so. i didn’t like it.

it stretched my ability to suspend beliefs to the point the elastic band broke and all i had left was a sharp pain in my fingers from the rebound.

i’m actually struggling to find good things to say about this book. i did not like the writing. i did not like the worldbuilding. i did not like the characters. i did not like the plot. i predicted all the plot twists.

for a book about murdering people, it was utterly, completely boring.

it did pick up some steam around the 300 page mark, but it soon slowed to a crawl again. and i guess the idea is cool, if somewhat flawed. again, let’s refer back to suspension of beliefs and how mine reached its limit. i just can’t see this concept working any way that would be believable.

instead of gleaning folks, why don’t you just… limit the number of times people can be revived? and it goes beyond that—there are so many plot holes. the worldbuilding is full of contractions. the scythedom is supposedly humble, yet they arrive at the conclave like oscar nominees. allowing the scythes to choose the method of killing just leaves room for the psychopaths to run rampant. the one decision that ignites the plot seems to have been done only for the lolz.

i went into the this book ready to be amazed. i was so, so ready to love it, as everyone else does, including many, many, MANY people whose opinion i trust.

it just wasn’t for me. in fact, this was the worst book i’ve read this year. but clearly i’m a minority here, so i’ll just see myself out.

edit: forgot to mention before, but i was NOT impressed with the fatphobia inherent to the descriptions of two characters every single time they appeared on page. and apparently there are no queer people on the future (maybe in future instalments? i’ll never know, because i won’t continue the series).