A review by drewanabri
Beautiful Wild by Anna Godbersen
2.0
Incredibly, stunningly, impressively bland.
I'm not giving this a low rating because I hated it. To say I hated it would imply it evoked any sort of strong emotion in me. Instead, the whole thing was just incredibly "meh." It wasn't even boring enough to cause a strong sense of boredom. I read the whole thing and didn't give up out of boredom or frustration once. But I highly doubt I'll think about this ever again once I post my review.
First of all, none of the characters were really all that interesting or fully realized. They didn't have any of the spice, humor, or warmth of most of Godbersen's characters. Second of all, the plot was very underwhelming, with all the island survival stuff summed up as
Finally, that was the most mediocre love triangle ever, with no real reason to root for or despise either male character. Fitz was attractive, kind, and pragmatic, with no real flaws other than "fits into society and is okay with that." Sal wasn't interesting at all. He had no personality beyond "he sees the real Vida" which translates to "stares at Vida intensely during some moments when she's not on her guard." But from the way he's written, you know from the start that Sal will be winning the love triangle, so there's not even any tension over who Vida will choose.
I'm not giving this a low rating because I hated it. To say I hated it would imply it evoked any sort of strong emotion in me. Instead, the whole thing was just incredibly "meh." It wasn't even boring enough to cause a strong sense of boredom. I read the whole thing and didn't give up out of boredom or frustration once. But I highly doubt I'll think about this ever again once I post my review.
First of all, none of the characters were really all that interesting or fully realized. They didn't have any of the spice, humor, or warmth of most of Godbersen's characters. Second of all, the plot was very underwhelming, with all the island survival stuff summed up as
Spoiler
"well, we showed up on the island, immediately found food and water, made houses easily with our bare hands, and had no real problems until help arrived."Finally, that was the most mediocre love triangle ever, with no real reason to root for or despise either male character. Fitz was attractive, kind, and pragmatic, with no real flaws other than "fits into society and is okay with that." Sal wasn't interesting at all. He had no personality beyond "he sees the real Vida" which translates to "stares at Vida intensely during some moments when she's not on her guard." But from the way he's written, you know from the start that Sal will be winning the love triangle, so there's not even any tension over who Vida will choose.