Reviews with content warning for Gore - Alice Isn't Dead

I feel overwhelmingly neutral about this book.

At first, I loved the way it took place almost entirely on the road, but the charm eventually wore off. Some of the pacing is a bit clunky—really fast at times before becoming really slow, with little middle ground. However, the descriptions were great and really added to the atmosphere (I especially loved the unique descriptions of sound).

A lot of parts, especially the central mystery, are pretty out there and the type of thing a reader probably couldn't guess. After a few reveals like that, it got harder for me to stay fully invested in trying to solve it myself.

The book has few frequently recurring characters besides Keisha

and for the second half, Alice

. It makes sense in the context of the story but still contributed to my difficulty staying invested. As a result, the novel feels like it has a smaller scope than it really does.

Overall, this was a novel with a unique road trip atmosphere, some great descriptions, and an odd storyline that left me not feeling very strongly about it one way or another.

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autumnrodeheaver's review against another edition

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magikorbert's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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nhewitt99's review

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adventurous 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

3.0

A story about hate, horror, and hope. Something about the pace made it difficult to be particularly scared by the scary parts or moved by the moving parts, but overall I enjoyed this.

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hunkydory's review

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dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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mblanke's review

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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gbeezz's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

The first part of the story is solid, it is mysterious and scary and believable. However, during the second and third part I started to realise why I stopped listening to the podcast as well. I think for me a part of it is that the mystery is too convoluted, it is too big of a plot and it just becomes unbelievable to me. It doesn't help that all the side-characters only stay in the story for a very short time and we only have Keisha to focus on, and again while I love her in the first part and in the podcast, she sort of feels less believable and human after part one, which is ironic

given that it is a story about humans becoming monsters

. There isn't really any space to care about the characters after the first part I think.
The ending also felt a bit unsatisfactory;

it makes sense that evil was not defeated forever, but having Alice and Keisha just be unaware and them leaving all of that behind them to just live a regular life felt very unfinished to me.

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