A review by semi
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

hopeful sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

a nice atmospheric and well research book. not anything too memorable for me personally but would recommend it to others that want and tense/sweet book.

my major faults:
  • i don’t mind a long, slow paced book if there is a good payoff or is meaningful. the pacing is slow with no substance. nothing major happens until the last 30% when majority of the mid section of the book should’ve been heavily cut down. the ending is hopeful but could be a hit or miss for people.
  • kath, the love interest, is very one-dimensional so i couldn’t care for her as much as lily did, which is unfortunate considering it was from her pov. they have cute moments though 
  • additionally to kath, a lot of the side characters are underdeveloped. i forgot the mc literally had siblings until they jumpscared me on a random page here and there. all the friends and family pretty much sound the same as well.
  • the random flashbacks are randomly placed and took me out of the story at times. they flashbacks didn’t really feel finished by the end of the book
  • a lot of the tension was lost on me.
    especially since the Red Scare and deportation threats never actually impacted the characters as you think it would. a lot of it gets sets up in the beginning but is completely dropped by the end of the story, which leaves loose ends.