Scan barcode
A review by xxsaka
Tief im Wald by Peternelle van Arsdale
2.0
This felt like the longest prologue ever...
spoilers ahead, I guess?
The synopsis of this book sounded so eerie and captivating, I was so looking forward to reading it!
But what I expected to be told in the first 50 pages dragged on for over 300 pages.
I think this book and most of all its characters suffered a lot from a severe lack of "show, don't tell". Most of Alys' thoughts and emotions were plainly written down and as I was reading, I didn't take much notice of them. She hardly ever speaks which leads to slow pacing and boring dynamics. Instead, the same scenes and paroles were repeated over and over - or at least it felt like it. Especially the scenes in Defaid.
I was also missing a great deal of information - what is Alys' power?
The fforest and The Beast were somehow really anti-climactic and disappointing. When Alys entered the fforest for the first time I got ready for danger, for voices luring her in, for her losing her mind or for The Beast preying on her. But nothing, the fforest and The Beast are not what Alys was told - but what are they then?
The ending seemed a little "self-solving" to me.
spoilers ahead, I guess?
The synopsis of this book sounded so eerie and captivating, I was so looking forward to reading it!
But what I expected to be told in the first 50 pages dragged on for over 300 pages.
Spoiler
For me, the real story took place in the last 40 pages or so. That was where the whole issue is adressed and Alys sets out to fix it, this is where most of her actual character development takes place. For 300 pages she just thinks about how bad she is, before she finally makes up her mind and tries to do something about it. I was almost not making it to this point. I understand that it was important to really show how hard Alys' childhood was, but her feelings and how her trauma affected her don't come through.I think this book and most of all its characters suffered a lot from a severe lack of "show, don't tell". Most of Alys' thoughts and emotions were plainly written down and as I was reading, I didn't take much notice of them. She hardly ever speaks which leads to slow pacing and boring dynamics. Instead, the same scenes and paroles were repeated over and over - or at least it felt like it. Especially the scenes in Defaid.
I was also missing a great deal of information - what is Alys' power?
Spoiler
Why is she like the soul eaters? What is The Beast and why does It do what It does? Why was it even in this book? It didn't really do much besides telling Alys about the hole...The fforest and The Beast were somehow really anti-climactic and disappointing. When Alys entered the fforest for the first time I got ready for danger, for voices luring her in, for her losing her mind or for The Beast preying on her. But nothing, the fforest and The Beast are not what Alys was told - but what are they then?
The ending seemed a little "self-solving" to me.