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A review by cody
The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
this had such a strong start, but unfortunately the beginning of the story was its peak and it was a smooth journey downhill from there :(
The Book of Accidents begins with two hooky prologues proceeded by gripping introductions to its three main characters. I tore through the sample on my Kindle in a day and immediately bought the full book, and for the first 100 or so pages, i was obsessed. It had a gothic family drama vibe, which is exactly my taste, and what seemed to be a slow-burn supernatural mystery element. i was fully prepared to recommend this to fans of the Mike Flanagan shows on Netflix bc that’s precisely what it was giving.
but then things began to fall apart. first i noticed that the writing wasn’t all that great. definitely good, just not at the level i tricked myself into believing it was initially. like just within the first 120 pages, i noticed a bunch of typos, which is nbd but definitely a distraction in the moment. also a lot of the dialogue (mainly among the younger characters) felt dated and corny. and then the reveals started being made too quickly, the pieces of the mystery came together too soon and too predictably, everything became messy and convoluted, and i realized that this book wasn’t nearly as smart or impactful as i thought it was going to be. by the ~350 page mark, pretty much all of the reveals had been made, and it became clear where everything was headed. the story shifted from a character-driven narrative to a heavily plot-focused one. like, despite this being a pretty big book, almost all of the side characters wound up being personified tropes who seemed to exist only to propel the plot or the main characters’ arcs. plus, i was left with several unanswered questions. I’m not sure how it’s possible to write a 500+ page book with underdeveloped characters/relationships AND underdeveloped plot points, but this author managed to do it.
that said, the first 25-50% of the book was great enough to make the overall reading experience a positive one. it’s just not the 5⭐️ masterpiece i was hoping for :(
3.5
The Book of Accidents begins with two hooky prologues proceeded by gripping introductions to its three main characters. I tore through the sample on my Kindle in a day and immediately bought the full book, and for the first 100 or so pages, i was obsessed. It had a gothic family drama vibe, which is exactly my taste, and what seemed to be a slow-burn supernatural mystery element. i was fully prepared to recommend this to fans of the Mike Flanagan shows on Netflix bc that’s precisely what it was giving.
but then things began to fall apart. first i noticed that the writing wasn’t all that great. definitely good, just not at the level i tricked myself into believing it was initially. like just within the first 120 pages, i noticed a bunch of typos, which is nbd but definitely a distraction in the moment. also a lot of the dialogue (mainly among the younger characters) felt dated and corny. and then the reveals started being made too quickly, the pieces of the mystery came together too soon and too predictably, everything became messy and convoluted, and i realized that this book wasn’t nearly as smart or impactful as i thought it was going to be. by the ~350 page mark, pretty much all of the reveals had been made, and it became clear where everything was headed. the story shifted from a character-driven narrative to a heavily plot-focused one. like, despite this being a pretty big book, almost all of the side characters wound up being personified tropes who seemed to exist only to propel the plot or the main characters’ arcs. plus, i was left with several unanswered questions. I’m not sure how it’s possible to write a 500+ page book with underdeveloped characters/relationships AND underdeveloped plot points, but this author managed to do it.
that said, the first 25-50% of the book was great enough to make the overall reading experience a positive one. it’s just not the 5⭐️ masterpiece i was hoping for :(
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Alcoholism