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A review by bybrookenelson
Dark Objects by Simon Toyne
1.0
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm about to do something I really don't like to do: give a book one star. Unfortunately, I felt really backed into a corner on this one, and I just ended up having a pretty poor reading experience. As always, with reviews of this kind, I want to note that my rating is simply the opinion of one person, and there will certainly be people out there who enjoy the story. I firmly believe that every book has an ideal audience that will love it, but as much as I wanted to be a part of that audience, I am not.
My main issue ended up being the predictability of the story, in which case every "reveal" was actually something I guessed long before. I think much of this had to do with the fact that the author clearly had a bone to pick with a certain political party. I'm not naïve. I know modern politics are included in a lot of books, no matter the genre. But I think those points can be included while also surprising the reader by not making the "bad guy" the most obvious person possible.
I was really hoping for a grand surprise at the end, and for a moment I thought I got one. Then, there was a further surprise that ended up being exactly who I had pegged as the ultimate villain from about 10 percent of the way through, simply from gleaning the author's political leaning. (A bit of a bummer.)
I also found many of the characters unlikable. There was such a focus, by everyone, even the main characters I was probably supposed to like, on the color of people's skin, that I found it difficult to form any kind of connection with them. When the anti-gun, anti-violence, (stereotypical "girlboss") white female protagonist has a whole inner monologue about whether a man is Asian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi-Irish (or something like that), while there's a dead person out there, I find it hard to sympathize or understand her train of thought.
All in all, I can honestly say this is not the book for me, but I do hope it finds its way into the right circles.
My Website | My YA Thriller Books | My Bookish Podcast | My Linktree | IG | TWTR
I'm about to do something I really don't like to do: give a book one star. Unfortunately, I felt really backed into a corner on this one, and I just ended up having a pretty poor reading experience. As always, with reviews of this kind, I want to note that my rating is simply the opinion of one person, and there will certainly be people out there who enjoy the story. I firmly believe that every book has an ideal audience that will love it, but as much as I wanted to be a part of that audience, I am not.
My main issue ended up being the predictability of the story, in which case every "reveal" was actually something I guessed long before. I think much of this had to do with the fact that the author clearly had a bone to pick with a certain political party. I'm not naïve. I know modern politics are included in a lot of books, no matter the genre. But I think those points can be included while also surprising the reader by not making the "bad guy" the most obvious person possible.
I was really hoping for a grand surprise at the end, and for a moment I thought I got one. Then, there was a further surprise that ended up being exactly who I had pegged as the ultimate villain from about 10 percent of the way through, simply from gleaning the author's political leaning. (A bit of a bummer.)
I also found many of the characters unlikable. There was such a focus, by everyone, even the main characters I was probably supposed to like, on the color of people's skin, that I found it difficult to form any kind of connection with them. When the anti-gun, anti-violence, (stereotypical "girlboss") white female protagonist has a whole inner monologue about whether a man is Asian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi-Irish (or something like that), while there's a dead person out there, I find it hard to sympathize or understand her train of thought.
All in all, I can honestly say this is not the book for me, but I do hope it finds its way into the right circles.
My Website | My YA Thriller Books | My Bookish Podcast | My Linktree | IG | TWTR