A review by aspoonfuloflanguage
Namesake by Adrienne Young

adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I wanted to love this book. The first one had so much world building, character building, mystery, and adventure that I had such high hopes that this book would continue with that trajectory, but the storyline just... fell flat? Don't get me wrong it had a lot of promise, but it felt like the majority of the chapters were there to add bulk to the book, not add anything enriching to the story. Plus, while I don't mind conflict between characters, a lot of it was created by a series of grand misunderstandings. Frankly I wanted to grab some of the characters by the shoulders and shake some sense into them because if they just got! their! head! out! of! their! butt!!! And the resolution? Don't know her. Just sweep the conflict under the rug as if it never happened and call it a day. Personally I would have preferred it if some of the filler chapters were condensed and combined to leave room to fully explore the reactions and reasonings of the primary characters that led to the story outcome. I think it would have made it a lot more believable as a whole. All that being said, I am glad I read this book and it did have some really beautiful and moving moments, it just didn't live up to my expectations after the first book.
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