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A review by ellelainey
Waking Up the Sun by Laura Bailo
2.0
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Waking Up the Sun, by Laura Bailo
★★☆☆☆
~
DNF'd at 13%
While there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the story, it wasn't for me. I think this is one of those books that you either love, or you just don't get it, and I was in the latter category. This is my first book by the author, and I don't think their style meshes well with what I like to read. I'd definitely say the majority of my problems came with the execution of the story rather than the content.
The story is told in 3rd person, single character POV (as far as I read) and deals with multiple issues, such as bullying, peer pressure and anxiety/panic attacks, all relating to the main character.
I think that's probably part of the reason I didn't enjoy it. The main character – Lander – was made to be so drastically unwanted, discarded by society and his parents, so “different” and unlike other people, that it was hard to relate to him at all. I get that there's some representation of anxiety and panic attacks, but it didn't feel natural – as someone who has dealt with both, that's my opinion, at least.
The story is also supposed to be fantasy? Urban fantasy? Fairy tale? I couldn't tell. It felt like the story itself didn't even know what it was meant to be. It had been at least two weeks between last reading the blurb and actually reading the book, and when I started I presumed it was a general contemporary story, and this normal teenager would discover a magical wood. That was the vibe I was expecting...but it's not what I got. Even the blurb hints at my expectation, saying nothing about how this was an EXISTING magical world, with magic already abound. Because of that, I found the whole forbidden woods, magical trees aspect to be far less engaging and exciting than I was expecting.
On top of that, it took 3% for us to find out that magic already existed in this world. For a book of 113 pages, that's three whole pages where the story felt like one thing, only to be revealed as another. At the same time, within the first page it's mentioned that there are “men” goading Lander into this dare, and making fun of him. Yet, later it's revealed that these are teenage bullies, not grown men as it was implied. Introducing them as “men” set up a false impression – which was a sense I felt really epitomised my feelings about this book. I was drawn in by false impressions, or left with false impressions of what was promised.
For me, the author tried VERY hard to make Lander an overly sympathetic main character, but it rubbed me up the wrong way. The repetition of how unwanted he was, how mistreated and teased and bullied, the unnecessary overemphasis of his pathetic loser status, and the constant reminders of his panic and anxiety felt far less like casually mentioning an important fact and more like it was being rammed down our throat to say “look how great and brave he is, despite these faults.”
Again, my impression only. Totally my opinion, and I know others have loved the book. But, to me, it just felt stuffed full of moments where I was being TOLD and not SHOWN who Lander was, what his situation was, and why it was important. I get that he's on his own for a long time, but there are ways of showing and not telling, even in that situation.
Remember I mentioned that the story didn't know what it wanted to be? It's perfectly shown in the mixed language use. One minute, Lander had “medicine/medication” he takes for his panic attacks, then next it's “a potion”. We all know what a potion is, so there's no need for this mix of language. It felt so much like even the author wasn't sure which choice to pick. But that's the point – pick one and stick to it!
I'm sorry to say that, although I only read 13% of the book, that was just ONE chapter. It felt ENDLESS to read, because there were no scene breaks, no pauses to collect myself or take a breather from the constant barrage of info dumps and repetition. The pacing was super sloooow, and that made the whole story drag on forever.
When I stopped reading, Lander had only just met Yban. Literally, the next page on from where I stopped was their first conversation, and when I skimmed, it still took PAGES for them to introduce themselves to each other. Unfortunately, by this point, I didn't care enough to keep reading.
I didn't connect with Lander. The pacing was glacial. The chapters were needlessly, endlessly long. Nothing had happened. Literally, in that 13%, nothing of interest had happened to Lander except that he got lost in the woods and spent endless pages searching for a way out that didn't exist.
And here's what also bugged me about that...not once in those pages of endlessly giving detailed accounts of Lander's every move did he search for or make a) shelter, b) water, or c) food. So, he literally spent two FULL nights and one entire day in this forest without anything to eat or drink!
…...
Yeah.
Then there were quotes like this:
“It was the second night, which meant he hadn't had his medicine for as long as that.”
and
“It was starting to look as if finding his way out may take him a while.”
Um...you think? I mean, Lander's only been LOST for TWO DAYS. I'm pretty sure that whole 'this might take a while' feeling should have set in around, oh...say, hour three of day one?
~
Sorry, I digress. As you can see, it didn't work for me and these are the reasons why. Maybe if Lander had experienced *anything* of note, while spending those two nights and day in the forest... Maybe if there had been some breathing space, a scene change or a chapter divider, to help me escape that feeling of endless reading... Or maybe if there had been a little more care taken to set up the world-building right from the start... I could have given it more than 13%. Unfortunately, there were too many things that just wore me down.
Waking Up the Sun, by Laura Bailo
★★☆☆☆
~
DNF'd at 13%
While there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the story, it wasn't for me. I think this is one of those books that you either love, or you just don't get it, and I was in the latter category. This is my first book by the author, and I don't think their style meshes well with what I like to read. I'd definitely say the majority of my problems came with the execution of the story rather than the content.
The story is told in 3rd person, single character POV (as far as I read) and deals with multiple issues, such as bullying, peer pressure and anxiety/panic attacks, all relating to the main character.
I think that's probably part of the reason I didn't enjoy it. The main character – Lander – was made to be so drastically unwanted, discarded by society and his parents, so “different” and unlike other people, that it was hard to relate to him at all. I get that there's some representation of anxiety and panic attacks, but it didn't feel natural – as someone who has dealt with both, that's my opinion, at least.
The story is also supposed to be fantasy? Urban fantasy? Fairy tale? I couldn't tell. It felt like the story itself didn't even know what it was meant to be. It had been at least two weeks between last reading the blurb and actually reading the book, and when I started I presumed it was a general contemporary story, and this normal teenager would discover a magical wood. That was the vibe I was expecting...but it's not what I got. Even the blurb hints at my expectation, saying nothing about how this was an EXISTING magical world, with magic already abound. Because of that, I found the whole forbidden woods, magical trees aspect to be far less engaging and exciting than I was expecting.
On top of that, it took 3% for us to find out that magic already existed in this world. For a book of 113 pages, that's three whole pages where the story felt like one thing, only to be revealed as another. At the same time, within the first page it's mentioned that there are “men” goading Lander into this dare, and making fun of him. Yet, later it's revealed that these are teenage bullies, not grown men as it was implied. Introducing them as “men” set up a false impression – which was a sense I felt really epitomised my feelings about this book. I was drawn in by false impressions, or left with false impressions of what was promised.
For me, the author tried VERY hard to make Lander an overly sympathetic main character, but it rubbed me up the wrong way. The repetition of how unwanted he was, how mistreated and teased and bullied, the unnecessary overemphasis of his pathetic loser status, and the constant reminders of his panic and anxiety felt far less like casually mentioning an important fact and more like it was being rammed down our throat to say “look how great and brave he is, despite these faults.”
Again, my impression only. Totally my opinion, and I know others have loved the book. But, to me, it just felt stuffed full of moments where I was being TOLD and not SHOWN who Lander was, what his situation was, and why it was important. I get that he's on his own for a long time, but there are ways of showing and not telling, even in that situation.
Remember I mentioned that the story didn't know what it wanted to be? It's perfectly shown in the mixed language use. One minute, Lander had “medicine/medication” he takes for his panic attacks, then next it's “a potion”. We all know what a potion is, so there's no need for this mix of language. It felt so much like even the author wasn't sure which choice to pick. But that's the point – pick one and stick to it!
I'm sorry to say that, although I only read 13% of the book, that was just ONE chapter. It felt ENDLESS to read, because there were no scene breaks, no pauses to collect myself or take a breather from the constant barrage of info dumps and repetition. The pacing was super sloooow, and that made the whole story drag on forever.
When I stopped reading, Lander had only just met Yban. Literally, the next page on from where I stopped was their first conversation, and when I skimmed, it still took PAGES for them to introduce themselves to each other. Unfortunately, by this point, I didn't care enough to keep reading.
I didn't connect with Lander. The pacing was glacial. The chapters were needlessly, endlessly long. Nothing had happened. Literally, in that 13%, nothing of interest had happened to Lander except that he got lost in the woods and spent endless pages searching for a way out that didn't exist.
And here's what also bugged me about that...not once in those pages of endlessly giving detailed accounts of Lander's every move did he search for or make a) shelter, b) water, or c) food. So, he literally spent two FULL nights and one entire day in this forest without anything to eat or drink!
…...
Yeah.
Then there were quotes like this:
“It was the second night, which meant he hadn't had his medicine for as long as that.”
and
“It was starting to look as if finding his way out may take him a while.”
Um...you think? I mean, Lander's only been LOST for TWO DAYS. I'm pretty sure that whole 'this might take a while' feeling should have set in around, oh...say, hour three of day one?
~
Sorry, I digress. As you can see, it didn't work for me and these are the reasons why. Maybe if Lander had experienced *anything* of note, while spending those two nights and day in the forest... Maybe if there had been some breathing space, a scene change or a chapter divider, to help me escape that feeling of endless reading... Or maybe if there had been a little more care taken to set up the world-building right from the start... I could have given it more than 13%. Unfortunately, there were too many things that just wore me down.