Surprising Genre-Bender
To preface this review, I have read both The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and Devil and the Dark Water. I enjoyed both-- perhaps Evelyn Hardcastle more so. I expected there to be information withheld and perhaps even surreal or existential elements at play from the start.
What I didn't expect was for it to lean so heavily into science fiction (which was not a con in my book, despite generally not being a science fiction reader.) As someone who leans more toward fantasy, I was not bogged down by this aspect in the least. I personally felt it added the necessary flavor to this novel and did a handy job of providing the little twists needed.
I have seen complaints about the characters and, as someone who considers herself a character-based reader, I feel obligated to comment: I felt they were fine. Good, even. They are admittedly a little two-dimensional, but there is a reason for this in the narrative. A very good reason. Despite this, they still felt very unique to me and I even grew attached to a number of them.
On the subject of narration, I found it fascinating that the narrator was technically a separate being entirely to all the POV's despite being in the head of every one. I feel this was brilliantly done.
I would sum this book up as quite clever and though I cannot testify as to how good a "mystery" it is (as I don't read many murder mysteries), I think it was a wonderful story that gave some really good moral questions to chew on.
Thanks for the fun read, Stuart Turton. (:
What I didn't expect was for it to lean so heavily into science fiction (which was not a con in my book, despite generally not being a science fiction reader.) As someone who leans more toward fantasy, I was not bogged down by this aspect in the least. I personally felt it added the necessary flavor to this novel and did a handy job of providing the little twists needed.
I have seen complaints about the characters and, as someone who considers herself a character-based reader, I feel obligated to comment: I felt they were fine. Good, even. They are admittedly a little two-dimensional, but there is a reason for this in the narrative. A very good reason. Despite this, they still felt very unique to me and I even grew attached to a number of them.
On the subject of narration, I found it fascinating that the narrator was technically a separate being entirely to all the POV's despite being in the head of every one. I feel this was brilliantly done.
I would sum this book up as quite clever and though I cannot testify as to how good a "mystery" it is (as I don't read many murder mysteries), I think it was a wonderful story that gave some really good moral questions to chew on.
Thanks for the fun read, Stuart Turton. (: