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A review by maximumboogie
The Turnglass by Gareth Rubin
2.5
Picked this up because I liked the cover(s) and had never read a book like this before.
Started with the blue half (1880s), and I honestly don't think the book can be read the other way around, because the latter story (red half, 1930s) has absolutely no effect on the other half (and in my opinion the blue story is basically useless if you read the red one first -in the red half it is revealed that one of the characters is the author of the other story, which makes the blue half fictional even in-universe ). You could read the blue half as a standalone though, it's fine on its own, just a regular mystery .
The fact that the two halves don't interact like I expected they would is a missed opportunity, and somewhat misleading marketing, as the cover implies that you need both parts of the story to understand the whole book, which isn't true.
The blue half had some weird depictions of accents that made some dialogue almost unreadable, and it took me out of it. The final reveal in this half was also pretty predictable, but I did like it. Shame it was made worse by the other half.
The red half was way less interesting than the blue one, and its ending is also very... abrupt. I did like the *final* twist, just not the confrontation that happened afterwards, it really was just characters telling one another what happened, instead of something interesting actually happening. This half also low-key ruined the blue half for me, there was a twist near the beginning that made me think: "then what was the point of the blue half?"
Reading the blue half in preparation for the red half is quite pointless, as I said before, because whenever you're supposed to remember something from the blue half, it is cited - and as far as I know, you're not missing any context by not having read the whole thing first.
Also, there is a trope that I really hate, namely "this character knows everything and dies before they can say anything", and this book does it TWICE. Three times technically, but the third person wasn't revealed to have known anything until after their death.
Other than all of these criticisms, I did like the book somewhat, especially the blue half was enjoyable.
Blue half - 3.25 stars
Red half - 1.75 stars
Started with the blue half (1880s), and I honestly don't think the book can be read the other way around, because the latter story (red half, 1930s) has absolutely no effect on the other half (and in my opinion the blue story is basically useless if you read the red one first -
The fact that the two halves don't interact like I expected they would is a missed opportunity, and somewhat misleading marketing, as the cover implies that you need both parts of the story to understand the whole book, which isn't true.
The blue half had some weird depictions of accents that made some dialogue almost unreadable, and it took me out of it. The final reveal in this half was also pretty predictable, but I did like it. Shame it was made worse by the other half.
The red half was way less interesting than the blue one, and its ending is also very... abrupt. I did like the *final* twist, just not the confrontation that happened afterwards, it really was just characters telling one another what happened, instead of something interesting actually happening. This half also low-key ruined the blue half for me, there was a twist near the beginning that made me think: "then what was the point of the blue half?"
Reading the blue half in preparation for the red half is quite pointless, as I said before, because whenever you're supposed to remember something from the blue half, it is cited - and as far as I know, you're not missing any context by not having read the whole thing first.
Also, there is a trope that I really hate, namely "this character knows everything and dies before they can say anything", and this book does it TWICE. Three times technically, but the third person wasn't revealed to have known anything until after their death.
Other than all of these criticisms, I did like the book somewhat, especially the blue half was enjoyable.
Blue half - 3.25 stars
Red half - 1.75 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Police brutality