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A review by pagesplotsandpints
This Is How We End Things by R.J. Jacobs
3.0
Read Completed 9/23/23 | 3 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley for this audiobook review copy and the publisher, Sourcebooks, for approving the request. This did not affect my reading or opinion in any way.
This book promised a lot of things but didn't really deliver on them.
- Dark Academia: it was dark, it took place at a school... the main characters were grad students and there wasn't much academia about it other than the fact that there was a school there.
- Tight-knit group of grad students: Not really. They weren't very tight at all. There was a couple having an affair, two students who were tight but we didn't know why until later (a reason that was used for literally nothing, a waste), and two who were a potential love story. They were actually at each other's throats a lot.
-Studying the acts of lying: It... was there? It really didn't come into play at all except for creating some drama in the beginning??
This had SO much promise to be super twisty, unreliable narrators everywhere, clever characters, unique connections... it just fell so, so flat in so many ways. I ended up leaving my rating at 3 stars because it was ** fine **. I made it through the book, didn't think about DNFing, but man, it just really didn't deliver.
The ending was very lack-luster and when I found out who the killer was, I just wasn't impressed. I didn't fully see it coming, but I did have a hunch. There was still a surprise there but the way it all wrapped up was a little too popcorn thriller and much less the psychological mind-bending thriller the was promised to the readers. It also felt a little cheap... I'm gonna have to spoiler tag this.We focus so much on this "tight" (again, not tight) group of grad students and yet, the killer was an outsider??? With a SUPER poor motive, in connection with this very story and premise. Ah, nah. Not buying it. Then make the book connect to his life, somehow! He was so peripheral. I was so let down.
I don't hate that I read it. I would have been so curious if I didn't, and I did like ALWAYS THE FIRST TO DIE by this author. Sadly, I think that's he only one of his that I've really liked so far out of the four that I've tried.
Thank you to NetGalley for this audiobook review copy and the publisher, Sourcebooks, for approving the request. This did not affect my reading or opinion in any way.
This book promised a lot of things but didn't really deliver on them.
- Dark Academia: it was dark, it took place at a school... the main characters were grad students and there wasn't much academia about it other than the fact that there was a school there.
- Tight-knit group of grad students: Not really. They weren't very tight at all. There was a couple having an affair, two students who were tight but we didn't know why until later (a reason that was used for literally nothing, a waste), and two who were a potential love story. They were actually at each other's throats a lot.
-Studying the acts of lying: It... was there? It really didn't come into play at all except for creating some drama in the beginning??
This had SO much promise to be super twisty, unreliable narrators everywhere, clever characters, unique connections... it just fell so, so flat in so many ways. I ended up leaving my rating at 3 stars because it was ** fine **. I made it through the book, didn't think about DNFing, but man, it just really didn't deliver.
The ending was very lack-luster and when I found out who the killer was, I just wasn't impressed. I didn't fully see it coming, but I did have a hunch. There was still a surprise there but the way it all wrapped up was a little too popcorn thriller and much less the psychological mind-bending thriller the was promised to the readers. It also felt a little cheap... I'm gonna have to spoiler tag this.
I don't hate that I read it. I would have been so curious if I didn't, and I did like ALWAYS THE FIRST TO DIE by this author. Sadly, I think that's he only one of his that I've really liked so far out of the four that I've tried.