A review by ctorretta
The Artful by Wilbert Stanton
3.0
This started out so slow. And sort of Steam Punkish even though it’s set in 2025 after a horrible disease has ravaged the world. I’m not sure if it was just the world building and the characters or the fact that I really haven’t loved Steam Punk but whatever it was, it took me forever to get into this. It seemed like something that just was not my forte.
Fortunately there is enough to the story to make me curious. At least curious enough when I was on the fence about putting it down to keep reading instead. That does happen with books that are out of my genre. And I felt like the writing was exquisite! I felt like I should have really enjoyed this but for some reason it was only that bit of curiosity that kept me going.
The good behind this is that the characters really started growing. Characters that I thought I would never get into nor like, were starting to make an impression. The plot line got better and made me more anxious for the characters too!
Dodge was a weird one for me. I still cannot tell you if I truly wound up liking him fully or not. It’s one of those things where I’m sitting here going over the plot and wondering if the author could have changed anything. But there again, I honestly think this is a case of “It’s me, not you” hitting. The conclusion, however, was the complete opposite from the beginning and had me at the edge of my seat.
In short: The intensity and the plot line really picks up as you go along. If you find this a bit slow but normally enjoy apocalyptic, stick with it! You might be surprised.
Fortunately there is enough to the story to make me curious. At least curious enough when I was on the fence about putting it down to keep reading instead. That does happen with books that are out of my genre. And I felt like the writing was exquisite! I felt like I should have really enjoyed this but for some reason it was only that bit of curiosity that kept me going.
The good behind this is that the characters really started growing. Characters that I thought I would never get into nor like, were starting to make an impression. The plot line got better and made me more anxious for the characters too!
Dodge was a weird one for me. I still cannot tell you if I truly wound up liking him fully or not. It’s one of those things where I’m sitting here going over the plot and wondering if the author could have changed anything. But there again, I honestly think this is a case of “It’s me, not you” hitting. The conclusion, however, was the complete opposite from the beginning and had me at the edge of my seat.
In short: The intensity and the plot line really picks up as you go along. If you find this a bit slow but normally enjoy apocalyptic, stick with it! You might be surprised.