A review by heidirgorecki
All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall

challenging reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I liked the concept of a sort of apocalyptic-catastrophe ridden world, but I think the delivery with this just fell a little short for me. 

The book is made up of the current situation of a flooded and weather-catastrophe world but with a lot of flashbacks as the only way for you to decipher how the characters got here. The flashbacks were sometimes alternating chapters and other times mid-stream in a current-status chapter. It made it super confusing to wade thru what was what, especially since even the flashbacks weren’t linear - they were more scattered memories of Nonie’s. 

The writing was also slow, monotone and scattered in and of itself, lacking a lot of description especially in transitions. I kept going back over and reading sentences multiple times either because I lost focus in some of the rabbit trails or because of the gaps in describing what was happening. I wasn’t even sure the status of flooding overall because that wasn’t clear either and was never really painted well enough for me to consistently envision. 

I really liked the concept and overall thought, the idea of helping others that the characters grew into eventually, and thoughts on hope. But overall, I struggled in the way it went there. 

Thanks to Betgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.