I really wanted this book to be 5 stars. But at the end of the day several issues knocked it down to 4 for me.
First, the good stuff:
-I loved the unabashed inclusion of so much indigenous language and culture incorporated through the book. It’s always hard for me to know how realistic or authentic these pieces are, but some other reviewers have mentioned that it is on par for the area. I felt like I could really visualize certain aspects and scenes of the novel.
-I enjoyed the storyline and for once in my recent books, didn’t have everything predicted in the first 30 minutes of reading. Don’t get me wrong, I still figured it out before Daunis. Just not nearly as soon as I normally would.
What knocked it down:
-As other reviewers mentioned, I felt there was a disconnect between how naive the protagonist was and the dark complexities of the story. There are too many parts where Daunis is thinking about the muscles in a certain body part and making weird science comparisons to whatever was going on. That is just not how a 18 year old girl interested in going to college for biology/medicine thinks. There were times it made me cringe.
First, the good stuff:
-I loved the unabashed inclusion of so much indigenous language and culture incorporated through the book. It’s always hard for me to know how realistic or authentic these pieces are, but some other reviewers have mentioned that it is on par for the area. I felt like I could really visualize certain aspects and scenes of the novel.
-I enjoyed the storyline and for once in my recent books, didn’t have everything predicted in the first 30 minutes of reading. Don’t get me wrong, I still figured it out before Daunis. Just not nearly as soon as I normally would.
What knocked it down:
-As other reviewers mentioned, I felt there was a disconnect between how naive the protagonist was and the dark complexities of the story. There are too many parts where Daunis is thinking about the muscles in a certain body part and making weird science comparisons to whatever was going on. That is just not how a 18 year old girl interested in going to college for biology/medicine thinks. There were times it made me cringe.