I have some seriously mixed feelings about this book.
It opens with the big event that from the description of the book and reviews I read before buying it, was the mysterious day the whole book is about. It was strange to me to give us such intense details about the first half the day, then switch to the present and act like we don't know anything about the terrible day, and what happened. Obviously we didn't know everything, but I felt we knew enough that all the mystery surrounding that day was a bit much.
After the intensely exciting description of the terrible day, the book went downhill for me. Even the second terrible day in the present, somehow fell flat in my mind. Maybe I've read too many books and watched too many films about that type of situation, but I felt it could have been written in a more captivating way.
After that, even though things were slowly being revealed to us, I couldn't take it anymore. The conversations and characters' actions felt long and drawn out, it felt like watching a movie in slow motion. Other reviews had noted that the story goes slowly so I had prepared for that but it was too slow for me. Eventually I gave up.
However, the reason I am giving this book 4 stars and not 2 or 3 is because, out of curiosity, I found a thread that discussed the ending and I was shocked. I skipped ahead to about the last 2 chapters of the book, and I have to say that the story concludes in a satisfying and surprising, though heartbreaking (which was to be expected) way.
All in all I think if I'd had the patience I would've rated this book a confident 4 stars or maybe even 5, but the story was way too slow for me, though the ending was great.
Fantastic writing, a very well thought out story, and an ending that will leave you nearly in tears.
If I had a favourite books I read this year list this would be number 1, and it's definitely one of my favourite books I've ever read now, and definitely my number one dystopian future book.
It was my first Stephen King novel, and definitely the first of many to come.
This was basically unreadable. The plot was interesting enough, but the only way all the things that were happening could happen was for the two main characters to act incredibly stupid and naive, which they did. At a point their behaviour was ridiculous, and I couldn't finish the book.
Slow start, but halfway through the book I was engrossed and couldn't put it down. Fantastic ending as usual, I felt as scared and horrified as each character in the book. Another great novel by Laine Moriarty.
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