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A review by misha_ali
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This book was far longer than it needed to be. At times, the story is engaging, but the amount of times we are introduced to a character and then zoom out to learn all about their family, life, childhood, family, children, career, etc. and then return to the main narrative again tested my patience.
This is the story of a female pilot, her twin brother, and a modern actress famous for her role in a children's show and then a romantasy franchise. I do think the connection between the two primary characters (Hadley in the present day and Marion in the past) is tenuous at best and just barely comes together at the end. The characters are, however, interesting and complex, but they are listless and rather aimless, which makes me less engaged in following what they do. I don't think this book quite accomplished being engaging all the way through because of this, but there are certainly parts of the story that are deeply interesting and will hook you in, but also parts where an interesting fact comes to light and we switch to a different character's point of view instead. This gets frustrating.
The last 10 percent of this book I honestly was completely uninterested. Marion has worn out her welcome for me as a character given how she treats everyone in her life and the actual final journey is not interesting enough to keep me reading about the details but I persisted for the sake of completing the book.
TL;DR: Should have been shorter and the characters could have been more engaging, which would have made the whole thing more enjoyable.
This is the story of a female pilot, her twin brother, and a modern actress famous for her role in a children's show and then a romantasy franchise. I do think the connection between the two primary characters (Hadley in the present day and Marion in the past) is tenuous at best and just barely comes together at the end. The characters are, however, interesting and complex, but they are listless and rather aimless, which makes me less engaged in following what they do. I don't think this book quite accomplished being engaging all the way through because of this, but there are certainly parts of the story that are deeply interesting and will hook you in, but also parts where an interesting fact comes to light and we switch to a different character's point of view instead. This gets frustrating.
The last 10 percent of this book I honestly was completely uninterested. Marion has worn out her welcome for me as a character given how she treats everyone in her life and the actual final journey is not interesting enough to keep me reading about the details but I persisted for the sake of completing the book.
TL;DR: Should have been shorter and the characters could have been more engaging, which would have made the whole thing more enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape