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bennysbooks's Reviews (668)
This was okay. It was very atmospheric, which I loved. Dialogue felt stilted to me though, and while the book touched on many topics near to my heart (climate change, refugees, myth and history), the story felt too scattered to fully connect with. I mostly skimmed the ending to see what happened to Tupi. I want to read some of Ghosh's other work because based on some reviews this novel is not characteristic of his work in general.
I loved the first 300 pages, but it turns out that 900ish pages of slow-burn revenge aren't for me. I liked the diabolical scheming, the muttering in the middle of conversations, the prison escape and the treasure hunting. But by the time I got to about 500 pages I realized - I REALLY didn't care how the Count was going to get revenge. Like, at all. I guess revenge just isn't interesting to me.
2020 Review: Totally predictable, which is exactly what I needed right now. Not heavy on the romance, tw for sexual assault. I have a minor issue with the way something is revealed, but just based on real-world expectations - for the purposes of the story it was fine.
If you're someone who dabbles in romance, but isn't totally into it, this has enough going on in terms of other plot and characters. The writing lost me on a sentence-by-sentence basis a few times, hence the 4 stars, but I loved the reading experience overall.
2022 Re-read: Enjoyed it basically as much as I did the first time around. It is technically better than the earlier McFarlane books, you can really feel her style progression here. I just feel so connected to some of Georgina's struggles with her family and with herself. I love how Lucas processes and understands what happened when they were 18 (it could have been so poorly done but McFarlane wrote that so well). I do think the way they got together in the end was kind of silly, drawn out a little when it didn't need to be. But overall I just like this a lot.
If you're someone who dabbles in romance, but isn't totally into it, this has enough going on in terms of other plot and characters. The writing lost me on a sentence-by-sentence basis a few times, hence the 4 stars, but I loved the reading experience overall.
2022 Re-read: Enjoyed it basically as much as I did the first time around. It is technically better than the earlier McFarlane books, you can really feel her style progression here. I just feel so connected to some of Georgina's struggles with her family and with herself. I love how Lucas processes and understands what happened when they were 18 (it could have been so poorly done but McFarlane wrote that so well). I do think the way they got together in the end was kind of silly, drawn out a little when it didn't need to be. But overall I just like this a lot.
No book review is ever fully objective, we know this, but this is perhaps one of the most subjective ratings I have ever given. Reading this book during a global pandemic was a balm for my soul and I have no way of understanding it or critiquing it that isn't wholly tied to the fact that it provided the comfort and clarity that I needed at this time.
