spicy_penguin's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
a_manning11's review against another edition
4.0
Another amazing book by Gemma Malley. I struggled with the first 20 pages, getting to know the main character. However, the concept and storytelling are outstanding. The author found a completely unique way to talk about the cruel side of humanity - the holocaust, Rwanda, genocide.
Is this cruelty unavoidable and must keep repeating itself, or can humanity change?
This would also be a great addition to any high school curriculum on a related topic.
Is this cruelty unavoidable and must keep repeating itself, or can humanity change?
This would also be a great addition to any high school curriculum on a related topic.
rebeccabooks's review against another edition
4.0
I was interested in reading this book purely because I loved Gemma Malley's dystopian series, The Declaration about what live could be like if we were dependent on drugs that made us live forever. It is such an interesting concept and was written so well that I felt sad when I finished the last book.
So, of course, I want more Gemma Malley, so this book appealed to me, so I grabbed it in the library the other day when I saw it.
Synopsis: London teenager Will Hodge is miserable. His mother is dead, his father's political leanings have grown radical, and his friends barely talk to him. To top it off, he's having nightmares about things like concentration camps. Then Will notices he's being followed by a group of people who claim to know him from another time in history. It turns out they are Returners, reincarnated people who carry with them the memory of atrocities they have witnessed in the past. Will realizes that he, too, is a Returner. But something about his memories is different, and with dawning horror, Will suspects that he wasn't just a witness to the events, he was instrumental in making them happen. Set in the near future, with the world on the verge of a new wave of ethnic cleansing, Will must choose to confront the cruelty he's known in his past lives, or be doomed to repeat it.
Review: The whole idea of what the Returners are is interesting first of all and something that could be quite viable in reality, especially if they are unknown to anyone that isn't one themselves. After reading this book, I liked the idea of them, but I still don't understand the reason for them. Will constantly asks their purpose overall for history but they are always so vague and mysterious. They can never stop the suffering that happens, just live through it as an experience, which I understand so the suffering of those lives on but why have the Returners continuously?
This book is also a political novel and tackles a lot of the social issues that have arisen in England since the recession. Does wealth overall everything fundamentally? Should those that are not English citizens actually be living here? What would happen if an extremist party did get into the government? All these questions are tackled and more and I know that any English person at least would relate to this novel and help understand these topics. There are some racy and taboo like comments said that make you blush throughout but this is all seen as a bad thing, which is the general opinion at the moment.
The book is set in 2016, and nothing really has changed to now. Really, for the political side to the novel, it is showing what effect the recession has just under ten years on. All the things that happen to people in money troubles, happen to Will and it is quite hard hitting for him and the reader with the lengthy descriptions of the fights his parents had before his mother killed herself, both violent and just shouting. This is a book I would say is definitely just for people in their late teens from about 14.
Will was an average character, he was really just a typical boy. I found him neither interesting nor annoying. Although, I found his constant admiration for Clare rather irritating and felt like shouting 'We know you like her!' The characters of the Returners that you met start off rather creepy and scary and I didn't blame Will not wanting to join them. However, they open up and we see the life of a Returner through the grandfather-like Douglas and teenage Emily. Now, I liked Douglas although he was way too philosophical at times. But Emily. To start, she seemed to have hinted to have had a relationship with Will's past self. But nothing ever came out, I have no idea if it was true or not, although I doubt there was something.
I liked the way it was written. There was never a point where the action and tension dipped, you always want to know who, what, why, how. Although the continuous use of short sentences could be annoying, I liked it. It made it much more interesting and different to read to me.
I liked also how Gemma Malley hasn't given everything away at the beginning and made it so what you think will happen halfway through takes a completely different direction by the end. It's definitely not a book to read to relax and feel good about yourself but it is worth a read for those that like dystopian fiction.
It's not as good and well-rounded as her previous trilogy but for those that are new to Gemma Malley or new to the dystopian genre, it's a good read and enjoyable despite the number of spelling mistakes I found while reading (hewas, just to name a few), one slight pet hate of mine and I'm sure others.
This is a worth while read for those that haven't heard of Gemma Malley before or are new to the dystopian genre but I would read this and then continue straight on to The Declaration series. The idea is a good and rather puzzling interesting one, I'm just not sure if it was executed in the right way yet.
Verdict: Worth a look but not as good as The Declaration by far. However, Gemma Malley does give some interesting things to think about which I think shall stay with me for a while now. I shall leave you with one of them:
'"But nothing Douglas. Everyone has a choice. Everyone. All the time. You can walk through a door or decide not to. You can let your past dictate your future or you can throw two fingers up at it and walk away."'
I give it a 3.5 out of 5
So, of course, I want more Gemma Malley, so this book appealed to me, so I grabbed it in the library the other day when I saw it.
Synopsis: London teenager Will Hodge is miserable. His mother is dead, his father's political leanings have grown radical, and his friends barely talk to him. To top it off, he's having nightmares about things like concentration camps. Then Will notices he's being followed by a group of people who claim to know him from another time in history. It turns out they are Returners, reincarnated people who carry with them the memory of atrocities they have witnessed in the past. Will realizes that he, too, is a Returner. But something about his memories is different, and with dawning horror, Will suspects that he wasn't just a witness to the events, he was instrumental in making them happen. Set in the near future, with the world on the verge of a new wave of ethnic cleansing, Will must choose to confront the cruelty he's known in his past lives, or be doomed to repeat it.
Review: The whole idea of what the Returners are is interesting first of all and something that could be quite viable in reality, especially if they are unknown to anyone that isn't one themselves. After reading this book, I liked the idea of them, but I still don't understand the reason for them. Will constantly asks their purpose overall for history but they are always so vague and mysterious. They can never stop the suffering that happens, just live through it as an experience, which I understand so the suffering of those lives on but why have the Returners continuously?
This book is also a political novel and tackles a lot of the social issues that have arisen in England since the recession. Does wealth overall everything fundamentally? Should those that are not English citizens actually be living here? What would happen if an extremist party did get into the government? All these questions are tackled and more and I know that any English person at least would relate to this novel and help understand these topics. There are some racy and taboo like comments said that make you blush throughout but this is all seen as a bad thing, which is the general opinion at the moment.
The book is set in 2016, and nothing really has changed to now. Really, for the political side to the novel, it is showing what effect the recession has just under ten years on. All the things that happen to people in money troubles, happen to Will and it is quite hard hitting for him and the reader with the lengthy descriptions of the fights his parents had before his mother killed herself, both violent and just shouting. This is a book I would say is definitely just for people in their late teens from about 14.
Will was an average character, he was really just a typical boy. I found him neither interesting nor annoying. Although, I found his constant admiration for Clare rather irritating and felt like shouting 'We know you like her!' The characters of the Returners that you met start off rather creepy and scary and I didn't blame Will not wanting to join them. However, they open up and we see the life of a Returner through the grandfather-like Douglas and teenage Emily. Now, I liked Douglas although he was way too philosophical at times. But Emily. To start, she seemed to have hinted to have had a relationship with Will's past self. But nothing ever came out, I have no idea if it was true or not, although I doubt there was something.
I liked the way it was written. There was never a point where the action and tension dipped, you always want to know who, what, why, how. Although the continuous use of short sentences could be annoying, I liked it. It made it much more interesting and different to read to me.
I liked also how Gemma Malley hasn't given everything away at the beginning and made it so what you think will happen halfway through takes a completely different direction by the end. It's definitely not a book to read to relax and feel good about yourself but it is worth a read for those that like dystopian fiction.
It's not as good and well-rounded as her previous trilogy but for those that are new to Gemma Malley or new to the dystopian genre, it's a good read and enjoyable despite the number of spelling mistakes I found while reading (hewas, just to name a few), one slight pet hate of mine and I'm sure others.
This is a worth while read for those that haven't heard of Gemma Malley before or are new to the dystopian genre but I would read this and then continue straight on to The Declaration series. The idea is a good and rather puzzling interesting one, I'm just not sure if it was executed in the right way yet.
Verdict: Worth a look but not as good as The Declaration by far. However, Gemma Malley does give some interesting things to think about which I think shall stay with me for a while now. I shall leave you with one of them:
'"But nothing Douglas. Everyone has a choice. Everyone. All the time. You can walk through a door or decide not to. You can let your past dictate your future or you can throw two fingers up at it and walk away."'
I give it a 3.5 out of 5
blburslem's review against another edition
1.0
So disapointed in this book. I did not enjoy the stream of consciousness narraration. The book was overall very depressing.
zahraaakz's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't think I would like this book at first, nevertheless I kept going and finished the book .The ending was so fucked up yet so good .The plot was a little sketchy at times but I like the way the author built up the climax.
dorod59's review against another edition
4.0
A good science-fiction novel.
I loved Gemma Malley's trilogy (The declaration) very much so I decided to discover one of her other books. The returners is kind of a strange novel because of the concept behind it, it is quite a mistery at first to understand what Will is. But it is really well written. Part of the story includes some "bad stuff" that really happened in the past ( it's a bit of an historic part), it is really interesting, and it shows how it affected people's life (and Will in this case).
Anyway, what I felt is that even if the plot is very good, the main idea is not developed enough and I felt a bit disappointed by the ending. So a good, yet confusing, novel :-)
I loved Gemma Malley's trilogy (The declaration) very much so I decided to discover one of her other books. The returners is kind of a strange novel because of the concept behind it, it is quite a mistery at first to understand what Will is. But it is really well written. Part of the story includes some "bad stuff" that really happened in the past ( it's a bit of an historic part), it is really interesting, and it shows how it affected people's life (and Will in this case).
Anyway, what I felt is that even if the plot is very good, the main idea is not developed enough and I felt a bit disappointed by the ending. So a good, yet confusing, novel :-)
sangloup's review against another edition
4.0
2020 Extreme Book Nerd Challenge.... Category #42.
Challenge Topic: A book with an immigrant.
Imagine being reborn again and again with all the knowledge of humanities horrors and being forced to either be the recipient or the bringer of all these horrors. The author managed to bring this story to life and the main character has "forgotten" who and what he is.
I struggled a little with the writing style. For me it was a little choppy, but the story was a good one.
Challenge Topic: A book with an immigrant.
Imagine being reborn again and again with all the knowledge of humanities horrors and being forced to either be the recipient or the bringer of all these horrors. The author managed to bring this story to life and the main character has "forgotten" who and what he is.
I struggled a little with the writing style. For me it was a little choppy, but the story was a good one.
philyra91's review against another edition
2.0
I have to say, The Returners was a real disappointment for me. I've enjoyed Gemma Malley's other books, such as The Declaration immensely but this one just seemed to lack the magic of the other books. Honestly, I didn't see the point of this novel at all. It didn't make much sense to me. It seems more like a fictional look at societal ills.
Will Hodge is being followed by people who insist they know him, though he does not remember them, and his terrifying dreams have begun spilling over from night-time into day. Slowly, Will discovers that his past is not all that he thought it was, and the people following him aren't really strangers. They are Returners, and they have an important message about some truths Will has forgotten - terrible truths he may wish he had never known...
The main criticism I have of this book is that one, it's far too depressing. I didn't feel that the silver lining at the end of the book really justified me going through the entire novel. Two, a Returner's role is to, apparently, "absorbs humanity's suffering and evil; being humanity's conscience". Basically, they do nothing. I have a problem with that. Even Will is upset at this. They absorb sufferings and evils and yet, they just absorb. They do nothing else. What is the point then? What is the meaning of their existence? If you're supposed to be humanity's conscience, why aren't you fighting back at humanity to stop all these evils?
Another main theme of the novel is bigotry. I have to say, major characters in the novel are severely bigoted and there were several times I felt like throwing the book against the wall because I was just so mad. The bigotry comes in at a time when Great Britain, in 2016, is going through a recession and hate against the foreigners is on the rise. I suppose, reading this now, at a time where there is a great inflow and outflow of foreigners in various countries in the world makes the novel pretty relevant but apart from that, there wasn't much of anything else.
Will Hodge is being followed by people who insist they know him, though he does not remember them, and his terrifying dreams have begun spilling over from night-time into day. Slowly, Will discovers that his past is not all that he thought it was, and the people following him aren't really strangers. They are Returners, and they have an important message about some truths Will has forgotten - terrible truths he may wish he had never known...
The main criticism I have of this book is that one, it's far too depressing. I didn't feel that the silver lining at the end of the book really justified me going through the entire novel. Two, a Returner's role is to, apparently, "absorbs humanity's suffering and evil; being humanity's conscience". Basically, they do nothing. I have a problem with that. Even Will is upset at this. They absorb sufferings and evils and yet, they just absorb. They do nothing else. What is the point then? What is the meaning of their existence? If you're supposed to be humanity's conscience, why aren't you fighting back at humanity to stop all these evils?
Another main theme of the novel is bigotry. I have to say, major characters in the novel are severely bigoted and there were several times I felt like throwing the book against the wall because I was just so mad. The bigotry comes in at a time when Great Britain, in 2016, is going through a recession and hate against the foreigners is on the rise. I suppose, reading this now, at a time where there is a great inflow and outflow of foreigners in various countries in the world makes the novel pretty relevant but apart from that, there wasn't much of anything else.
izzy_1004_'s review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book!
The writing was boring, I have to say, but the plot was so good, it didn't matter.
If you believe in or are facsinated in recarnation then this book would be very interesting to you. It was for me!
The writing was boring, I have to say, but the plot was so good, it didn't matter.
If you believe in or are facsinated in recarnation then this book would be very interesting to you. It was for me!
charonlrdraws's review against another edition
3.0
You know what sucks the first half of this book is great and then it kind of took a nose-dive and I lost interest and no longer cared for the characters which sucked, yeah this isn't the first Gemma Malley book I've read and this book sounded so good but I was a little disappointed with this book as it had so much potential for being a great book. But it was way too short and it was rushed.
A summery for The Returners:
Will Hodge is being followed by people who insist they know him, though he does not remember them, and his terrifying dreams have begun spilling over from night-time into day. He is also a witness in a murder trial and is coping with the death of his mother. Life couldn't get much more difficult. Or could it?
Slowly, Will discovers that his past is not all that he thought it was, and the people following him aren't really strangers. They are Returners, and they have an important message about some truths Will has forgotten - terrible truths he may wish he had never known...
I will continue to buy Gemma Malley's books but yeah I did feel a little let by this book which is sad really.
A summery for The Returners:
Will Hodge is being followed by people who insist they know him, though he does not remember them, and his terrifying dreams have begun spilling over from night-time into day. He is also a witness in a murder trial and is coping with the death of his mother. Life couldn't get much more difficult. Or could it?
Slowly, Will discovers that his past is not all that he thought it was, and the people following him aren't really strangers. They are Returners, and they have an important message about some truths Will has forgotten - terrible truths he may wish he had never known...
I will continue to buy Gemma Malley's books but yeah I did feel a little let by this book which is sad really.