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A review by podanotherjessi
The Treasure Hunters Club by Tom Ryan
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I didn't care for the writing or the character work, so I don't know that there was any saving this book. But I can envision a better version of this story where it doesn't try to be a mystery and instead sticks to being a multi-generational adventure and treasure hunt.
The writing style is mostly a me thing, and I think some people will get on well with it. It was just very simple and straight forward, which is not a style that I personally enjoy. I got used to it as the book went on, but I was never fully engaged in the story. The style didn't add anything. Each pov character sounded more or less the same.
And whoooo boy, the characters. There was such strange gendered weirdness going. Women are called "girls" and have interests in Emily in Paris and tik tok. Men and boys play video games and go on forechan. Men drink beer or whiskey and women drink wine or cocktails (although, the cocktail in question was also wine?).
And I really want to add spoilers because the last 10% of the book really made everything worse. There's a drastic personality shift for one character. Another one (or three) felt completely unnecessary when all was said and done. And so many of these problems felt like they were introduced by the author simply to throw the reader off of the scent of the twists he wanted at the end.
If you took the mystery out and didn't try to have a big reveal at the end, I think this book would improve. Or make the mystery where the treasure is and have an adventure with our characters finding out info through journals and digging and everything else. The twist didn't add anything to this book.
The writing style is mostly a me thing, and I think some people will get on well with it. It was just very simple and straight forward, which is not a style that I personally enjoy. I got used to it as the book went on, but I was never fully engaged in the story. The style didn't add anything. Each pov character sounded more or less the same.
And whoooo boy, the characters. There was such strange gendered weirdness going. Women are called "girls" and have interests in Emily in Paris and tik tok. Men and boys play video games and go on forechan. Men drink beer or whiskey and women drink wine or cocktails (although, the cocktail in question was also wine?).
And I really want to add spoilers because the last 10% of the book really made everything worse. There's a drastic personality shift for one character. Another one (or three) felt completely unnecessary when all was said and done. And so many of these problems felt like they were introduced by the author simply to throw the reader off of the scent of the twists he wanted at the end.
If you took the mystery out and didn't try to have a big reveal at the end, I think this book would improve. Or make the mystery where the treasure is and have an adventure with our characters finding out info through journals and digging and everything else. The twist didn't add anything to this book.