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A review by awyl
Mercury Boys by Chandra Prasad
2.0
Mercury Boys - Chandra Prasad :: 1.5/5
Saskia has just moved towns and is desperate to make new friends at her new school. One day she discovers that after touching mercury, she has the ability to visit people from old photographs in her sleep. Amazed she shares this with her classmates who consequently form the Mercury Boys Club: a group of 5 friends who visit their chosen boyfriends in their sleep.
What enticed me into reading this book was the initial concept. I think that the idea of being able to travel back into the past to meet people in photographs is wonderful, with so much room for growth and exploration. The book is also very easy to read and understand, and I managed to finish it in one sitting.
However what really let this book down for me was the characters: I found myself constantly getting frustrated at everyone. I hated every single person in this book, except maybe the main character’s father, who plays a minimal role and does not affect the main plot of the book. All the characters were extremely self centred and unlikeable which became so unbearable that I did not end up ‘rooting’ for anyone and did not care for the ‘twist’ at the end.
Another thing that irked me was that the characters didn’t seem to act or talk their age? Often the dialogue felt very forced and infodumpy (especially at the beginning), and it was almost painful to read the text messages between them.
I also felt like the author really missed an opportunity to delve deeper into the past settings each ‘Mercury Boy’ was from. Although it was explored to an extent, it definitely could have been looked into a little more, as all that ultimately ended up being explored were the relationships.
Overall I think the concept of this book was great, but the execution was disappointing, though maybe I’m just too old (18) to have properly enjoyed this book, so if you are 13 or below, I definitely think you would like this much more than I did.
TW: violence, drowning, substance abuse, overdosing
Thank you Chandra for providing me with an ARC ♥
Saskia has just moved towns and is desperate to make new friends at her new school. One day she discovers that after touching mercury, she has the ability to visit people from old photographs in her sleep. Amazed she shares this with her classmates who consequently form the Mercury Boys Club: a group of 5 friends who visit their chosen boyfriends in their sleep.
What enticed me into reading this book was the initial concept. I think that the idea of being able to travel back into the past to meet people in photographs is wonderful, with so much room for growth and exploration. The book is also very easy to read and understand, and I managed to finish it in one sitting.
However what really let this book down for me was the characters: I found myself constantly getting frustrated at everyone. I hated every single person in this book, except maybe the main character’s father, who plays a minimal role and does not affect the main plot of the book. All the characters were extremely self centred and unlikeable which became so unbearable that I did not end up ‘rooting’ for anyone and did not care for the ‘twist’ at the end.
Another thing that irked me was that the characters didn’t seem to act or talk their age? Often the dialogue felt very forced and infodumpy (especially at the beginning), and it was almost painful to read the text messages between them.
I also felt like the author really missed an opportunity to delve deeper into the past settings each ‘Mercury Boy’ was from. Although it was explored to an extent, it definitely could have been looked into a little more, as all that ultimately ended up being explored were the relationships.
Overall I think the concept of this book was great, but the execution was disappointing, though maybe I’m just too old (18) to have properly enjoyed this book, so if you are 13 or below, I definitely think you would like this much more than I did.
TW: violence, drowning, substance abuse, overdosing
Thank you Chandra for providing me with an ARC ♥