A review by tarryncurrentlyreading
Arabesque by Aprilynne Pike
3.0
Really more of a 2.5 but I’m being generous.
Wow, was that tedious. I didn’t realize this book even existed until 4 years after it was published and let me tell you, it really didn’t have to exist.
Arabesque tried very hard to do many things and failed at every single one of them. It tried to be a worthwhile follow up to a fairly well received series that had already wrapped up satisfactorily nearly a decade ago. It tried to tackle social and racial issues without ever getting *too* serious. It introduced a plot line far too complex to be tackled in the completely unanticipated fifth installment of a series that clearly doesn’t have a solid intention of continuing.
The premise of this book really needed to be the opener of an entirely separate spin off series. For this to be presented as some sort of logical continuation of the Wings series makes absolutely no sense. You’ve removed Laurel as the main character (and relegated her to an almost inconsequential side character that you *barely* see) and then dropped Rowen into our lap with no time to adjust or to even find her likable. And because this is meant to wrap up the series again, everything is rushed and then tied together in a neat little bow and even the most minute sense of tension the book was able to build was immediately made totally irrelevant; just as this entire book was.
Wow, was that tedious. I didn’t realize this book even existed until 4 years after it was published and let me tell you, it really didn’t have to exist.
Arabesque tried very hard to do many things and failed at every single one of them. It tried to be a worthwhile follow up to a fairly well received series that had already wrapped up satisfactorily nearly a decade ago. It tried to tackle social and racial issues without ever getting *too* serious. It introduced a plot line far too complex to be tackled in the completely unanticipated fifth installment of a series that clearly doesn’t have a solid intention of continuing.
The premise of this book really needed to be the opener of an entirely separate spin off series. For this to be presented as some sort of logical continuation of the Wings series makes absolutely no sense. You’ve removed Laurel as the main character (and relegated her to an almost inconsequential side character that you *barely* see) and then dropped Rowen into our lap with no time to adjust or to even find her likable. And because this is meant to wrap up the series again, everything is rushed and then tied together in a neat little bow and even the most minute sense of tension the book was able to build was immediately made totally irrelevant; just as this entire book was.