I first read this series shortly after the last one dropped. My girlfriend at the time said it was one of her favourite books, so I read them too, to see what she liked about it. Maybe that nostalgia fluffs my view a bit. But I actually think this reads like perfectly acceptable commercial fiction, in terms of sentence structure and vocabulary and character work. It’s the same level as Baldacchi and Dan Brown—stuff like that.

It would have made for a better book had it been told from a more outside perspective because then a lot of the stuff the book doesn’t pull off well, such as some instances of dialogue could be handwaved as a sort of fairy tale telling of the story. With the perspective the way it is, you either empathize with Bella and cast, or you don’t. Either way it’s entirely characterized by her perspective.

Having known Mormons, dated them, worked with them for 10 years, I feel like she’s a product of a very specific subset of those kinds of women. How they find agency and what gender roles are like, and how men and sex, as well as other taboos, are viewed and treated by them. I actually find it pretty interesting from that perspective. But i doubt it’s written to be an exploration of those things, even though sometimes they feel rather underlined!

As far as commercial fiction goes though, it’s a fast read with a tone I find playful and kind of fun. Like a cheesy B movie and the characters are a standard affair for the genre. It hits all the commercial fiction buttons and that’s why it has done so well. It’s fine. From time to time I like reading commercial fiction, just like I like watching cheesy movies sometimes.