Syndrie
If someone ever asks you to explain what gaslighting is, you can just tell them to read this book if they really want to find out.
I do love a good cult story but I especially enjoyed this one because it wasn’t too overtly crazy from the beginning. Starting out, you get the feeling that things are a little off-kilter over on Kindred Cove but you can’t really put a finger on exactly what the problem is just yet. As the novel takes you through multiple timelines with focuses on many different characters, the full picture of the island slowly starts to form before coming to—what I found to be—a rather well executed ending.
In some ways this felt a bit more like a dive into the psychology of cults which really enhanced my personal enjoyment of the story. There’s definitely some actual good advice and words of wisdom tucked into the pages of this novel, but they’re surrounded by a bunch of other extremely problematic ideals and expectations—the dangerous part being that those small nuggets of real advice are what lure people into the cult before they’re slowly exposed to more and more of the extremist ideas. So I’d say the story does a good job at accurately highlighting just how cults actually manage to form and gain the communities that keep them running.
I also really liked how the speculative fiction elements were brought into this story as well. I don’t want to give too much away here, so I’ll just say that these elements added an extra level of intrigue while also providing a bit more of a foundation as to why the community of Kindred Cove operates as it does today.
This is one that I read as an audiobook and I’d say that Xe Sands did a great job at narration! She has good pacing, clear enunciation, and the variation in the character voices was also well done. That said, I did have a little trouble keeping track of the multitude of timelines going on in this story while purely relying on the audiobook—but once I picked up a copy of the ebook to read alongside the audio I found it much easier to follow along. I will say that I’m not someone that picks up audiobooks very often though, so there’s definitely a chance that those who have more experience with them won’t have the same trouble that I did!
Overall I’d definitely recommend this to readers who already enjoy cult stories, although I would say that if you aren’t really a fan of slower paced or highly character focused stories then this might not be the best option for you. But for readers who are looking to dive right into a character’s mind and hang on for the ride then this could be a good option for you!
(I received an advance listening copy of this book from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own.)
If someone ever asks you to explain what gaslighting is, you can just tell them to read this book if they really want to find out.
I do love a good cult story but I especially enjoyed this one because it wasn’t too overtly crazy from the beginning. Starting out, you get the feeling that things are a little off-kilter over on Kindred Cove but you can’t really put a finger on exactly what the problem is just yet. As the novel takes you through multiple timelines with focuses on many different characters, the full picture of the island slowly starts to form before coming to—what I found to be—a rather well executed ending.
In some ways this felt a bit more like a dive into the psychology of cults which really enhanced my personal enjoyment of the story. There’s definitely some actual good advice and words of wisdom tucked into the pages of this novel, but they’re surrounded by a bunch of other extremely problematic ideals and expectations—the dangerous part being that those small nuggets of real advice are what lure people into the cult before they’re slowly exposed to more and more of the extremist ideas. So I’d say the story does a good job at accurately highlighting just how cults actually manage to form and gain the communities that keep them running.
I also really liked how the speculative fiction elements were brought into this story as well. I don’t want to give too much away here, so I’ll just say that these elements added an extra level of intrigue while also providing a bit more of a foundation as to why the community of Kindred Cove operates as it does today.
This is one that I read as an audiobook and I’d say that Xe Sands did a great job at narration! She has good pacing, clear enunciation, and the variation in the character voices was also well done. That said, I did have a little trouble keeping track of the multitude of timelines going on in this story while purely relying on the audiobook—but once I picked up a copy of the ebook to read alongside the audio I found it much easier to follow along. I will say that I’m not someone that picks up audiobooks very often though, so there’s definitely a chance that those who have more experience with them won’t have the same trouble that I did!
Overall I’d definitely recommend this to readers who already enjoy cult stories, although I would say that if you aren’t really a fan of slower paced or highly character focused stories then this might not be the best option for you. But for readers who are looking to dive right into a character’s mind and hang on for the ride then this could be a good option for you!
(I received an advance listening copy of this book from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own.)