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A review by blurrypetals
Riders by Veronica Rossi
2.0
I tried really hard to like this book, because I really wanted to love it. I did. I tried. I even gave it a little space and time to try to see if I was drawn back to finding out what happened, and that feeling never came. I even tried listening to it just now while I was folding some laundry and, just as I did when I started the book last week, I couldn't believe how bland, uninteresting, and paint-by-numbers they made the story of the modern four horsemen of the apocalypse, so this is going to be a good ol' fashioned DNF at the 53% mark.
The way this is written has two huge things going against it, too, other than the fact that it's just boring. The first thing is the fact that the main narrative is told by the main character in the first person in past tense. The reason that's a bad thing is because we know, no matter what, Gideon and his cohorts all make it to a certain point, because he's telling the story during an interrogation. It sweeps the legs out from under any tension that was possible, in my opinion. I've never been a fan of the whole idea of starting a story at the "end" and having the narrator go back to the beginning. Sometimes it's used well, if that end at the beginning is vague enough (like Flynn Rider saying this was the story of how he died at the beginning of Tangled) but this book seems all too eager to tip its hand, even though Gideon keeps saying Daryn is keeping secrets. It's pretty clear from the word go what will likely happen because of the fact that we know they all make it to that point.
The other thing I don't like is that the writing style is painfully juvenile. Gideon is incredibly bullheaded, stupid, and childish for every moment of the book and he has the same amount of charm as a plain bagel with no cream cheese. His refusal to just trust Daryn has things handled is one of the most frustrating things I've ever experienced, especially since he's so head over heels for her. You would think he's just let her take the wheel at a certain point and just let her call the shots. Also, his relationships with the other three horsemen are so contrived and lame, but they're played as if they have so much history between them when they really don't.
Long in the short of it all, this was a dud, big time. I thought this could have turned out to be a big dumb fun sort of book but instead I got Snoresville, USA and one of the most needlessly frustrating protagonists I've had the displeasure of reading about. Not even Dan Bittner's narration could save this one, no sir.
The way this is written has two huge things going against it, too, other than the fact that it's just boring. The first thing is the fact that the main narrative is told by the main character in the first person in past tense. The reason that's a bad thing is because we know, no matter what, Gideon and his cohorts all make it to a certain point, because he's telling the story during an interrogation. It sweeps the legs out from under any tension that was possible, in my opinion. I've never been a fan of the whole idea of starting a story at the "end" and having the narrator go back to the beginning. Sometimes it's used well, if that end at the beginning is vague enough (like Flynn Rider saying this was the story of how he died at the beginning of Tangled) but this book seems all too eager to tip its hand, even though Gideon keeps saying Daryn is keeping secrets. It's pretty clear from the word go what will likely happen because of the fact that we know they all make it to that point.
The other thing I don't like is that the writing style is painfully juvenile. Gideon is incredibly bullheaded, stupid, and childish for every moment of the book and he has the same amount of charm as a plain bagel with no cream cheese. His refusal to just trust Daryn has things handled is one of the most frustrating things I've ever experienced, especially since he's so head over heels for her. You would think he's just let her take the wheel at a certain point and just let her call the shots. Also, his relationships with the other three horsemen are so contrived and lame, but they're played as if they have so much history between them when they really don't.
Long in the short of it all, this was a dud, big time. I thought this could have turned out to be a big dumb fun sort of book but instead I got Snoresville, USA and one of the most needlessly frustrating protagonists I've had the displeasure of reading about. Not even Dan Bittner's narration could save this one, no sir.