I almost immediately noticed the ableism in the book and I wasn’t a fan. The one main character has a cleft palate and it’s constantly being referred to as a “deformity”. There’s another character named Simon, but the whole town calls him “Simple Simon” because he’s… mentally disabled? And apparently later on he wields a chainsaw? I was reaching close to the dnf button but decided to carry on.

I had dnfed this author’s other book so I was interested in seeing if my feelings would change in this one – I think I lasted longer in the other book. The plot wasn’t much to write about and according to spoiler reviews, it carries on being confusing until the end of the book, ending on a sort of a cliffhanger and not much being explained.

I’ve said this multiple times but I’ll say it again – I don’t mind long sentences. What I mind is when they’re too long and they don’t work as long sentences, that’s where I have an issue. Mister Lullaby doesn’t have well-written long sentences, unfortunately. 

I wanted to like this, that’s why I pushed to 65%. I couldn’t get into it and I didn’t want to push myself to finish it for the sake of finishing. I realised I didn’t know or care about any of the characters. The illustrations also played a factor in not really keeping my interest and I feel like that’s a big part of in reading graphic novels! I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the Sleeping Beauties book but we’ll see if I ever do and how I’ll feel. Otherwise I just really didn’t have much to feel about it? Which is why this review is so short. Even though I did try I couldn’t connect to anything or anyone in here. 

I originally had the e-arc and I think I must’ve deleted this off my Kindle whilst going through my arcs. Since it’s a 2022 arc (yes, I know, quite late but this is what we do), the e-arc was archived. Only the audiobook was available for me from the library. Unfortunately I think that might’ve added to my reason to dnf? I didn’t like the narrators. 

Furthermore I didn’t feel like the characters were interesting, at all. I think I maybe was more interested in the past characters but only because I wanted to see what would happen to them, not their personalities. I didn’t really care much for the characters in the present. I think the writing wasn’t really capturing my attention so all of together just had me click the dnf button 

I started out liking it, which is good, but started to see issues early on. I tried to just push through and stopped when I found myself just tapping to the next page. I know when I do that then it’s time to stop reading. I did really want to like it but there were glaring issues and I couldn’t close my eyes to them.

Most of the time I love it when a book reads like fanfiction, all right? It’s great, it reads easy for me, I want to keep reading and I’d love for there to be fanfiction of that book. This book, however, reads like fanfiction in the bad way. There’s no real characterisation or development because the author assumes we already know the characters from the media (whatever the format) and therefore chooses not to change their personalities. Although in here they just didn’t really have any personalities. So rather stop reading than try to carry on. 

I suppose I’m half to blame as I know I don’t like sci-fi books (prefer the movies) and easily dnf books if it’s just too confusing or doesn’t keep my attention. I thought I was safe because it’s set in a Post-Apocalyptic world and I like those. I could feel myself drifting off and reaching for the dnf button very early on. I knew then I wouldn’t like much of anything – It was an interesting concept, sure, but I think maybe if I had read this in audio I would’ve kept at it. I did want to like and read this as I don’t really read much sci-fi. 

I got the audio from Libby, mainly because I wanted to fulfill a bingo board prompt, but also because I could see I was struggling with the e-book. Unfortunately I had to send it back early because I didn’t like the narrator at all. I think the voice for the one character was fine, I just couldn’t deal with the main character’s voice. He was already whiny in my eyes and the voice made it worse. convenience

Then I chose to fully dnf afterwards. I didn’t like any of the characters I’d met so far. I’d thought even though I didn’t them, maybe the plot points would be better for me – that wasn’t the case. And finally I wasn’t a fan of the dialogue – especially between Gaige (our main character) and Logan (his boyfriend). It started to make me like them and the book less. So rather than having to force myself to finish the book, I chose to say bye bye. 

I realised early on that I was just tapping the screen but not really… reading it. I tried to push ahead and eventually just decided to stop reading. For me it was the way this was written – I just wasn’t vibing with the writing style. I think if this were a movie I would like it. Then I wouldn’t be bothered by the writing/narration style, plus I think the book idea would carry on over to a movie very easily. 

I think that was the biggest reason for not carrying on. Writing style is a big part of a book for me so if I don’t like it early on, it’s very difficult for me to read further and enjoy. I didn’t really have much to say about the characters because to me they didn’t really show their personalities all so much and I was about 30% in. 

I dislike it when a book is short but takes forever to get to like anything that’s said in the synopsis. Or just slow pace in a short book in general. When I started realising this had that, I started thinking of not finishing it. Once I’d started thinking that I saw the main character wasn’t really making sense and the bit of the world-building I’d read also didn’t add up. 

For instance, the main character, Khiara, has red hair – which in this world means shes a witch. She has to hide it because that’s very dangerous and she’d likely be killed. Then her red hair gets uncovered and… those who see it are… totally fine with it. All right, granted, it was in a sexual manner. Khiara was one of those characters who’s written to be all fierce and “I’m going to do what I want” and the book showed none of that. Plus everything else was all tell, not show. 

I tried… really hard with this one. I finally just let myself tap out before 60%. I could tell I wasn’t enjoying it so much as I was reading but I hoped it would get better (it didn’t). I didn’t like the audiobook narrator or the main character but I did appreciate that Wong’s voice fit the main character. I just didn’t like either so it was difficult for me to try to enjoy. Sid (the main character’s name) was very much “I’m not like other girls. I’m plain, my hair doesn’t do this or that. No one looks at me” – please it’s halfway through 2024 ENOUGH. Since the book was in first person pov and solely hers, we got this line of thinking constantly from the start of the book

I also didn’t really care for much of the other characters. They weren’t really interesting to me, they were written okay, but other than that, nothing. Plus their dialogue, especially with Sid, was lacking. Dialogue is a big part of enjoying a book for me, especially with an audiobook and I could very much tell I wasn’t listened properly. I might’ve been interested if the book was multi-pov instead of just Sid’s. Or maybe just her pov but not first person (as I think that was one of the reasons for not finishing).

There was so much packed into the book (of what I read) and it wasn’t done well in my opinion, which was also an issue for me. There were Guardians and Guardians had the keys. Everyone outside the town didn’t believe or maybe they did and came to see if they could see anything. Only the Guardians had powers and then suddenly everyone had powers. Just too confusing. I very much don’t mind a lot of world-building in my books but I mind if they’re not done well. The book is over 400 pages, which would account for more world-building (which is fine) but at least explain it all properly? The bit I was reading (before I chose to stop reading) introduced alternative worlds? Don’t get me wrong, I love that concept, but introduce it SOONER?? 

Just to clarify – what I mean by the ‘rep’ portion in the description is that one characters has OCD, another depression, another chronic pain but no one believes him. But just forget about all of that, because they get powers! And then their “issues” vanish when they get their powers! Clearly my first big reason to dnf.

Either you have bad representation or you don‘t have any rep and this book… managed to have both in a really bad way. Plus in the bit that I read they had all the stereotypes of The Breakfast Club. I also really didn’t like the dialogue.