Kr

Love the Cast, Plot is Just Okay

Revisado: 04-26-24

Of course, this was a fun listen. You can’t go wrong with this talented of a cast.

A lot of the humor landed well. I never trust when reviews say a book is “funny” (it’s usually just corny or sexist). But this one did make me chuckle.

But overall, the plot started to drag and the lead protagonist just really got annoying. I understand that the plot WAS about her being broken, but it wasn’t a deep enough story to make that interesting. She was one of those main characters with no intellect, no agency and no real impact. Everything just happens around her, which drags down the plot. Maybe some women can relate to this powerless, submissive type of character. But I’m not one of them.

The teen protagonist was also annoying as well. This was also one of my less favorite voice performances. Overall,, the character was just whiny and reactive. Nobody in the story had any backbone or common sense.

Usually, I don’t mind slice of life type stories or weak-ish plots when I love the characters. Sometimes, an author creates a world where it’s just fun to hang out. But the two leads in this story are the sad sack type of whiny people that I would avoid in real life. Very basic. I wish I liked them better.

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Drags in Third Act

Revisado: 04-23-24

The story started off strong, but kind of wore itself out by the end. Had there been better momentum to the end, I would have given 5 stars. But Blake Crouch never seems to land an ending. He’s more ideas than execution.

That said, at least it was interesting enough to finish.

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More Boring than Cozy

Revisado: 04-16-24

I was looking for a low-stakes, cozy mystery after finishing a complex book and thought this would be it. But it's just way *too* cozy for me, unfortunately.

For starters, the characters are annoying. The main couple are on honeymoon so romance is weirdly shoe-horned in an unconvincing way. It's supposed to be "hot" and sexy but they just seem dangerously unconcerned for their own lives and well-being, given the circumstances.

Then, the lead protagonist monologues about how it can be morally right to weaponize privilege sometimes. This character wants to be Hero Karen, but the author doesn't have a good enough sense of humor and insight to pull it off. The author (and the lead protagonist) somehow even manage to make a cute pet dog become annoying, which is hard to do. But with nobody having any real personality, the dog is doing too much heavy lifting.

Ultimately, the actual plot doesn't move fast enough to overcome the character deficiencies. There's just not enough excitement or fun to keep me vested in this book. I'm putting it down, and not sure if I will pick it back up again.

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Easy, Fun Intrigue

Revisado: 03-06-24

This book kept me interested all the way through. Fair amount of suspense. Some of the twists were predictable and others weren’t. Good book, would recommend for folks who like thrillers and heists

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Excellent narration!

Revisado: 01-30-24

I actually like the single narrator over the big cast and production. It reflects the writing style and puts you in sync with the protagonist better.

Love this series. It’s just so fun!

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Too Confusing

Revisado: 01-19-24

I made the mistake of thinking this was a fresh new series. But it’s not. You have to read the first series in order to understand anything that’s happening. Because I hadn’t finished that one, it was a mistake to pick this one up.

Maybe I’ll try it again, if I finish the other one.

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It was okay

Revisado: 09-07-23

I absolutely LOVED the first book and was really looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, the author spent way too much time talking about teenage characters sex lives. While it was done with gentle tact and wonderful conversations about consent, it still took over way too much of the novel and slowed down the plot.

There was also bad communication and hand wringing angst that seemed a little uncharacteristic from the first book. Overall, this was fine enough but I’m not sure I’ll complete the series.

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Smart, fun twist on a fairytale

Revisado: 07-29-23

What an excellent read!

The pacing was flawless. The story pulled me in right away and kept me engaged.

The characters were witty and clever. I can’t stand stories that rely on dumb decisions or trivial misunderstandings to move the plot forward. This book completely avoided that with well-developed, highly capable heroines. No cliches here.

Prose was beautiful and the performance was incredible. I’m so glad I found this book. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series!

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Very good thriller!

Revisado: 07-18-23

I’m not usually into thrillers, but this one was very enjoyable. It took a clichéd genre and turned it on its head. It depicted violence without reveling in it, instead focusing on the (well-developed) plot and characters.

The writing and narration around the Latina character was a bit clunky. Her ethnicity seemed to be shoehorned in with no underlying knowledge or understanding about the culture (at one point, her dad quotes a Celtic poem??). Then with the audiobook, the narrator mispronounced basic words— I don’t speak much Spanish but even I know how to pronounce “Idiota!”

But overall, the story was refreshing. There’s a lot of subtext that could be explored in the thriller genre, and this novel is a great start.

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Very good thriller!

Revisado: 07-18-23

I’m not usually into thrillers, but this one was very enjoyable. It took a clichéd genre and turned it on its head. It depicted violence without reveling in it, instead focusing on the (well-developed) plot and characters.

The writing and narration around the Latina character was a bit clunky. Her ethnicity seemed to be shoehorned in with no underlying knowledge or understanding about the culture (at one point, her dad quotes a Celtic poem??). Then with the audiobook, the narrator mispronounced basic words— I don’t speak much Spanish but even I know how to pronounce “Idiota!”

But overall, the story was refreshing. There’s a lot of subtext that could be explored in the thriller genre, and this novel is a great start.

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