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theelliad's review against another edition
3.0
The Truants is a dark academia (adjacent) novel set between Norfolk (East Anglia) and a hideaway in Italy following Jess’s study of Agatha Christie, whose fiction and mystery structures the peice. While I am an absolute sucker for an academic based mystery fiction, this fell a little flat for me. The characters felt as though they lacked development, it was easy to consider them characters rather than humans, and the plot twists weren’t overly surprising. While passages of this book were breathtaking and immersive, I on the whole felt elements I wanted to know were glossed over! I also think Nick was such a slept on character- I know that’s partially the point but i wanted to know about him and the romanticised descriptions of Lorna and Alec became old quickly! That said, I think there is much to be said about meeting your idols, friendship and betrayal, and the politics of learning from this book (also perhaps the lack of safeguarding- for real why are these tutors at uni parties?) and I enjoyed these elements! This was an enjoyable early new year read and despite its flaws, I can’t fault it TOO much overall for the pleasant distraction from my essay it offered!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Abortion, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
missknown's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
A group of friends comes together because of a handsome and mysterious man that can hock anyone with his stories. Although he is far from being a good company. From alcohol to drug abuse, manipulation, sex, and lies, this group is everything except true friends.
Since the very first page, I was hypnotized by the writing. The story is character-driven, so it has a slower narrative, instead of an edge-of-your-sit thriller. Although the writing is so enjoyable that I never wanted to stop reading. And the more I read, the more I wanted to know about these characters, uncover their secrets, discover their lies, and their past. I wanted to know everything. This characters have some questionable moral values and are highly flawed. There are no heroes or villains. Each one of them is good and bad people at some point, and it was very interesting to read.
In a way, I see this book as a cosy mystery in a dark setting. Not the type of light and laughable kind of mystery, but one that dives into some hard topics. It has hints scattered everywhere that paints the full picture in the end, very much like Agatha Christie’ stories. She has a heavy presence in the story from references to her work and personal life to also the ideas and plots she used in her books. I’m not familiar with all Christie’s work, but I believe that there is a lot that I might have missed that wasn’t written out to be a reference to her. And that’s where I find The Truants to be well crafted. The references aren’t just there as a theme for the characters, it is intertwined with the plot that I could only realize when I finished reading.
It is a charming book to read, to discover the lies upon lies, the secrets, the crimes, the manipulation, the treason, everything that is packed in a group of friend that might as well never have met.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Suicide
Abortion
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