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eldritchreader's review
3.0
The story
There was something enchanting and intriguing about The June Boys. There was also something dull and disappointing.
The concept of a mysterious person religiously kidnapping children is something that immediately had me interested in this new release by Court Stevens. It spoke to a dark and ongoing story - something with depth and background and suspense. But the execution just wasn't there.
Our main characters, Thea, her friends and her family were overall pretty dull. Yes, her father had this weird quirky thing with a castle. Which, I honestly still don't get. But, there was no depth to the odd father-figure, or any other, character.
The story itself was interesting. I enjoyed the twists and the conjecture of whodunnit. But the story was nowhere close to a thrilling story. Even the sections of the story where we encounter the perspective of the captive boys was - underwhelming.
And then there was the ending. Which honestly, while I didn't straight-up hate it, just felt incredibly out-of-left-field.
The narration
While I was lucky enough to get access to both an eARC and an audiobook edition, I primarily picked this story up with the latter.
The narration was entertaining enough, but it didn't save the slowness of the story. With a cast of characters, I was carried throughout the story fairly easily.
My biggest concern with the audio, however, was the jumpy-ness between different story perspectives. Quite often, I felt lost and felt myself trying to figure out which perspective I was listening to. Despite having a cast of narrators, I still seemed a couple of steps behind between switching of perspectives.
Overall, I did enjoy the story. But with my initial interest and anticipation from the blurb, I was disappointed at not-thrilling the story ended up being.
Thank you to Libro.FM, NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC and audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review!
There was something enchanting and intriguing about The June Boys. There was also something dull and disappointing.
The concept of a mysterious person religiously kidnapping children is something that immediately had me interested in this new release by Court Stevens. It spoke to a dark and ongoing story - something with depth and background and suspense. But the execution just wasn't there.
Our main characters, Thea, her friends and her family were overall pretty dull. Yes, her father had this weird quirky thing with a castle. Which, I honestly still don't get. But, there was no depth to the odd father-figure, or any other, character.
The story itself was interesting. I enjoyed the twists and the conjecture of whodunnit. But the story was nowhere close to a thrilling story. Even the sections of the story where we encounter the perspective of the captive boys was - underwhelming.
And then there was the ending. Which honestly, while I didn't straight-up hate it, just felt incredibly out-of-left-field.
The narration
While I was lucky enough to get access to both an eARC and an audiobook edition, I primarily picked this story up with the latter.
The narration was entertaining enough, but it didn't save the slowness of the story. With a cast of characters, I was carried throughout the story fairly easily.
My biggest concern with the audio, however, was the jumpy-ness between different story perspectives. Quite often, I felt lost and felt myself trying to figure out which perspective I was listening to. Despite having a cast of narrators, I still seemed a couple of steps behind between switching of perspectives.
Overall, I did enjoy the story. But with my initial interest and anticipation from the blurb, I was disappointed at not-thrilling the story ended up being.
Thank you to Libro.FM, NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC and audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review!
katherineclimber's review
4.0
I'd say the first half of this book is a 3 star but then the second half is more of a 4 star. I think this is because, although the beginning was intriguing, I felt like it was a lot of build-up and sating random facts to mislead you and make you think innocent people were the Gemini thief. Seriously, for the whole first half I was constantly going back and forth between Thea's dad and Warren being the Gemini thief and then when it turned out to be neither of them I was shocked. I also listened to this as an audiobook which was a little difficult because there is so many characters and not being able to physically read all of their names kinda made it hard to keep track of them all, but I did really like that their were different voice actors for the regular narrative and the Elizabeth letters. That's something else I really enjoyed, the Elizabeth letters, I liked being able to see the two different sides of the story and when they finally came together it was amazing. Also I did not make the connection that Tank was mentioned in the letters but when Thea was narrating he was still with them, until like right before he was kidnapped. So do I recommend listening to this as an audiobook? not really, unless you're gonna read along physically, there are just too many details and characters that you might miss if you're only listening to the book. Overall though it was a really good mystery, I fell for all the authors tricks and definitely didn't figure it out before the characters did (also the letters got a little bit intense at times) but it was still a really enjoyable and fun read.
valleycat's review
2.0
UGH, it was great until the like... last few chapters. Okay, maybe not great but it was generally enjoyable, but the ending really annoyed me. *shrugs*
vanessab78's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? Yes
5.0
mysticthoughts's review
4.0
I was dead set on giving this book a three, until every unraveled and I had to give it more credit than I originally thought it was worth. Very suspenseful and the letters are haunting but yet I couldn’t stop reading because of the undying hope Aulus had. Ending reveal was the best part!
britainmic's review against another edition
It was boring and I knew I wouldn’t care if I didn’t finish it. That I might even forget that I was reading it
gwenhwyfar82's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
jarh198's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0