A review by raviel
The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall
2.0
2.25/5
Stellan rested his chin in his hand and watched me, like he understood things I wasn’t saying.
How did he know that? How did he know exactly the way to describe the gnawing hollow in my chest?
This was a surprise!! I thought it would be pretty typical and predictable, with a fairly boring plot but it was a lot better than expected. Perhaps it was my low expectations, or maybe not. I'm not sure, though I liked this book, I loved Stellan. Kinda feel unsure for not going 4 stars (because it easily could have gone 4 stars for me) but I've got some (serious) issues.
1. The writing was really mediocre. The first few chapters were extremely bland. I don't know if it was just me but the characters were flat. I find this hard to reconcile with the writing though, because Stellan just stood out even before we knew his name so idk why I couldn't really like any of the other characters, but the only saving grace is that at least Avery herself wasn't that bad, even if she was a very cliche and sort of annoying protagonist :/
2. The fact that this book isn't sci-fantasy or any other kind of fantasy, made it even more annoying that despite such serious injuries, hours after the characters were left bleeding heavily, cuts, bruises, glass shards embedded in their body, literally stabbed too, they are off doing parkour in Istanbul ??? Avery's injury was mentioned like once after the incident, when she ripped open a wound, but it was not really mentioned that she was in pain from injuries she sustained barely even 24 hours ago, and now she's jumping off buildings in Istanbul?? Idk this was just very unrealistic. Even in contemporary fiction I don't expect absolute reality, but this was just lazy and inconsistent writing, because her injuries would have hindered her ability to parkour and that would be inconvenient to the plot lmao.
3. There was this one scene where there was a comment about Istanbul being "progressive" [for an Islamic country/city] lmao that was such a Western/White thing to say.
Western culture isn't a standard for social reform; other cultures aren't backwards for not fitting into the Western idea of progressiveness. That was really an offensive thing to read, period.
4. Despite having an interesting plot (the whole Circle and Order thing. And Alexander the Great's legacy was a welcome touch to the history, I'm always in for ancient stuff) it was severely underdeveloped. So much of what happened, Avery impulsively going off with someone she barely knew to an entirely different country, trusting a boy she's known for a few weeks, to meet a family she's never heard of.. this was all convenient to the plot. It wasn't properly explained or justified and idk, for lack of a better word, it was plain stupid, and very confusing.
Also, the Circle's involvement in wars was a bit too much for me to digest. It was never really said why they started WWI and WWII but it seemed very insensitive to throw in wars like that, where millions were persecuted and murdered, and say it was because of families vying for power, what the hell!!!
The political landscape of the Circle was never clearly established either, and I feel like that should at least have been a priority, especially if you're going to callously credit the deaths of millions to a fight between families. Idk about you, it sounds really cold and unsympathetic to me.
A better idea would have been tying in the Circle's interests in the war, rather than crediting them for it inconsiderately. And it's not like this book is an alternate timeline where concentration camps didn't exist during WWII (because again, all of this was never explained, and so we are to apply our own history to this) so what the fuck was the Circle's interest in persecuting millions?? It was just plain cruel to do this.
5. I didn't care too much about the whole purple eye thing, but why the hell, over thousands of years, had there never been another girl with purple eyes in any of the Circle families??? Where's the explanation?? So many things were stated, and I was supposed to roll with it because reasons, but it's just super annoying, because it never made sense or added up!!
6. Everything was so... superficial and shallow?? I'm sick of hearing about love interests being compared to looking like models, and being inhumanly beautiful lol. This goes for Stellan too, so don't think I'm just attacking Humdrum Jack and Avery's shallow (and pretty annoying) attraction to him.
...And that's basically the gist of all that's pissed me off about this book. I sound like I really hate it, but I actually did like it. It was fun, despite it's many (and very seriously offensive) flaws.
“Could we maybe go sightseeing later?”
Stellan stopped. “Do I look like I want to play tour guide? We’re not sightseeing.”
I totally did a progress update with this quote but goodreads keeps eating them. Anyways, this is the moment I really fell in love with Stellan. This book definitely did not have enough of Stellan, and way too much of Jack.
On the next partner switch, I fell into a set of arms that held me exactly how they were supposed to, if a little closer than normal. The man’s palm wasn’t even sweaty.
“Looking lovely as usual, kuklachka,” he said in my ear.
Idk, I have really mixed feeling about this. I want to hate it but there are some reasons (Stellan) that also makes me like it somewhat, ugh.
Overall, it's a book full of YA lit cliches, average writing, less than average characters, underdeveloped plotlines, convenient things the author throws in to compensate for the lack of world-building, and quite a few offensive and insensitive comments/poor attempt at explaining and expanding the world-building.
And it turns out I don’t want to see you get killed, kuklachka. So don’t do anything stupid.
I really hope the next one is better, and not half as offensive and insensitive.
Stellan rested his chin in his hand and watched me, like he understood things I wasn’t saying.
How did he know that? How did he know exactly the way to describe the gnawing hollow in my chest?
This was a surprise!! I thought it would be pretty typical and predictable, with a fairly boring plot but it was a lot better than expected. Perhaps it was my low expectations, or maybe not. I'm not sure, though I liked this book, I loved Stellan. Kinda feel unsure for not going 4 stars (because it easily could have gone 4 stars for me) but I've got some (serious) issues.
1. The writing was really mediocre. The first few chapters were extremely bland. I don't know if it was just me but the characters were flat. I find this hard to reconcile with the writing though, because Stellan just stood out even before we knew his name
Spoiler
you know... that random dude just crossing the roAD, HONESTLY WHat the hell. I can't believe Stellan was more alive crossing the freaking road than all the other characters combined???Spoiler
I'm not sure I could've finished the book if she was half as insipid and dull as Jack. Noah fence, but that boy's blandness was so grating I had to congratulate myself for not completely losing it every time I had to read about him2. The fact that this book isn't sci-fantasy or any other kind of fantasy, made it even more annoying that despite such serious injuries, hours after the characters were left bleeding heavily, cuts, bruises, glass shards embedded in their body, literally stabbed too, they are off doing parkour in Istanbul ??? Avery's injury was mentioned like once after the incident, when she ripped open a wound, but it was not really mentioned that she was in pain from injuries she sustained barely even 24 hours ago, and now she's jumping off buildings in Istanbul?? Idk this was just very unrealistic. Even in contemporary fiction I don't expect absolute reality, but this was just lazy and inconsistent writing, because her injuries would have hindered her ability to parkour and that would be inconvenient to the plot lmao.
3. There was this one scene where there was a comment about Istanbul being "progressive" [for an Islamic country/city] lmao that was such a Western/White thing to say.
Western culture isn't a standard for social reform; other cultures aren't backwards for not fitting into the Western idea of progressiveness. That was really an offensive thing to read, period.
4. Despite having an interesting plot (the whole Circle and Order thing. And Alexander the Great's legacy was a welcome touch to the history, I'm always in for ancient stuff) it was severely underdeveloped. So much of what happened, Avery impulsively going off with someone she barely knew to an entirely different country, trusting a boy she's known for a few weeks, to meet a family she's never heard of.. this was all convenient to the plot. It wasn't properly explained or justified and idk, for lack of a better word, it was plain stupid, and very confusing.
Also, the Circle's involvement in wars was a bit too much for me to digest. It was never really said why they started WWI and WWII but it seemed very insensitive to throw in wars like that, where millions were persecuted and murdered, and say it was because of families vying for power, what the hell!!!
The political landscape of the Circle was never clearly established either, and I feel like that should at least have been a priority, especially if you're going to callously credit the deaths of millions to a fight between families. Idk about you, it sounds really cold and unsympathetic to me.
A better idea would have been tying in the Circle's interests in the war, rather than crediting them for it inconsiderately. And it's not like this book is an alternate timeline where concentration camps didn't exist during WWII (because again, all of this was never explained, and so we are to apply our own history to this) so what the fuck was the Circle's interest in persecuting millions?? It was just plain cruel to do this.
5. I didn't care too much about the whole purple eye thing, but why the hell, over thousands of years, had there never been another girl with purple eyes in any of the Circle families??? Where's the explanation?? So many things were stated, and I was supposed to roll with it because reasons, but it's just super annoying, because it never made sense or added up!!
6. Everything was so... superficial and shallow?? I'm sick of hearing about love interests being compared to looking like models, and being inhumanly beautiful lol. This goes for Stellan too, so don't think I'm just attacking Humdrum Jack and Avery's shallow (and pretty annoying) attraction to him.
...And that's basically the gist of all that's pissed me off about this book. I sound like I really hate it, but I actually did like it. It was fun, despite it's many (and very seriously offensive) flaws.
“Could we maybe go sightseeing later?”
Stellan stopped. “Do I look like I want to play tour guide? We’re not sightseeing.”
I totally did a progress update with this quote but goodreads keeps eating them. Anyways, this is the moment I really fell in love with Stellan. This book definitely did not have enough of Stellan, and way too much of Jack.
On the next partner switch, I fell into a set of arms that held me exactly how they were supposed to, if a little closer than normal. The man’s palm wasn’t even sweaty.
“Looking lovely as usual, kuklachka,” he said in my ear.
Idk, I have really mixed feeling about this. I want to hate it but there are some reasons (Stellan) that also makes me like it somewhat, ugh.
Spoiler
Also kinda sorta got a feeling the love triangle will take the Shatter Me route, aka Avery is going to get some major character growth and realise things, like that she deserves better, and she will be more in control of her emotions and understand herself better. Let's see.Overall, it's a book full of YA lit cliches, average writing, less than average characters, underdeveloped plotlines, convenient things the author throws in to compensate for the lack of world-building, and quite a few offensive and insensitive comments/poor attempt at explaining and expanding the world-building.
And it turns out I don’t want to see you get killed, kuklachka. So don’t do anything stupid.
I really hope the next one is better, and not half as offensive and insensitive.