Reviews

This is like Twin Peaks, Stranger Things, and The Lottery had a child. I loved the beginning but found the ending dragged. I’m intrigued as to where this will go but I’m not sure if or when I’ll continue the series.

jenbarnes05's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

4.0

deadofnight98's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A

5.0

vcroteau's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious

4.0

First half is gaslighting the book and it’s kinda funny. Disappointed by the twist I thought it was going to be cooler

boats's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

There is certainly intrigue and good tension, but I spent a lot of time reading in incredulity of both the plot and the alleged character motivations. My fifth Crouch book and the first that left me baffled in a bad way.

shelbfish5's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

alibrarymouse's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The premise of this book is absolutely insane, and Blake Crouch does an exceptional job of making this sound and feel like books written in the 60s and 70s. It felt very much like a contemporary of William F. Nolan’s. However, I feel like we could’ve delved further into the hows of certain aspects of the town

The road out bit and why Kate aged the way she did, especially.

The way he messed with time was good, but overall, Ethan isn’t super likable and it was genuinely frustrating reading the first parts of this book because he didn’t seem to be learning from his mistakes, just repeating them. And so did his wife, who eventually also annoyed me. Her entire personality was apparently to be devoted and nothing else really. Of course, we don’t get much of her perspective, but I’m still somewhat disappointed by her and Ben’s lack of characterization.

Overall, read this if you like classic sci fi. It was a good hallmark to stories like Logan’s Run and had The Giver vibes at one point.

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