I think was half of the problem. Not only do I believe that rape-scenes-as-a-woman's-moment-of-empowerment is a sexist (and profoundly problematic) cliche but it didn't feel like that strong of a plot point either - Taylor could quite easily have written the 'villain reveal' and betrayal without the sexual assault and it seemed to function only as a lazy way to demonstrate the man's unlikable-ness.
There's a distinct lack of character development and promises/foreshadowing hinted at earlier in the text never fully come to fruition.
Ultimately I thought the premise was very cool and so 1.5 stars were given for the first half but it was just so disappointing. I will not be reading the rest of the series.
I feel rather mixed about the book. The first half was really enjoyable - fast paced, interesting characters, quirky plot - and I devoured it in hours. The concept - time travelling historians - was really fun and the book seemed the perfect light-read entertainment novel.
BUT. About midway it just ---- flopped? I dunno. Max is a fun character and had good comradery with the others and then there was this wonderful tease of a romance (I'm a sucker for slowburn) and then suddenly BAM! They're randomly having graphic sex on the bonnet of a car. Like comeon. really? It felt lazy writing and a bit of a betrayal as the goofy-clumsy characters were inexplicably sex-crazed and horny. I didn't think it fit with the story at all....
This was a weird but forgivable change in the book's development but I do wish I had stopped reading at that point because it just got worse. I mean true - we got to hang out with dinosaurs - but this gets side-lined by a lazy, boring (and frankly upsetting) plot twist. At this point I put the book down and refused to pick it up for days
There's a distinct lack of character development and promises/foreshadowing hinted at earlier in the text never fully come to fruition.
Ultimately I thought the premise was very cool and so 1.5 stars were given for the first half but it was just so disappointing. I will not be reading the rest of the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual harassment