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490 reviews
Hide by Kiersten White
3.0
“Eventually, the rumors died. The plants grew. Nature slowly co-opted the buildings, the rides, the roller coasters.”
Every seven years an amusement park opens his doors a week for free. But in one of these weeks a girl gets missing. Since then the parks has been closed. Until a group of candidates have the chance to win a large sum of money. Their only objective? Keep hidden for a week. But then candidates are disappearing and the hide and seek turns into a deadly supernatural thriller.
When I heard about this book as a supernatural horror situated in an amusement park with a deadly hide and seek I got so excited. The whole concept sounded thrilling. However when I picked it up only the first chapter managed to keep me excited. After that the pace dropped and the plot got sort of lost between the fourteen characters. Because of this and the lack of a extensive backstory I didn’t feel connected and whenever a character got missing I didn’t feel anything. As for the horror element, that was more or less absent. In my opinion it was more a semi supernatural psychological thriller. Nothing wrong with that, but it didn’t work due to a lack of worldbuilding. This book was mainly focused on social behavior in groups, dealing with trauma and defining ones identity. Although I absolutely feel for that in a book, it’s not enough when it claims to be a horror or supernatural thriller. All in all, this book wasn’t for me. But this still can be a nice read for anyone looking for a psychological thriller with supernatural-horrorlike elements on the side.
Every seven years an amusement park opens his doors a week for free. But in one of these weeks a girl gets missing. Since then the parks has been closed. Until a group of candidates have the chance to win a large sum of money. Their only objective? Keep hidden for a week. But then candidates are disappearing and the hide and seek turns into a deadly supernatural thriller.
When I heard about this book as a supernatural horror situated in an amusement park with a deadly hide and seek I got so excited. The whole concept sounded thrilling. However when I picked it up only the first chapter managed to keep me excited. After that the pace dropped and the plot got sort of lost between the fourteen characters. Because of this and the lack of a extensive backstory I didn’t feel connected and whenever a character got missing I didn’t feel anything. As for the horror element, that was more or less absent. In my opinion it was more a semi supernatural psychological thriller. Nothing wrong with that, but it didn’t work due to a lack of worldbuilding. This book was mainly focused on social behavior in groups, dealing with trauma and defining ones identity. Although I absolutely feel for that in a book, it’s not enough when it claims to be a horror or supernatural thriller. All in all, this book wasn’t for me. But this still can be a nice read for anyone looking for a psychological thriller with supernatural-horrorlike elements on the side.
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
3.0
“All those looted 'pieces of art are still in Western museums. Of the twelve zodiac heads that made up the fountain, only seven are in China. The other five are scattered throughout the Western world. We have asked for them back over and over, only to be told they are no longer ours.'
Five students decide to steal back five of these looted items in act to return cultural property.
When I heard Portrait of a Thief being described as Oceans Eleven meets Farewell, I was excited to see how such a mash up translates. To be honest, in my opinion not that good. I loved that this book discusses important themes as grief, friendship, family and repatriation of artworks and how this affects, in this case, Chinese Americans.
But this is clearly a debut as the characters feel somewhat flat, the romantic relationships come out of nowhere and the heist isn’t the main focus. Rather, this book is mainly character driven. And although that’s completely fine, it isn’t what I expected at all. However the themes the characters discuss is the strongest bit of the book. It points out how difficult it can be to grow up bicultural and long for a different culture, but never have a sense of belonging. With this said, this book is definitely worth reading if you are looking for the difficulties of growing up bicultural or as a Chinese American, but if you are in search of a thrilling heist you might want to look further.
Five students decide to steal back five of these looted items in act to return cultural property.
When I heard Portrait of a Thief being described as Oceans Eleven meets Farewell, I was excited to see how such a mash up translates. To be honest, in my opinion not that good. I loved that this book discusses important themes as grief, friendship, family and repatriation of artworks and how this affects, in this case, Chinese Americans.
But this is clearly a debut as the characters feel somewhat flat, the romantic relationships come out of nowhere and the heist isn’t the main focus. Rather, this book is mainly character driven. And although that’s completely fine, it isn’t what I expected at all. However the themes the characters discuss is the strongest bit of the book. It points out how difficult it can be to grow up bicultural and long for a different culture, but never have a sense of belonging. With this said, this book is definitely worth reading if you are looking for the difficulties of growing up bicultural or as a Chinese American, but if you are in search of a thrilling heist you might want to look further.