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A review by starklinqs
Five Bad Deeds by Caz Frear
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
2.75-3/5. This book was okay, but I think it dragged quite a bit. It was split up into “five bad deeds” but it was really just one long extended one lmao, and the last two were only one chapter each, while the first three were multiple chapters long. The book felt very long, but despite that, I didn’t really feel like I got enough pieces to put things together. I realized who was responsible due to the lack of information I was given about them in comparison to other characters, but that made it so that I couldn’t figure out why they were doing things, and it got monologue-explained within the span of a chapter. Knowing the why and the fallout is great, but it’s not particularly satisfying when it’s dumped on you in one chapter at the end of the book.
Also good lord, Orla. I know that she’s a moody teenager but I was so massively annoyed by her. A lot of the decisions from most of these characters were baffling to me, to be honest. People consistently took the weirdest and dumbest takes or made wildly bad decisions from small things - which can be very fun in other stories, but just felt very frustrating here. I was initially really into this book at first though, so I probably would read this author again, but it just didn’t hold me.
2.75-3/5. This book was okay, but I think it dragged quite a bit. It was split up into “five bad deeds” but it was really just one long extended one lmao, and the last two were only one chapter each, while the first three were multiple chapters long. The book felt very long, but despite that, I didn’t really feel like I got enough pieces to put things together. I realized who was responsible due to the lack of information I was given about them in comparison to other characters, but that made it so that I couldn’t figure out why they were doing things, and it got monologue-explained within the span of a chapter. Knowing the why and the fallout is great, but it’s not particularly satisfying when it’s dumped on you in one chapter at the end of the book.
Also good lord, Orla. I know that she’s a moody teenager but I was so massively annoyed by her. A lot of the decisions from most of these characters were baffling to me, to be honest. People consistently took the weirdest and dumbest takes or made wildly bad decisions from small things - which can be very fun in other stories, but just felt very frustrating here. I was initially really into this book at first though, so I probably would read this author again, but it just didn’t hold me.