Crossings

Crossings was a curious yet slightly disappointing read. I was intrigued by the structure of the book and the concept of multiple lifetimes. I was let down by characters I did not emphasize with, at all, and overly flourished language that grew tiresome throughout the book.

The first story, ‘The Education of a Monster,' sets the stage for the rest of the book and introduces the reader to the concept of crossing. Baudelaire, the narrator of this story, was the least likable narrator of the whole novel for me. He's a central figure of the book, however, and ties the characters and stories together.

The second story, ‘City of Ghosts,' was a bit tedious through its first half – the language felt pretentious. I enjoyed the last two sections of the story, as there was more action and less time in the narrator's head.

The third story was my favorite by far and the most interesting of the three. You get the final pieces of the puzzle and find out what's been going on throughout many lifetimes. Plus, I liked Alula's viewpoint much more.

I think the thought will haunt me that I should have read it the other way first. Seriously, please don't give me so much power before I even know what the book is about. In terms of understanding what's happening, I think reading it the conventional way (front to back) works best. For a more exciting and engaging story, I think the Baroness sequence is the way to go. You'll be confused for a bit, but I think that mystery would make it more interesting.

Ultimately, I can't decide how I feel about Crossings. It was an intriguing premise that got bogged down by name dropping, excessive speeches masquerading as dialogue, and very few likable characters. But I enjoyed the story and mystery enough to keep reading. I don't know if the unique structure of the book and the concept of ‘crossing' can make up for not caring what happened in the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.