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adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
*imported from goodreads, includes spoilers*
decent read. I thought the premise was interesting, but the 2 protagonist’s personalities aren’t unique enough for me to care about reading this twice- the only part I would say I really liked was the introduction to Haven from Lyra’s perspective. the rest of the novel wasn’t very memorable, the romance made me bored (Gemma says it herself, how dumb it is that she’s worried about kissing Pete when their pursuers are twenty feet below and watching them, having the character point out how stupid that moment was doesnt make it any more interesting...)
anyways, that’s about the least rant-worthy moment, because there’s plenty more frustrating things. the plot conveniences and the characters being driven by nothing more than the author saying they decide to do that thing a lot of the time, for one. for another- Gemma’s infuriating “so much has changed over these few days” when I still can’t see any character progression and the events that “changed” her were, again, not memorable. I won't even get started on the microaggressions, which I understand are part of her flaws but then they were never addressed to it made me really uncomfortable.
maybe I’m being harsh and rambling in the process, but the more I think about this book, the more it annoys and frustrates me, because I think it could’ve been a good book when you look at the idea behind it. But one more big thing- the whole “the separate perspectives reveal new information” thing is almost a blatant lie. other than Harliss’ heroics (which were pretty unesscessary, like what was the point of the fire as a distraction if you’re going to walk right into those guys, was there no other way to get out?)... anyways, other than his heroics, there’s nothing one can’t piece together from one side, making it boring to go through the other perspective (if you can even call it the “other” perspective when it’s not first person, limited omniscenct still reveals too much here), and the book as a whole feels incomplete even for part of a series.
at the end of it, I was just left with a frustrating, “what was the point” feeling.
decent read. I thought the premise was interesting, but the 2 protagonist’s personalities aren’t unique enough for me to care about reading this twice- the only part I would say I really liked was the introduction to Haven from Lyra’s perspective. the rest of the novel wasn’t very memorable, the romance made me bored (Gemma says it herself, how dumb it is that she’s worried about kissing Pete when their pursuers are twenty feet below and watching them, having the character point out how stupid that moment was doesnt make it any more interesting...)
anyways, that’s about the least rant-worthy moment, because there’s plenty more frustrating things. the plot conveniences and the characters being driven by nothing more than the author saying they decide to do that thing a lot of the time, for one. for another- Gemma’s infuriating “so much has changed over these few days” when I still can’t see any character progression and the events that “changed” her were, again, not memorable. I won't even get started on the microaggressions, which I understand are part of her flaws but then they were never addressed to it made me really uncomfortable.
maybe I’m being harsh and rambling in the process, but the more I think about this book, the more it annoys and frustrates me, because I think it could’ve been a good book when you look at the idea behind it. But one more big thing- the whole “the separate perspectives reveal new information” thing is almost a blatant lie. other than Harliss’ heroics (which were pretty unesscessary, like what was the point of the fire as a distraction if you’re going to walk right into those guys, was there no other way to get out?)... anyways, other than his heroics, there’s nothing one can’t piece together from one side, making it boring to go through the other perspective (if you can even call it the “other” perspective when it’s not first person, limited omniscenct still reveals too much here), and the book as a whole feels incomplete even for part of a series.
at the end of it, I was just left with a frustrating, “what was the point” feeling.