I felt lost a lot of the time listening to this, especially in the 1980s timeline. It was like we weren't being told important details of the story. It happened so much that I've decided it couldn't just be me, it must be to do with how the book is written.
Also, the narration of the 1600s timeline was stressing me out for some reason. 
I'm not enjoying it very much, so what's the point in finishing it? 

The narrator's tone of voice in this audiobook was really grating on me and stressing me out. I understand that Bree is an anxious/depressed character, but the narrator's portrayal of her was so overwhelming and not at all enjoyable to listen to. 
I am interested in the story, so maybe will give it a go in print at some point, but I just couldn't continue listening to this audiobook.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series and learning about LOTR's beginnings. 
 
However, this one is so much more about timeline intricacies and locations, and less about the development of the narrative and characters, which was what really interested me in the first two books. I also don't know the latter half of the story as well as the first half, so I could hardly ever tell the difference between what was actually included in the published works and what wasn't.
 
No judgement on the book itself, it’s just not for me.    

As soon as I started reading this, I was already getting the vibe that it was going to be racially insensitive towards Native Americans. Unfortunately, I was correct. 
 
The first red flag was that the main character states that being 'the only white boys in a school for Indians' was one of the worst things he has ever been through. Not the circumstances that led to them being orphaned, not the horrible treatment in the school, but the fact that they were the only two white kids there. 
 
At one point he also says that one of the teachers at the school 'had always been kind' to him and his brother. He doesn't acknowledge why this may be, and doesn't seem aware of the racial prejudices every other kid at the school had to live with and why they were treated so much worse than the WHITE KIDS. 
 
He also at one point states that Native American traditional dress is 'shabby'.
 
Because this was a child narrator I held out some hope that the above insensitivity could be part of his character development, and that through the book the kid would recognise the error of his ways. However, having read some reviews, I have discovered that this does not happen at all, and that racial insensitivity and micro aggressions are a mainstay of the book. 
 
It is also crazy that a white author chose to write a book about two white characters set in a Native American Boarding School purely as a vessel for white misery. From what I can tell from reviews, and even in the short passage I read, Native American experiences are hardly ever mentioned, let alone explored in detail. The author is taking advantage of and exploiting real Native history to tell a white story, ew. 
 
Also, the main Native American character is mute?? Literally has no voice? Not a good look…
 
Besides all that, the writing isn't very good. It feels clunky and doesn't flow at all, even in the same paragraph. The descriptions aren't emotive and the characters are all very flat.
 
All in all, not something I want to waste my time on. Goodbye!  

I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with these stories, they just aren't for me.

We're obviously meant to think fondly of the family, but as someone who strongly believes in animal rights I just couldn't warm to them with so much mention of animal butchery and glorification of hunting/'The Hunt'.

This is such a disappointing DNF because the book started off well. Learning about the world in the first 100 pages or so was pretty interesting, but then it just went to shit. I really wish I could finish it to count towards my books read for the year, but I just can't face it. 
 
Exactly like 'The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue', I think this book has a really interesting concept, but the writing doesn't do ANYTHING for me. It's so 2D and feels completely flat. There's no real intrigue, everything is so predictable, and the storytelling is so basic and un-nuanced. I hardly felt a single twinge of emotion during it - I felt pretty much no humour, worry, shock, suspense etc.
 
Also, the book isn't classified/marketed as YA, but it is written very much in a YA style which I have definitely outgrown in most cases.
 
Something I found quite jarring was that the book is set in London, with all London born and raised characters, but Americanisms are used frequently. E.g. using 'periods' instead of 'full stop'. Schwab also clumsily includes some British sayings/culture, again in a very jarring manner. E.g. taking about Lila drinking a pint and using the phrase 'she lifted the pint to her lips' - I can guarantee no British person would use that phrasing, most likely it would be 'drink to her lips' instead of pint. Conversely, 'Grey London' is spelled in the English way, chose a lane please!
 
The horribly cheesy and obvious romance plotline was infuriating and unnecessary for the characters, and wasn't needed in such an interesting world. Not everything needs to be romance!! 

‘K bye 

This is a book about a horrribly insecure, self-centered and childish woman who needs to grow up and get some self respect. 

Every single relationship in the book is toxic without seeming to be aware of this fact, which I think is a dangerous game to play. I'm sick of women having 'best friends' in books who treat them horribly. 

It's written well, but I didn't care AT ALL about the annoying main character or 'plot'.

When I saw I still had another 3 hours to go of the audiobook, I knew I wouldn't be able to get through it. 

Bye bye.

The main character in this book is the epitome of "I'm not like other girls". I could not STAND her, or Ava. They claimed everyone else in the school was so pretentious, but they were by far the most pretentious characters. 

I also couldn't get over how she kept saying it was an awful town, but didn't leave?? Is your career really more important than your life?? 

What a pretentious pile of delusion. The main character was just way too annoying for me to carry on reading. 

I enjoyed what I did read of this, and reading it has satisfied my curiosity around the novel.

However, the thought of reading hundreds more pages of the same thing started to fill me with a little bit of dread, so time to DNF. 

I just couldn't get over how every single woman in this book was so horribly infantalised. 

They were all portrayed as naive, annoying, stupid children who were only there to be murdered or victims.

I didn't notice this in the first book in the series as there was only one woman like this, and it seemed like a genuine character trait. However, the fact that the FOUR main women in this book are all portrayed in such a misogynistic manner meant I couldn't continue reading.

The mystery was relatively interesting, but not enough to wade through so many more hours of this nonsense.