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A review by vacantbones
One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
3.0
I want to start this review by saying that I really, really wanted to love this book. So much so that I requested it as a gift and received it soon after it was published. Unfortunately, my first attempt to read it didn't go so well and it sat on my bookshelf until last month. This should also prove how much I believed in the premise - I refused to let it go despite being unable to get into the story.
Now that I've finally made my way through One of Us Is Lying, I have some thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of the book (most of which have remained steady since my first attempt).
Strengths
-I love a dark YA book! Initially, I felt as though this book's death was a bit PG but I was pleasantly surprised by how dark of a turn the deceased character's personality took. Major props to McManus for writing about some of the things the character was into.
-The story was easy to follow and presented a clear, logical sequence of events for the mystery to unfold along. The way the truth spilled out was very well done.
-Our cast of characters was interesting enough to keep me reading, and I thought their secrets were very realistic. Worth killing over, though? I'll let you be the judge of that.
Weaknesses
-The main thing that turned me off from this one during my first attempt at reading it was the writing style. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but it felt like very little distinguished one narrator's voice from the next, each just sounding like what an adult would imagine a teenager to sound like.
-At times the main characters started to lean toward caricature-like drawings of themselves. For example, Bronwyn's race and her parent's cultural backgrounds sometimes felt unnaturally dropped into the text. Diversity is crucial to art, but this sometimes felt less like diversity and more like meeting a quota.
Overall, this was a very middle of the road read for me. As far as debuts go, this was a solid outing and I'm very interested in seeing where the author goes next. It could've gone so much further with the material presented, but maybe I'm just aging out of the target demographic!
Now that I've finally made my way through One of Us Is Lying, I have some thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of the book (most of which have remained steady since my first attempt).
Strengths
-I love a dark YA book! Initially, I felt as though this book's death was a bit PG but I was pleasantly surprised by how dark of a turn the deceased character's personality took. Major props to McManus for writing about some of the things the character was into.
-The story was easy to follow and presented a clear, logical sequence of events for the mystery to unfold along. The way the truth spilled out was very well done.
-Our cast of characters was interesting enough to keep me reading, and I thought their secrets were very realistic. Worth killing over, though? I'll let you be the judge of that.
Weaknesses
-The main thing that turned me off from this one during my first attempt at reading it was the writing style. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but it felt like very little distinguished one narrator's voice from the next, each just sounding like what an adult would imagine a teenager to sound like.
-At times the main characters started to lean toward caricature-like drawings of themselves. For example, Bronwyn's race and her parent's cultural backgrounds sometimes felt unnaturally dropped into the text. Diversity is crucial to art, but this sometimes felt less like diversity and more like meeting a quota.
Overall, this was a very middle of the road read for me. As far as debuts go, this was a solid outing and I'm very interested in seeing where the author goes next. It could've gone so much further with the material presented, but maybe I'm just aging out of the target demographic!