A review by lauren_shilling
The Island by Natasha Preston

dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book, to me, was a pretty average thriller. It wasn't bad by any means, but it also wasn't mind blowing either. I felt like parts of it were super slow, followed by parts that were super fast, and I also found it a bit difficult to keep track of all the characters. I found myself constantly being pulled out of the story in order to recap myself on which characters were where and why, but even so, I was never fully sure. That being said, it wasn't predictable to me, and both major plot twists definitely got me. The last one seemed to come out of nowhere (as in there was no lead up at all) and too close to the end for a plot twist like that to really matter at all, but it was shocking to read nonetheless. I liked Paisley, the main character, but I didn't love her the way I think I should have in order to really be invested in her story. Still, there were definitely positives, such as the first plot twist, which did surprise me a lot, and the overall unpredictability of it. This made me want to keep reading, even through some of the parts that weren't as interesting to me. However, I did not like the ending. I might have rated this book slightly higher (maybe a 3.5-3.75) if it hadn't been for that ending. It offered no closure, didn't really have a purpose besides shock value, but wasn't well executed enough for that shock value to make me feel anything except annoyed. It felt a bit like a lazy ending to me. Because of that, I would put this book at a very solid 3 stars. It wasn't bad at all, just very average to me.
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