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A review by reyes_sf
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry
3.0
Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this!
When I read the blurb for this book I thought something along the lines of "OMG YESSS" and although it was not a bad book by any means, I'm sorry to say that it didn't meet my expectations either. The idea is absolutely fabulous, the research job is excellent and the writing is good, but it was also completely emotionless. Here I am, reading about the very complicated relationship between two brothers who both love and resent each other, and I'm feeling nothing... Maybe for another reader this is not so bad, but the lack of connection kind of ruined the book for me.
Rob as a narrator was pretty unlikeable. He's petty and clearly resents his brother for his ability, which is totally understandable (who wouldn't??), but it was not fun to be in his head. I tried not to judge him too harshly for his decisions as it obviously was not easy to have a brother like Charley, but I really think he is just a crappy brother (and boyfriend). At first Charley was pretty adorable in that head-in-the-clouds, lives-in-his-own-world way, but I got tired of that quickly too. As for the other characters, Millie was cool, Uriah was creepy, Dorian was the most interesting of the lot and the jokes about the many Darcys were priceless.
The mystery is well managed, although the resolution was not exactly surprising. I saw everything coming from miles away, and there were a couple of twists towards the very end that in my opinion dragged the book rather than making it more interesting, as they didn't add anything to the story. To be honest, I thought the ending was rather predictable and a bit underwhelming.
I would recommend this to anyone who would like to give it a go because the idea really is great, and the experience is obviously different for every person, but for me this was a bit of a disappointment :(
When I read the blurb for this book I thought something along the lines of "OMG YESSS" and although it was not a bad book by any means, I'm sorry to say that it didn't meet my expectations either. The idea is absolutely fabulous, the research job is excellent and the writing is good, but it was also completely emotionless. Here I am, reading about the very complicated relationship between two brothers who both love and resent each other, and I'm feeling nothing... Maybe for another reader this is not so bad, but the lack of connection kind of ruined the book for me.
Rob as a narrator was pretty unlikeable. He's petty and clearly resents his brother for his ability, which is totally understandable (who wouldn't??), but it was not fun to be in his head. I tried not to judge him too harshly for his decisions as it obviously was not easy to have a brother like Charley, but I really think he is just a crappy brother (and boyfriend). At first Charley was pretty adorable in that head-in-the-clouds, lives-in-his-own-world way, but I got tired of that quickly too. As for the other characters, Millie was cool, Uriah was creepy, Dorian was the most interesting of the lot and the jokes about the many Darcys were priceless.
The mystery is well managed, although the resolution was not exactly surprising. I saw everything coming from miles away, and there were a couple of twists towards the very end that in my opinion dragged the book rather than making it more interesting, as they didn't add anything to the story. To be honest, I thought the ending was rather predictable and a bit underwhelming.
I would recommend this to anyone who would like to give it a go because the idea really is great, and the experience is obviously different for every person, but for me this was a bit of a disappointment :(