I’ve been dreading writing this review. I just don’t know what to say about this book, because I don’t really know how I feel about it, still, and it’s been months since I finished it.
Ultimately, I just don’t think this was the book for me, but that kind of thing doesn’t fill up a review space. It’s also not helpful to anyone reading this review, because only people who pay extremely close attention to my reading habits might have a clue what a “for me” book looks like (why an individual reader is drawn to a particular book is one of life’s great beautiful mysteries; the same book can draw different readers for entirely different reasons). The problem here (and it’s not a problem I encounter often) is that I’m just not sure WHY this book wasn’t for me.
You’d think it would be. Hell, if someone explained the plot to me in basic outline, I would be all over it, sure it would be For Me. Things this book has that normally get me going good:
- A mixture of science and magic in the worldbuilding.
- Characters discovering magical secrets about themselves.
- A romance.
- Talking animals.
- Characters attempting to avert a crisis by working together against great odds.
- Artificial intelligence.
Alas, whatever mystical alchemy turns individual scenes and plot points into a story in a reader’s mind seems to have missed its mark with me. I don’t regret reading it, but I don’t really “get it”, either. A huge YMMV will vary on this one, basically. If it sounds interesting to you, go for it, but that’s no guarantee.
I feel like I could have written this review, it’s exactly how I felt about the book. It was fine? I guess? b
Yes! I basically could have just written: “This book, it is a book.” And that would up my feelings just as well as the above 260 words.
I gotta say your title really caught my attention!
Ha, I was just stumped so I decided to shrug!