Slow start; AMAZING payoff

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I had a hard time getting into this book, which was frustrating, since I wanted so badly to love it. It was the title that grabbed me—this novel has, without doubt, the best title I have ever come across in my entire life. I really, really wanted the book to live up to it.

Part of the problem was that I wasn't too sure what to make of it—I'm still not, to be honest, but that's okay, at this point. The prose is quite purple, and the descriptive style is seriously bizarre, but that's something I was able to get used to; the style, especially, makes sense, given the world(s) in which this story takes place and the characters' not-entirely-human ways of perceiving their experiences. I also had a hard time connecting with the MCs, as well as with the building relationship between them: The narration is distant and does a poor job of humanizing Red and Blue, and the letters were so purple that I didn't actually feel like I was getting any sense of either of their voices; it also felt like their relationship built too fast, over too small a number of letters, in which these supposed enemies began opening up to each other far too early. It might've made more sense if there had been some indication that we were not seeing every letter exchanged; without such indication, Red and Blue's trust in—and then love for—each other seemed sudden and under-explained. It did become easier for me to suspend my disbelief once Things started Happening, but I think the story could have done with a bit more support for the relationship during its progression.

If you start this book and can't stand the writing, you'll probably have a hard time, and I'm not sure if I'd recommend that you continue reading. But if you can stand the writing, I'd urge you to stick with it, because this book's payoff is pretty damn awesome. There is a point when things turn, and there are two sort-of-twists—I did have an inkling about one of them prior to the reveal, but the other I did not see coming in the slightest, which was pretty cool. Any book that can surprise me like this one did gets about a billion bonus points.

There's also this one little mystery that seems to be hinted at, but is never fully revealed, and that did leave me a little frustrated—but not at the book, exactly. My frustration is more aimed at myself, I suppose, for not being able to put the pieces together, though, for all I know, that one little hint wasn't actually a hint, and I'm trying to solve a mystery that doesn't actually exist. I'll have to keep an eye on the chatter once the book is released; hopefully there will be other people talking about this little intrigue, too.

So—fantastic title, bit of a bumpy start, impressive payoff. I did like this book, if not quite as much, right off the bat, as I'd hoped I would (but that's fine, because my expectations were probably higher than they should've been—I do blame the title for that). I would've liked it less, if not for those last few chapters, which I can only describe as a thrillingly astonishing race, and which very emphatically bumped this book up from three stars to four. They were pretty awesome.