Have you ever seen a premise for a story and thought, wow, this is so amazing it can’t possibly go wrong? Yeah, me too. This was one such case. Sadly, while the idea was pretty cool, the delivery was not.
This is a book that I was really looking forward to after reading the synopsis. Could you just imagine, living in a place where your greatest wish could be granted, no matter what it was? How amazing would that be? Also, I was really excited to get into the magical realism of the story. Really, it has all the ingredients for amazing, and yet, that’s not what I got out of it.
The main problem with this novel, other than being maybe a little too long and a little too slow, is the main character, Eldon. To put it plainly, I hated Eldon. He’s selfish, rude, and just unlikable. I love character driven stories above all other and sadly, this particular character was a pain to deal with.
I understood his pain and his resentment of the wishes, but that did not excuse the things he did and the way he acted, especially in the end. He was a downer to read about and an unappealing narrator. My favorite parts where when we got to see other people’s wishes and I didn’t have to deal with Eldon for a bit.
Now, I admit that there were parts that were very well thought out. The saying ‘be careful what you wish for’ has been around since forever and has been used on stories like these for just as long. But, it is always accompanied by the consequences for the wisher and few times for those around them. Here we see how people’s wishes have had negative effects on the lives of all around them. We also see some of the stupid things that people would undoubtedly waste their one wish on were this real life. I actually really liked seeing the wish histories.
Sadly, this one kernel of good that the story had going for it, didn’t keep me as invested as I would have liked. Truth is, it was too easy to put this book down and too hard to pick it back up.
This is a book that I was really looking forward to after reading the synopsis. Could you just imagine, living in a place where your greatest wish could be granted, no matter what it was? How amazing would that be? Also, I was really excited to get into the magical realism of the story. Really, it has all the ingredients for amazing, and yet, that’s not what I got out of it.
The main problem with this novel, other than being maybe a little too long and a little too slow, is the main character, Eldon. To put it plainly, I hated Eldon. He’s selfish, rude, and just unlikable. I love character driven stories above all other and sadly, this particular character was a pain to deal with.
I understood his pain and his resentment of the wishes, but that did not excuse the things he did and the way he acted, especially in the end. He was a downer to read about and an unappealing narrator. My favorite parts where when we got to see other people’s wishes and I didn’t have to deal with Eldon for a bit.
Now, I admit that there were parts that were very well thought out. The saying ‘be careful what you wish for’ has been around since forever and has been used on stories like these for just as long. But, it is always accompanied by the consequences for the wisher and few times for those around them. Here we see how people’s wishes have had negative effects on the lives of all around them. We also see some of the stupid things that people would undoubtedly waste their one wish on were this real life. I actually really liked seeing the wish histories.
Sadly, this one kernel of good that the story had going for it, didn’t keep me as invested as I would have liked. Truth is, it was too easy to put this book down and too hard to pick it back up.