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A review by oberjean
The Returners by Gemma Malley
3.0
The Returners is a newly published novel by Gemma Malley.
Will Hodges’ life is a mess! His mother is dead, he has no friends and he thinks he is being followed by a strange group of people who tell him they know him. But Will can’t remember them …at first. And when he does, he doesn’t like what he can remember. While Will is struggling with unsettling memories, he learns that his past is a lot deeper than many people’s, and he has to find out if he is strong enough to break links with the powerful hold that history has on him. This compelling novel, set in an alternate future, challenges readers to consider the role we all have to play in making our society, and asks how much we are prepared to stand up for what’s right.
When I received this in the post, I was really excited. I have read Gemma Malley’s other books, The Resistance and The Declaration, and I really, really enjoyed them!
I think The Returners had really good ‘ingredients’ to it, and the synopsis makes it sound really amazing, but to be perfectly honest I thought the book was let down when hardly anything actually happened. It wasn’t until the last couple of chapters some things started happening.
However, Gemma Malley is an incredibly good writer, and if it had been a less good writer I would have completely hated this book, but the way Gemma Malley describes the characters interactions and their emotions makes it much more enjoyable, even though there was hardly any action.
I think Will Hodges as a character was very well described, though at times I thought he was a bit self centred and didn’t really care about other people’s feelings, until he started finding his own past.
Gemma Malley always creates a believable future that we humans could create, and I thought that the situations the characters are in in this future (it is 2016) are very realistic and is very possible, not just fiction.
All in all, if it wasn’t for the very good writing quality, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. The lack of a plot and action made the novel fail to hit the awesome mark, but it still left a lasting impression after I read the last page, because of the interesting questions raised during the book.
Rating = 3 Stars
I would recommend this book to other Gemma Malley lovers, but not to people who would like lot’s of action, like in Gemma Malley’s other books.
Will Hodges’ life is a mess! His mother is dead, he has no friends and he thinks he is being followed by a strange group of people who tell him they know him. But Will can’t remember them …at first. And when he does, he doesn’t like what he can remember. While Will is struggling with unsettling memories, he learns that his past is a lot deeper than many people’s, and he has to find out if he is strong enough to break links with the powerful hold that history has on him. This compelling novel, set in an alternate future, challenges readers to consider the role we all have to play in making our society, and asks how much we are prepared to stand up for what’s right.
When I received this in the post, I was really excited. I have read Gemma Malley’s other books, The Resistance and The Declaration, and I really, really enjoyed them!
I think The Returners had really good ‘ingredients’ to it, and the synopsis makes it sound really amazing, but to be perfectly honest I thought the book was let down when hardly anything actually happened. It wasn’t until the last couple of chapters some things started happening.
However, Gemma Malley is an incredibly good writer, and if it had been a less good writer I would have completely hated this book, but the way Gemma Malley describes the characters interactions and their emotions makes it much more enjoyable, even though there was hardly any action.
I think Will Hodges as a character was very well described, though at times I thought he was a bit self centred and didn’t really care about other people’s feelings, until he started finding his own past.
Gemma Malley always creates a believable future that we humans could create, and I thought that the situations the characters are in in this future (it is 2016) are very realistic and is very possible, not just fiction.
All in all, if it wasn’t for the very good writing quality, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. The lack of a plot and action made the novel fail to hit the awesome mark, but it still left a lasting impression after I read the last page, because of the interesting questions raised during the book.
Rating = 3 Stars
I would recommend this book to other Gemma Malley lovers, but not to people who would like lot’s of action, like in Gemma Malley’s other books.