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alouette 's review for:
The Walls Around Us
by Nova Ren Suma
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
*imported from goodreads, contains spoilers*
This is all personal, but I give this book 2 stars because I just don’t understand what this book was trying to be, especially after the unclear and unsatisfying conclusion.
A ghost story? But the author refuses to admit that these are ghosts until the very end., instead muddling around with time skips that I don’t think make much sense.
A mystery? But there is no mystery; it’s clear Violet did it. It’s clear that Amber killed her father and has issues. It’s clear that Orianna is innocent, a fact that the book shoves in our face despite the fact that Orianna has no depth. She’s just a Mary Sue and somehow I’m supposed to be happy that she magically escapes while Violet, the most complex character and the only one I could feel for, is continuously bullied and then hated by Orianna who she gave a home to and provided for over many years. Orianna, who never once asks her why she did what she did, never bothered to find out that Violet had a fit of hysteria and only came to to find Ori with the box cutter pointed at Violet herself.
A revenge plot? Once again, it’s hard to cheer for Orianna to get revenge when she’s so perfect to the point where she’s unlikable. Especially with her untroubled relationship even though the boy she’s dating is obsessed with her which should be a problem. And Amber gets no revenge; she gets beat up by Peach who previously showed no signs of harbouring such ill will to the point of violence. As for Amber’s mother, there’s no closure to be found there because we never find out why Amber was suddenly supposed to be let out.
So what’s the lesson of the book? Because if there was something to be learned, I couldn’t find it amidst the word vomit of tone setting that amounts to only one plot (no depth) that goes in circles; rehashing how Orianna is good and Violet is bad. And Amber is supposedly the grey area, but quite clearly supports Orianna over Violet despite the violence in her personality that should probably show something to the contrary.
Overall, the blurb had me interested, but the results left me unsatisfied and with a great degree of dislike for the characters and plot.
This is all personal, but I give this book 2 stars because I just don’t understand what this book was trying to be, especially after the unclear and unsatisfying conclusion.
A ghost story? But the author refuses to admit that these are ghosts until the very end., instead muddling around with time skips that I don’t think make much sense.
A mystery? But there is no mystery; it’s clear Violet did it. It’s clear that Amber killed her father and has issues. It’s clear that Orianna is innocent, a fact that the book shoves in our face despite the fact that Orianna has no depth. She’s just a Mary Sue and somehow I’m supposed to be happy that she magically escapes while Violet, the most complex character and the only one I could feel for, is continuously bullied and then hated by Orianna who she gave a home to and provided for over many years. Orianna, who never once asks her why she did what she did, never bothered to find out that Violet had a fit of hysteria and only came to to find Ori with the box cutter pointed at Violet herself.
A revenge plot? Once again, it’s hard to cheer for Orianna to get revenge when she’s so perfect to the point where she’s unlikable. Especially with her untroubled relationship even though the boy she’s dating is obsessed with her which should be a problem. And Amber gets no revenge; she gets beat up by Peach who previously showed no signs of harbouring such ill will to the point of violence. As for Amber’s mother, there’s no closure to be found there because we never find out why Amber was suddenly supposed to be let out.
So what’s the lesson of the book? Because if there was something to be learned, I couldn’t find it amidst the word vomit of tone setting that amounts to only one plot (no depth) that goes in circles; rehashing how Orianna is good and Violet is bad. And Amber is supposedly the grey area, but quite clearly supports Orianna over Violet despite the violence in her personality that should probably show something to the contrary.
Overall, the blurb had me interested, but the results left me unsatisfied and with a great degree of dislike for the characters and plot.