Did Not Finish Explanation
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Read pages: 250 of 432
I'm SO torn about this book! I am absolutely in love with the premise. Secret societies, letters from the past, conspiracies, clues, a mysterious book, and it's all based on actual REAL life things! It's so, so beyond cool.
I don't like these people
Main character Nora is that New England boarding school type of character (not that New England boarding school students are actually all like that) who embodies that "affected cool" where they're all world-weary and detached. Think Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.
This type of character and I almost never get along, mostly because she strikes me as trying waaay too hard (plus, she'd probably scoff at me if I tried to extend something as puerile as a sleepover party invite).
We just don't mesh well. I mean, I'm all about the pink and the sparkles and the OMGBLSAHIOFH!!!11!!1!Yay! I'm not sophisticated enough to hang in her circles and speak like I'm trying very hard to construct Really Deep Poetry with my every uttered thought.
With the exception of Chris (who bites it in the blurb...but takes about 150 pages in the book), all of the other characters turned me off. Nora's boyfriend straight up creeped me out. He's more controlling than Twilight's Edward and he's scary quick to enrage. He's also a dark-corner-sulker, which I don't find very attractive.
I wasn't buying the characters. They're incredible geniuses with photographic memories, get stellar grades, and of course all of this comes naturally to them. And they look like runway models. Oh, and they're mega rich (except for the MC, who complains about not being rich but basically lives the life of a rich person anyway).
Yeah. Ok. And to make matters worse, despite their incredible mental powers, they make the DUMBEST decisions imaginable (an enigmatic past and stalker tendencies do NOT make a good foundation for trust!). They're all TSTL and between their noxious personalities and astoundingly BAD decision making skills, I was hoping the secret society would hurry up and knock the rest of them off.
Where is the exciting mystery?
But whatever. I would put up with those people if I could get into the plot (which is awesome). But, I was also really not liking the execution.
It's sooo sllooooowww. There's a lot of talking about boring stuff I don't care about. Yeah, your brother died, you're sad. Oh, does this cute guy think you're pretty? Wait, your BFF who is gorgeous and randomly bends her body like a sexy gymnast all the freaking time (who does that??) is sleeping with your secret crush and you feel really conflicted about this? WHO CARES FOCUS ON THE CENTURIES SPANNING MYSTERY!
Ok, ok, these interpersonal things were well done. They're just not for me. I would have cut out the dead brother arc entirely, but then again *I* almost never like dead anyone arcs (unless they're ghosts). I like adventure! Intrigue! I don't like long monologues about the MC's "perfect day" when the sun was shining and she found a pebble that was smooth and poignant and then the whole day was cast in shadow when she realized her best friends were having a very different kind of perfect day without her.
Yawn. For me.
Plus, it takes forever to say really simple things. I know, the writing is all about showing off Nora's smarty pants status, but here's an SAT word I'd like to introduce her to: PITHY. Spit it out already.
Or, if we're going to ramble on about minute details, can the rambles please be about the super interesting mystery and stack of old letters?? THAT I would love to dissect with nerdy obsessiveness. My favorite parts were when we got to read the old letters Nora was translating.
Sadly, the mystery parts are glossed over and doled out in a choppy manner with little bits given out here and there amid a whole bunch of irrelevancies and Nora's boring thoughts and feelings. Big puzzles were presented, but they were all quickly resolved in absurdly unbelievable ways.
Bottom line
There was so much potential, but the overall package just does not work with me. I do want to find out what happens though, so, I don't know, I may pick it up again at some point in the future, especially since then I'll be able to read it as a real book and not have to deal with reading on my computer (which is a sucky way to read a book and always lowers my tolerance).
Have you read The Book of Blood and Shadow?
I hope you liked it more than I did!
Does the mystery get good enough that I should pick it up again?
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I hope you liked it more than I did!
Does the mystery get good enough that I should pick it up again?
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