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A review by niamhreviews
All This and More by Peng Shepherd
3.0
I think three stars is kind of the perfect rating for this book. Because when I was in the parts I was enjoying, I enjoyed. When I wasn't, I was kind of pissed. So - three stars.
First, let's get it out of the way, there is absolutely no need for this book to be 500+ pages. No need. It needed a sharper editor and a lot less time spent doing things that did little more than to confuse the plot so the author could eek out a few more chapters of nothingness. A little over 400, maybe. But not 500.
'All This and More' has a fascinating concept. A reality show that you can step into and try on different paths your life could've taken until you find the perfect one. Obviously, there's some darkness and weirdness underneath it all and it gets more twisty and mind-bending the further in you go. It's sort of choose your own adventure but not really (maybe that was an audiobook thing, I don't know). The concept is sound and original. The execution is meh.
Marsh, the woman who goes onto 'All This and More' is perhaps the most annoying protagonist I've read recently. I didn't feel particularly sorry for her or for her life and I found her to be very inconsistently written - it's almost like the author adapted her to fit the scenes they wanted to write, ironically. Half her dialogue is either repeating the line the other person in the conversation has said, asking a completely unhelpful question or saying she doesn't know what to do. For 500+ pages. And as we were hurtling towards the end I kept expecting her to change, to be certain, to have LEARNED something from this whole ridiculous experience - nothing. She STILL couldn't make up her mind. And I'm sure there's something deeper to say there, but for me it was just annoying. She doesn't grow or learn, nothing is ever quite good enough, there's no change in her character. Why would I want to stick with her for so long if nothing's ever changing?
The plots were underbaked and dragged at about the 50% mark (I kept surprising myself with how little I'd actually read of this, it felt like MONTHS), though I will give the author credit for twisting the story significantly just as we were starting to get bored of her endless love life scenarios. As the Bubble glitches in the story, giving increasingly ludicrous plots for Marsh to follow, the same bled out into the story. I mean the whole threesome tangent? Just kind of stupid. Also so many characters - I just lost track of who was who after a while. The ending is also a huge let-down.
I liked the author's writing style and I do plan on picking up another one of their books - I think this might just be a fault of execution and wanting to try and do a lot, but not succeeding. Honestly, if you liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, you'll probably love this - it's got a love triangle, it's unnecessarily long, it's got a weird energy you're either going to love or dislike.
First, let's get it out of the way, there is absolutely no need for this book to be 500+ pages. No need. It needed a sharper editor and a lot less time spent doing things that did little more than to confuse the plot so the author could eek out a few more chapters of nothingness. A little over 400, maybe. But not 500.
'All This and More' has a fascinating concept. A reality show that you can step into and try on different paths your life could've taken until you find the perfect one. Obviously, there's some darkness and weirdness underneath it all and it gets more twisty and mind-bending the further in you go. It's sort of choose your own adventure but not really (maybe that was an audiobook thing, I don't know). The concept is sound and original. The execution is meh.
Marsh, the woman who goes onto 'All This and More' is perhaps the most annoying protagonist I've read recently. I didn't feel particularly sorry for her or for her life and I found her to be very inconsistently written - it's almost like the author adapted her to fit the scenes they wanted to write, ironically. Half her dialogue is either repeating the line the other person in the conversation has said, asking a completely unhelpful question or saying she doesn't know what to do. For 500+ pages. And as we were hurtling towards the end I kept expecting her to change, to be certain, to have LEARNED something from this whole ridiculous experience - nothing. She STILL couldn't make up her mind. And I'm sure there's something deeper to say there, but for me it was just annoying. She doesn't grow or learn, nothing is ever quite good enough, there's no change in her character. Why would I want to stick with her for so long if nothing's ever changing?
The plots were underbaked and dragged at about the 50% mark (I kept surprising myself with how little I'd actually read of this, it felt like MONTHS), though I will give the author credit for twisting the story significantly just as we were starting to get bored of her endless love life scenarios. As the Bubble glitches in the story, giving increasingly ludicrous plots for Marsh to follow, the same bled out into the story. I mean the whole threesome tangent? Just kind of stupid. Also so many characters - I just lost track of who was who after a while. The ending is also a huge let-down.
I liked the author's writing style and I do plan on picking up another one of their books - I think this might just be a fault of execution and wanting to try and do a lot, but not succeeding. Honestly, if you liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, you'll probably love this - it's got a love triangle, it's unnecessarily long, it's got a weird energy you're either going to love or dislike.