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uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Hate crime, Racism, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Medical content, Outing, Sexual harassment, and War
meganpbennett's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
We open with River making a mistake that gets him sent to Slough House, with the Slow Horses. A time later, things start slowly happening, with a journalist being investigated. This section is very very slow, and the timeline is so convoluted as to be "wibbly wobbly", making it very hard to figure out what's happening in the present time or what happened in the past, or even, what's not happening, what didn't happen.
The kidnapping and the actual plot involving who the kid is and why he was kidnapped is awful and many sections seemed unnecessary.
I found the first half far too slow, and the second half was way too full of sections where a character would say that he knew things and then the next sentence would be "so he told them".
The character's names were far too similar; I gave up around the middle of the book ever figuring out who was who and why I should care about them. The writing was decent and the thriller aspect was good, but the pacing was way off, and the "so he told them" lines started getting frustrating very early on.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
marianneiriss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, Blood, Islamophobia, and Kidnapping
dtrain3000's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
That being said, I enjoyed the premise of the book. A bunch of agents from MI5 go to a dead-end part of the agency and get themselves wrapped in a mission way over their heads. The characters are quite lovable and the reader wants them to win because of their underdog status.
What I didn't like was the large ensemble cast. It was confusing to keep everyone's backstory straight. The constant moving between storylines made it difficult to keep track of where the reader is in the overall plot.
I also found Herron's prose to be difficult to follow and verbose at times. I found myself at multiple points in the book thinking "why do I need to know this?" which is never something you want.
Overall, I still found the book really interesting. There were amazing twists and turns, lovable characters, and an interesting premise for future books. I would recommend anyone who is interested in spy novels to read because it's an modern take on the genre. But my only word of caution would be to take your time because you will likely get confused.
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, and Murder
Minor: Suicide