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A review by luminous
The Line Between by Tosca Lee
3.0
Fabulous concept. I don't know a lot about cults, but the cult portion seemed realistic. The antagonist was a letdown, though as an example of banal evil (is there any worse?) I guess it works. I was hoping for the antagonist's goals to be described in more detail regarding the disease, as I either missed them entirely by skimming over them or they really weren't given to us.
The meat of the plot is your basic pick up and deliver quest. Probably the first half of that journey was a little dull, but it doesn't comprise more than maybe 10-15% of the book.
Protagonist, Wynter, was very likeable, and realistic except in that everything she is taught while on the run/journey she is instantly good at. I'm thinking here of challenging driving conditions, firearms, and physical self-defense. However, there was a realistic consequence of firearms use that I was happy to see. But by the end I was cringing at how capable she was after having just been shown moves once. I guess it's hard to strike a balance between "utterly helpless woman," which we don't want, and "Mary Sue." Also having her fail a bit at those challenges would have made the book longer.
Being a thriller, it's fast paced. I found the pace too breezy for the first half. Or maybe I just wasn't in the mood for the pace. I didn't feel like I was nestling in for a filling read, you know? But it's definitely skillfully written.
Characters lack differentiation in personality. TBH the most interesting one is the minor character Ara. I guess this book is more all about the plot.
There's also some romance, but it's understated and nothing graphic. There are a lot of sexually threatening situations, but again nothing graphic. This is an apocalyptic book that does not go in for major violence or disturbing brutality, and I was glad for that.
The meat of the plot is your basic pick up and deliver quest. Probably the first half of that journey was a little dull, but it doesn't comprise more than maybe 10-15% of the book.
Protagonist, Wynter, was very likeable, and realistic except in that everything she is taught while on the run/journey she is instantly good at. I'm thinking here of challenging driving conditions, firearms, and physical self-defense. However, there was a realistic consequence of firearms use that I was happy to see. But by the end I was cringing at how capable she was after having just been shown moves once. I guess it's hard to strike a balance between "utterly helpless woman," which we don't want, and "Mary Sue." Also having her fail a bit at those challenges would have made the book longer.
Being a thriller, it's fast paced. I found the pace too breezy for the first half. Or maybe I just wasn't in the mood for the pace. I didn't feel like I was nestling in for a filling read, you know? But it's definitely skillfully written.
Characters lack differentiation in personality. TBH the most interesting one is the minor character Ara. I guess this book is more all about the plot.
There's also some romance, but it's understated and nothing graphic. There are a lot of sexually threatening situations, but again nothing graphic. This is an apocalyptic book that does not go in for major violence or disturbing brutality, and I was glad for that.