A review by themaggiemch
The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is one of those books that has been on my TBR for a very long time, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. There is an interesting idea here that I was 100% down for- radium girls crossed with sentient elephants sounds super fascinating. However, this was so confusing with the different POVs, especially since I was listening to the audiobook and the narrator had very little distinguishers between the voices. Once I figured it out, I enjoyed it more- however, there were some rather sickening descriptions of radiation poisoning, which wasn't super great. Personally, while there are some advantages that come with it being a shorter book, I would rather have had it be more fleshed out and longer, with more exploration of the themes it presents.