A review by displacedcactus
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This is a speculative literary book about a place where people can become fluent in a language in just two weeks through deep immersion -- but of course there's a catch! Like most literary books with a speculative element, if you read speculative books the twist probably won't surprise you at all*, and there were a couple of weak points, but overall it was a pretty strong debut book -- really really readable and intended to make you think about privilege, greed, and instant gratification.

I'd definitely like to see what this author does when she has a few more books under her belt.

*The twist is also probably spoiled in the SG content warnings, so maybe don't check them unless you need to avoid specific triggers.

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