Reviews

Die Insel der Unschuldigen by Jess Kidd

bridge_enginerd's review against another edition

4.0

Gruesome, terrifying, excellent.

julieclair's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Fascinating dual-timeline tale about a 9year old girl who was shipwrecked off an Australian island in 1628, and a young teen boy living on that same island in 1989. The sense of place in both timelines felt very authentic. The 1628 timeline was based on a true story, and included lots of interesting details about life at sea during that time.

hannahheartspaperbacks's review against another edition

2.0

The Night Ship follows two characters in two very different timelines who end up on the same island off the coast of Australia. I thought this was such a unique story and really didn’t expect the supernatural elements that came along with Mayken’s story and her love of adventure, but provided an interesting plot to keep me reading. I definitely did struggle a bit with some of the writing that felt repetitive and the descriptions were difficult to picture. The book just felt a little long for me, but I’ve heard such wonderful things about this book, so I know it’s well loved by many people even if it didn’t work for me personally.

Thank you to Jess Kidd, Atria and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

bookchelf's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

kwn's review against another edition

2.0

Ugh, DNF (and I hate that because I love Jess Kidd!). But I just couldn't feel motivation to come back to it each night, and I was already 45% into the book. It never picked up, even though I loved Gil and Mayken (the two POVs).

It may be where I am mentally right now, but I have too many unread books on my shelves to stay patient with this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

marina_dee's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

“We don't need monsters, Gil, we are the monsters.”

Very bleak and haunting, on both sides of the story. I ended up being invested in Mayken's arc more. 

undeniableemg's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Real sad!

atgerstner's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

amandaparent15's review against another edition

2.5

The pacing of the first 2/3 of the boom was so slow that by the time it picked up I literally didn't care about anyone except gil and his tortoise. I think most of the reason I found this book so annoying and painful to get through was that I read it via audiobook and both narrators had horrificly bad accents and voices for EVERY SINGLE character even ones that had like 2 lines. They also pronounced names and places very differently so it was hard to follow who they were actually talking about. I actually thought it was interesting how closely it followed real history and how I got to learn about something id never heard of before but the pacing and annoyance of the audiobook overshadowed that for me. I don't think I would've finished it if I wasn't reading it for a book club but I'm still glad I did because it was an interesting thing to learn about.

nadiamg_reads's review against another edition

2.0

I’m sure others love this book, but it was definitely not for me. It was a story with beautiful writing, but it felt as if nothing of substance happened. It was a struggle to finish.