A review by jamiebooksandladders
Char by Kristina Wojtaszek
1.0
Actual Rating: 0.5*
All the reviews for this book are positive so I went into this expecting "masterful layers of time" and "excellent prose" and got literally none of that. I almost DNFed after 10% because I was confused, bored, and just not into this at all. I almost feel like I didn't read the same book as the other people who have reviewed this one.
I was confused af the whole time I was reading this. It says this one can be read as a standalone even thought it is the sequel to another book, but I feel like maybe reading the first one would have been helpful for context or worldbuilding. But I doubt I would have read this one if the first had been anything like this. I honestly cannot believe I finished this one.
The main problem is that nothing was explained, it all just happened. Luna was on the mountain because she was the "seventh" and had to eat a seed but it never really made sense. She also acted in certain ways but we never really understood her intentions because she never really thought about what she was doing, she just changed her mind every so often for "character development" or "plot continuation" and I was ???? the whole time. I feel like this is one case where more telling instead of showing would have been really useful.
I didn't mind Luna but I also felt like she was used as a way for the author to get her story done. She didn't really have agency because she acted in whatever way got the plot from point a to point b rather than point b happening because she acted. The reader could always tell that Point B was going to happen rather than being surprised, if that makes sense. I am being just as confusing in my review as the book was.
The racism that the other characters had towards our MC was atrocious. Asking if her skin was burnt because she was black was just not okay but of EFFING course he would be a love interest. And he was horrible to her. As well, the narrative makes specific mention to the indistinguishable nature of the dirt on Luna's feet to the colour of her feet. I had so many problems with the way her skin colour was treated in this book, ESPECIALLY SINCE IT WAS CALLED CHAR. Like can we please stop with this nonsense.
Vidar and Luna's relationship was so strange and unexplained, plus it just didn't feel real. It felt like someone said "hey you know what sells? Love triangles, so add one to your book" so the author did. But the "relationship" with Errol wasn't developed at all either, so any choice that was made didn't make sense to the reader. It felt like romance was an afterthought and both were thrown in just to have a certain appeal to a specific reader. However it was superficial and shallow -- leaving the romance reader wanting more and the reader who doesn't want romance to say why even include this.
And on top of all of this, it is called a Hansel and Gretel retelling but that should VERY LOOSELY be used to describe this book. Like I wouldn't even mention these two in the same breath. I do not recommend this book at all, in fact, stay very far away.
All the reviews for this book are positive so I went into this expecting "masterful layers of time" and "excellent prose" and got literally none of that. I almost DNFed after 10% because I was confused, bored, and just not into this at all. I almost feel like I didn't read the same book as the other people who have reviewed this one.
I was confused af the whole time I was reading this. It says this one can be read as a standalone even thought it is the sequel to another book, but I feel like maybe reading the first one would have been helpful for context or worldbuilding. But I doubt I would have read this one if the first had been anything like this. I honestly cannot believe I finished this one.
The main problem is that nothing was explained, it all just happened. Luna was on the mountain because she was the "seventh" and had to eat a seed but it never really made sense. She also acted in certain ways but we never really understood her intentions because she never really thought about what she was doing, she just changed her mind every so often for "character development" or "plot continuation" and I was ???? the whole time. I feel like this is one case where more telling instead of showing would have been really useful.
I didn't mind Luna but I also felt like she was used as a way for the author to get her story done. She didn't really have agency because she acted in whatever way got the plot from point a to point b rather than point b happening because she acted. The reader could always tell that Point B was going to happen rather than being surprised, if that makes sense. I am being just as confusing in my review as the book was.
The racism that the other characters had towards our MC was atrocious. Asking if her skin was burnt because she was black was just not okay but of EFFING course he would be a love interest. And he was horrible to her. As well, the narrative makes specific mention to the indistinguishable nature of the dirt on Luna's feet to the colour of her feet. I had so many problems with the way her skin colour was treated in this book, ESPECIALLY SINCE IT WAS CALLED CHAR. Like can we please stop with this nonsense.
Vidar and Luna's relationship was so strange and unexplained, plus it just didn't feel real. It felt like someone said "hey you know what sells? Love triangles, so add one to your book" so the author did. But the "relationship" with Errol wasn't developed at all either, so any choice that was made didn't make sense to the reader. It felt like romance was an afterthought and both were thrown in just to have a certain appeal to a specific reader. However it was superficial and shallow -- leaving the romance reader wanting more and the reader who doesn't want romance to say why even include this.
And on top of all of this, it is called a Hansel and Gretel retelling but that should VERY LOOSELY be used to describe this book. Like I wouldn't even mention these two in the same breath. I do not recommend this book at all, in fact, stay very far away.