Reviews with content warning for Blood - The One

This book was a four-star read up until around the 300-ish page mark. While it kept its momentum, the story got a bit convoluted and melodramatic. The One is a relatively contemplative and surely fascinating read as well as strong enough to carry the weight of all its characters and their five different storylines (I stray away from saying povs because we get a pov from two ‘matches’ at two points in the book) but its thrilling nature outweighs its literary lure. It lacks satisfying characterization, balanced unrest and rest, and inoffensive narration. While the book is immersive and the stories anchor in a tinge of reality, the characters never fully develop as people but rather stay characters who just serve to further the plot.
Those are my difficulties with the book. I felt it had potential and like the mcs with their ‘matches’, I wanted to like the book more than I actually did. I, personally, love books with a message and while this novel had one, it never delivered said message gracefully. It was an enjoyable ride but not a remarkable one.

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dazzle_spider_reader_1212's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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leonelle's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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chloestansifer's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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cady_sass's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

What a spectacular, brilliantly creative piece of writing. I couldn’t put it down and fell asleep reading it after keeping myself up way too late on a work night, that good. There are a multitude of storylines for varying characters and relationships, all centering around the universal “truth” that, in this world, there is one perfect match for everyone on earth and it’s genetically determined. Just send in a DNA sample and await your results. Simple, right? Far, far from it. Absolutely riveting, I will be thinking about this one for a long time.

Edited to add: this is sci-fi, and the science written here is obviously not sound. If you’ll be bothered by the scientific inaccuracies of the central element here then skip this, otherwise have fun pretending it’s real :)

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marareading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

An amazing thriller! Imagine a company exists that has created a DNA match test to ensure that every person is matched with the ONE person on earth who is perfect for them, but only if you choose to find them. I'm this book there are multiple POVs. One of them is a serial killer. The twists had me floored. I was actually speechless. I will recommend this book from now on. I enjoyed it so much!

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nataliebootlah's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

If you could swab your DNA to find your soul mate, The One you’re meant to be with, would you?

In this novel, the world is split in two: those that are happily matched and those still waiting. Couples are torn apart as they match with others, the non-matched are seen as outcasts, and traditional love is no longer traditional.

The One follows the stories of five very different people—Mandy, Ellie, Nick, Christopher, and Jade—as they meet their newly matched soul mates. Some find true love, some find something else. How far would you go to fall in love?

This was definitely a page-turner and the fact that almost every chapter ended with a cliffhanger helped. It was a psychological thriller unlike anything I’ve ever read before. A quick, fascinating read!

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