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A review by msjoanna
Amendments by Hannah Lynn
4.0
The author sent me an electronic copy of this book for review.
The book is an impressive first novel. The author maintains excellent pacing throughout and has created deep and realistic characters. The premise is interesting, if fraught with some niggling problems. In short, the world is one in which individuals are allowed to make two "amendments" to their lives to send themselves a message and go back and redo their lives from a specific moment. Lurking in the background but not fully described is a Big Brotherish Administration that controls the amendment process as well as certain other aspects of the society. There are some rules to the way it works that are revealed during the course of the story.
Throughout, I couldn't quite get past the feeling that everyone would wait until late in life (or at least quite a bit longer than the characters seemed to do) to reflect back and amend the most crucial moments. The author addresses this somewhat by creating social expectations that individuals will use their amendments for certain purposes (e.g., to correct accidents that take lives). Still, I never quite got past the sense that it would still make sense to wait to see how things played out much longer before jumping into an amendment.
Nonetheless, this niggling complaint didn't stop me from wanting to get back to the story as soon as possible. I liked these characters even if I found myself frequently impatient with them. I wanted to know more about their world and their lives.
The author's vocabulary is strong, though occasionally felt a bit stilted: "internally cursing my drab pyjamas and chastising
puerile reaction." This is really a small criticism though; overall, the author has good command of language to tell a compelling story and make the writing interesting to read.
I would definitely read another book set in this universe or a sequel to this one. I'll be interested to see what else this author writes.
The book is an impressive first novel. The author maintains excellent pacing throughout and has created deep and realistic characters. The premise is interesting, if fraught with some niggling problems. In short, the world is one in which individuals are allowed to make two "amendments" to their lives to send themselves a message and go back and redo their lives from a specific moment. Lurking in the background but not fully described is a Big Brotherish Administration that controls the amendment process as well as certain other aspects of the society. There are some rules to the way it works that are revealed during the course of the story.
Throughout, I couldn't quite get past the feeling that everyone would wait until late in life (or at least quite a bit longer than the characters seemed to do) to reflect back and amend the most crucial moments. The author addresses this somewhat by creating social expectations that individuals will use their amendments for certain purposes (e.g., to correct accidents that take lives). Still, I never quite got past the sense that it would still make sense to wait to see how things played out much longer before jumping into an amendment.
Nonetheless, this niggling complaint didn't stop me from wanting to get back to the story as soon as possible. I liked these characters even if I found myself frequently impatient with them. I wanted to know more about their world and their lives.
The author's vocabulary is strong, though occasionally felt a bit stilted: "internally cursing my drab pyjamas and chastising
puerile reaction." This is really a small criticism though; overall, the author has good command of language to tell a compelling story and make the writing interesting to read.
I would definitely read another book set in this universe or a sequel to this one. I'll be interested to see what else this author writes.