A review by acasualreadersrecord
All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata

emotional hopeful slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I feel like this book would have been AMAZING with a better editor. I don't really know what editors do exactly, but there were some choices made here that just felt like someone needed to read it and then give the author some brutal feedback.

For example, there were *several* places where a character would say something then there would be multiple paragraphs of internal monologue then the next character would respond, but by the time WeI got to the response I forgot what the first character said. That feels like an easily avoidable problem if you just structured your writing a little differently. 

My other big complaint was the total lack of meaningful peril or conflict. The sloooow burn drove the plot forward for the first 400 pages but then there were still TWO HUNDRED MORE PAGES with nothing to drive them forward. 

Finally, the FMC's perpetually upbeat attitude meant I didn't care about anything that happened to her. Like, if I can be personally grief-ridden over loss of a parent reading your story about loss of a parent and not feeling any emotion about it.....you've got something missing. She did not have enough complexity or depth.

I've talked myself out of another star on this review so just gonna go fix that real quick....