Reviews and Comments

It was interesting, but never compelling, with an ending felt like the author was trying to get out of the office on a Friday. Neat world though, would maybe like to see a sequel.

It's got great characters a solid message about always doing the work to do what's right and not giving up. I teared up at the end.

Cool things happen in this book! It's not mind-blowing, but it's much more unpredictable than the first book and has some compelling character development. Though wouldn't really recommend the series unless you're someone who likes thinking about cities.

This book has a cool core idea, but it doesn't do too much with it and the plotline is a little too predictable and brief. I'm still in for the second book (it's a duology), but mostly because it's N.K. Jemisin

Easy reading, great characters, plot never gets too dark but certainly does touch on dark topics. Fun book all around.

This book is a lot of fun

In a good way! All of the characters are pretty one dimensional, the only way out is through, and it's pretty much chaos the whole time. The good stuff is in the reflections the characters have while going through their lives with everything turned up to 11. Great summer reading.

This book is a whirlwind. Not sure if I actually like it, but I appreciate it's non stop plot twists

I'm here because I try to read all the books my kids read. It turns out to be a great coming of age story told through a unique format that focuses only (like, only) on words and thoughts of the characters. The format is absolutely perfect for the story being told and makes the book memorable.

It's a quick read and certainly focused on younger readers who are figuring out their lives. It was a good read (I teared up a little 3/4s of the way through), though I'm mostly happy that my kid has read it.

I'm a former rower who's aware of history and more critically, appreciates good characters.

This book covers an absolutely incredible story with very little joy or nuance. I respect it for capturing some history that would have likely been lost, but regret it didn't do more to bring the challenges the characters faced to the page.

As a former collegiate rower I'm wary as rowing tends to be over romanticized (tall educated white dudes pushing their limits 💦). But also there's not a lot written about it, and it is a kinda unique sport that I respect, so here goes...

If you want a sense of the depth of this book, it's basically a re-imagined for adults version of Adam Sandler's "Leo" kids movie. Not sure which actually came first, but either way, neither is particularly deep and both involve lots of Deus ex Machina moments.

I got some chuckles out if it along the way, but the characters don't face any complex challenges or grow in any interesting ways other than to magically shed their flaws.

The solid writing makes it a nice casual read when there's nothing else to do?

Kinda science fiction, kinda not? A really well designed story with compelling characters that loops around on itself. Once it gets going it's hard to put down

A low stress read about an interesting/conincidental life - great for bedtime.