sarasun

Let me point out a few of the things I liked before I address the big problem(s). The writing itself was really nice, dealing with complex issues so that the average reader could understand it, but not spelling it out to make you feel dumb. The characters, while not completely developed, all had flaws and more than one demension to them, thus helping you become invested in them. Now with that out of the way let me talk about the problem, which I think can be covered by one thing. The book was very underdeveloped, it was not flushed out enough. I'm saying that despite the acting not really starting to pick up until the latter half of the book. The entire first half I kept asking myself, "What's the point?" There was really no clear conflict, rather several small ones lazily floating around. The only main idea I could pull out was the idea of security and where it really lay. What could really make someone safe? There were a lot of little plots running around, none ever really coming into full light and being addressed. And I didn't feel that any of the feeble conflicts that did come up were ever properly resolved, especially the ending which was so abrupt and out of the blue (especially if you're not paying close attention to the few small hints in the novel) that you feel robbed of something. I think this novel needed more developement and a lot of cutting down of the various storylines. Raban obviously had a lot to tell, but you could tell his focus was split into too many directions. Had he just focused the novel on one or two of these ideas, he would have been able to add so much more to this story. Ending it with a solid, satisfying, complete feeling. I would especially like feedback from other people about this book. I would love to know if I completely missed something, or if I'm completely founded in my very critical review.

2020-09-16 08:27