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A review by ghostlydreamer
Hide by Kiersten White
Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.
I don't know if I can say anything else that hasn't been said even better by other reviewers, so I'll be brief.
1. This book is surprisingly short, but it takes FOREVER to read. Maybe it's simply because I lost interest very quickly, very early on. But for a book so short, I expected to make quicker progress. For a book with this kind of premise, I expected this to be a page-turner. It was not.
2. Given that this author writes plenty of YA books, I can see why other reviewers feel like this reads like YA. I didn't get that impression at first, but I started getting those vibes the further I got into the story. Bad words and gritty characters might be the only things that make this book feel somewhat adult.
3. The author has a very heavy-handed way of projecting social issues into her book. And while I don't think it's a bad thing to weave social issues into stories where it's appropriate, this was done poorly. In my opinion, and based on what I've seen others talk about with this book, it almost feels like the social issues are a mere plot device. The messages the author is trying to convey fall short and they fall flat, largely because the book does not explore them well and does it in a very in-your-face sort of way. I'd have liked her to weave those things in more cleverly than that.
4. The plot could have been incredible. 14 people trying to hide inside an amusement park? Where things might...kill you? God, that sounds amazing. But unfortunately, the execution was just not there. It took forever for the story to get off the ground, and for a short book, I don't think that's a good thing. Maybe if we'd begun the story with the characters already in the park, I'd have been more curious. As it was, I read up until the first day in the park, and I was already so bored that I had no desire to keep going, even though I'd told myself to keep reading until I got at least a few days into their stay in the park so that I could see what it was like.
5. If this is supposed to be scary, it was not. There's not even any suspense. Instead, I'm just kind of sitting there, skimming the page, wondering why I'm not feeling anything but frustration and irritation for these characters.
6. Just like everyone else said, there are way too many characters. 14! And I could not keep track of them all. Between calling them by their real name vs some "identifying" factors interchangeably, and having two characters with the same first name...it was overwhelming. We got a lot of info dumping as a result, particularly about their backstories, which all felt rather shallow. They lacked individuality. Instead, they all felt like they were following stereotypes of certain kinds of people. That gets old really fast.
7. None of the characters were likeable. Not even our main protagonist, who I felt like I should've been rooting for. There's so much to unpack with a character like her, but she was hard to like and I stopped caring about whatever else her backstory held because I didn't care if she won or lost in the park.
8. The POV switches were abrupt and hard to keep track of. Give us some warning. Use some transitions!
9. I've read what other people have to say about the ending, and it sounds anticlimactic as hell. If I can't even expect a decent ending, then I'm out.
I was so disappointed in this story. Truly. I remember when this first came out. I was enamored by the cover and the premise. A story that involves an abandoned amusement park? Sign me the fuck up. I wanted to love this so much. I wanted it to be a favorite. Then I saw the reviews, and I wanted to love it despite all the reviews. And then I decided to DNF it. I don't even know what specifically caused me to DNF it. Was it the unnecessarily crass way in which the writer had her characters think and speak? Was it the fact that I felt absolutely nothing and didn't care about reading from anyone's POV? Was it because the other reviewers had subconsciously influenced me? I don't know. But I suddenly lost interest, and I'm not going to put myself through the rest of it. I'll find other books about amusement parks. Life's too short for books that don't interest me. If you fall into this camp and also want to or already have DNFed, then I support you.
1. This book is surprisingly short, but it takes FOREVER to read. Maybe it's simply because I lost interest very quickly, very early on. But for a book so short, I expected to make quicker progress. For a book with this kind of premise, I expected this to be a page-turner. It was not.
2. Given that this author writes plenty of YA books, I can see why other reviewers feel like this reads like YA. I didn't get that impression at first, but I started getting those vibes the further I got into the story. Bad words and gritty characters might be the only things that make this book feel somewhat adult.
3. The author has a very heavy-handed way of projecting social issues into her book. And while I don't think it's a bad thing to weave social issues into stories where it's appropriate, this was done poorly. In my opinion, and based on what I've seen others talk about with this book, it almost feels like the social issues are a mere plot device. The messages the author is trying to convey fall short and they fall flat, largely because the book does not explore them well and does it in a very in-your-face sort of way. I'd have liked her to weave those things in more cleverly than that.
4. The plot could have been incredible. 14 people trying to hide inside an amusement park? Where things might...kill you? God, that sounds amazing. But unfortunately, the execution was just not there. It took forever for the story to get off the ground, and for a short book, I don't think that's a good thing. Maybe if we'd begun the story with the characters already in the park, I'd have been more curious. As it was, I read up until the first day in the park, and I was already so bored that I had no desire to keep going, even though I'd told myself to keep reading until I got at least a few days into their stay in the park so that I could see what it was like.
5. If this is supposed to be scary, it was not. There's not even any suspense. Instead, I'm just kind of sitting there, skimming the page, wondering why I'm not feeling anything but frustration and irritation for these characters.
6. Just like everyone else said, there are way too many characters. 14! And I could not keep track of them all. Between calling them by their real name vs some "identifying" factors interchangeably, and having two characters with the same first name...it was overwhelming. We got a lot of info dumping as a result, particularly about their backstories, which all felt rather shallow. They lacked individuality. Instead, they all felt like they were following stereotypes of certain kinds of people. That gets old really fast.
7. None of the characters were likeable. Not even our main protagonist, who I felt like I should've been rooting for. There's so much to unpack with a character like her, but she was hard to like and I stopped caring about whatever else her backstory held because I didn't care if she won or lost in the park.
8. The POV switches were abrupt and hard to keep track of. Give us some warning. Use some transitions!
9. I've read what other people have to say about the ending, and it sounds anticlimactic as hell. If I can't even expect a decent ending, then I'm out.
I was so disappointed in this story. Truly. I remember when this first came out. I was enamored by the cover and the premise. A story that involves an abandoned amusement park? Sign me the fuck up. I wanted to love this so much. I wanted it to be a favorite. Then I saw the reviews, and I wanted to love it despite all the reviews. And then I decided to DNF it. I don't even know what specifically caused me to DNF it. Was it the unnecessarily crass way in which the writer had her characters think and speak? Was it the fact that I felt absolutely nothing and didn't care about reading from anyone's POV? Was it because the other reviewers had subconsciously influenced me? I don't know. But I suddenly lost interest, and I'm not going to put myself through the rest of it. I'll find other books about amusement parks. Life's too short for books that don't interest me. If you fall into this camp and also want to or already have DNFed, then I support you.