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A review by lisavegan
Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale
2.0
DNF but did finish the book skimming the rest in order to read enough of it to rate & review it. I couldn’t wait to be done with it even though I liked some things about it. I did sort of like the end so I’m glad I didn’t just stop and neglect to check out what happens.
I enjoy speculative fiction and time travel. I loved the movie Groundhog Day and loved the premise of this book.
However; I found it to be so incredibly tedious. To be fair I am finding it hard to find the right book at the right time this year but for me this book fell short.
I liked the family/sister/parents storyline (however overdramatic it was) and all of the Greek mythology references, in the names and in Cassandra’s thoughts and its importance to her.I ended up liking the female roommate. Yes, the “message” of accepting yourself as you are and expecting that also from others is a good one as is being fine not being neurotypical. There are some quotes that I loved!
What a waste of a gift though. It was one reason I didn’t enjoy the story. I was hoping and thinking that Cassandra would start to do better or do things differently (not Will much, much earlier) but all I can say is that I would think it would be hard to make time travel boring but I was bored. I will add that I don’t often feel bored. Even the “romance” storyline felt boring. I don’t like romance books but this wasn’t even one. Not really. I don’t know exactly what it was. I think that what Cassandra eventually does is interesting though and I wish it hadn’t taken so very long to get there.
Perhaps it was my mood. Other readers who also enjoy Greek mythology, neurodivergent characters, time travel/speculative fiction, just ignore my review. I should have looked at the average rating of this book though before I tried it. It’s not horrible but it’s not as good as most books I read and should not have tried to read it. Many readers loved/liked it but it wasn’t for me. Disappointing because it had a tremendous amount of potential.
I do appreciate how both the author and the main character are autistic.
2-1/2 stars, at least with my current mood
I enjoy speculative fiction and time travel. I loved the movie Groundhog Day and loved the premise of this book.
However; I found it to be so incredibly tedious. To be fair I am finding it hard to find the right book at the right time this year but for me this book fell short.
I liked the family/sister/parents storyline (however overdramatic it was) and all of the Greek mythology references, in the names and in Cassandra’s thoughts and its importance to her.I ended up liking the female roommate. Yes, the “message” of accepting yourself as you are and expecting that also from others is a good one as is being fine not being neurotypical. There are some quotes that I loved!
What a waste of a gift though. It was one reason I didn’t enjoy the story. I was hoping and thinking that Cassandra would start to do better or do things differently (not Will much, much earlier) but all I can say is that I would think it would be hard to make time travel boring but I was bored. I will add that I don’t often feel bored. Even the “romance” storyline felt boring. I don’t like romance books but this wasn’t even one. Not really. I don’t know exactly what it was. I think that what Cassandra eventually does is interesting though and I wish it hadn’t taken so very long to get there.
Perhaps it was my mood. Other readers who also enjoy Greek mythology, neurodivergent characters, time travel/speculative fiction, just ignore my review. I should have looked at the average rating of this book though before I tried it. It’s not horrible but it’s not as good as most books I read and should not have tried to read it. Many readers loved/liked it but it wasn’t for me. Disappointing because it had a tremendous amount of potential.
I do appreciate how both the author and the main character are autistic.
2-1/2 stars, at least with my current mood