Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ellemnope 's review for:
Conclusion
by Peter Robertson
* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *
2.5 stars.
A cross of dystopian sci-fi and mystery/thriller, the premise of this book is terribly intriguing, set in a version of our world where individuals are scanned for disease and then "welded" if they are determined to be healthy at the age of 55. Those unlucky enough to fail the scan will simply live out their lives however their illness progresses. Those who have been subject to the weld will "conclude" at age 75, nearly 20 years to the day from their weld date.
Colin's wife, Ruby, has just pre-concluded, deciding not to hold the power in her own hands and not wait for her true conclusion date. Colin himself still has a year or two to live. When he decides to splurge on himself and winds up in the luxury flight lounge, he sees a man who he swears is already dead. What follows is his obsessive journey to discover if he is correct in his assumption that this is the same man and, if so, how the man has cheated the system.
The idea for creating this book was creative and original and I was terribly intrigued. The plot was fairly well paced for the first half of the book, though occasionally confusing -- something I somewhat expect when I'm reading a mystery (otherwise where would be the surprise?). I appreciated the detail to the surroundings and the comprehensiveness with which the Boundary Waters and their exploration were written. The writing of this book was overall decent and I did moderately enjoy reading the book enough that I never considered placing it in the DNF pile, but there were things that I unfortunately found lacking.
There was a lot that could have been done with this premise and it felt interesting for the majority of the book, but it didn't feel like it was explored thoroughly. While I enjoyed the character of Colin and nearly as well enjoyed Justin, the stories swirled around each other in a bit of a confusing way for a good chunk of the book and Justin's motivations were not entirely explored. I could have tolerated the confusion had the plot felt full, but the last third of the book felt overly rushed and not near as complex as the writing had been for the prior portions. There was a lot of repetitiveness to the writing, particularly in that last third, and the story didn't feel completely cohesive.
The additional characters, though they were few, fell flat and were unbelievable for the most part. Angie felt like a poor man's Lisbeth Salander and her presence in the plot felt heavy-handed. Her relationship with Colin didn't feel right and things moved in an awkward way. The antagonist(s) could have been present more in the story. It just felt a little slapdash in the end, as if the writer was attempting to hurriedly meet a deadline rather than working to fully culminate the story.
I was happy with the read until that fateful last third. After that, things just fell flat for me. Though a creative story and a fairly solid ending, it just didn't fulfill me.
2.5 stars.
A cross of dystopian sci-fi and mystery/thriller, the premise of this book is terribly intriguing, set in a version of our world where individuals are scanned for disease and then "welded" if they are determined to be healthy at the age of 55. Those unlucky enough to fail the scan will simply live out their lives however their illness progresses. Those who have been subject to the weld will "conclude" at age 75, nearly 20 years to the day from their weld date.
Colin's wife, Ruby, has just pre-concluded, deciding not to hold the power in her own hands and not wait for her true conclusion date. Colin himself still has a year or two to live. When he decides to splurge on himself and winds up in the luxury flight lounge, he sees a man who he swears is already dead. What follows is his obsessive journey to discover if he is correct in his assumption that this is the same man and, if so, how the man has cheated the system.
The idea for creating this book was creative and original and I was terribly intrigued. The plot was fairly well paced for the first half of the book, though occasionally confusing -- something I somewhat expect when I'm reading a mystery (otherwise where would be the surprise?). I appreciated the detail to the surroundings and the comprehensiveness with which the Boundary Waters and their exploration were written. The writing of this book was overall decent and I did moderately enjoy reading the book enough that I never considered placing it in the DNF pile, but there were things that I unfortunately found lacking.
There was a lot that could have been done with this premise and it felt interesting for the majority of the book, but it didn't feel like it was explored thoroughly. While I enjoyed the character of Colin and nearly as well enjoyed Justin, the stories swirled around each other in a bit of a confusing way for a good chunk of the book and Justin's motivations were not entirely explored. I could have tolerated the confusion had the plot felt full, but the last third of the book felt overly rushed and not near as complex as the writing had been for the prior portions. There was a lot of repetitiveness to the writing, particularly in that last third, and the story didn't feel completely cohesive.
The additional characters, though they were few, fell flat and were unbelievable for the most part. Angie felt like a poor man's Lisbeth Salander and her presence in the plot felt heavy-handed. Her relationship with Colin didn't feel right and things moved in an awkward way. The antagonist(s) could have been present more in the story. It just felt a little slapdash in the end, as if the writer was attempting to hurriedly meet a deadline rather than working to fully culminate the story.
I was happy with the read until that fateful last third. After that, things just fell flat for me. Though a creative story and a fairly solid ending, it just didn't fulfill me.