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ellelainey's review
3.0
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley
~
Experiment Number Six
Mina MacLeod
★★★☆☆
55 Pages
For a book of 55 pages, I was disappointed to find that there were no chapter headings. This may should a bit stupid, but I like to have a breather in between chapters, to write my notes. Plus, I feel like the way the story was presented would have benefited from chapters – such as a Prologue for the captivity aspect, and then the main story, especially when it came to instances where the timeline jumped. This wasn't done very clearly, and I think a simple chapter change, or a timeline notice of “so-many days later” would have really helped orientate me into the story. But, there were times when the timeline was so unclear that I didn't know if hours, days or weeks had passed, and there often wasn't any indication to help me figure it out.
As well as quite a vague timeline, the story was told in present tense, which isn't my favourite to begin with. However, I was able to follow this one, and I could appreciate why it was chosen for this kind of storytelling.
While the writing style was okay – it didn't put me off, but it didn't draw me in, either – I found there were inconsistencies throughout. There were some editing issues, as well as a missing scene break at one point, an inconsistent use of numbers and how they were written e.g. “120 over seventy”. I also wasn't quite prepared for the extensive and often graphic medical torture that was included in the story. From the blurb, it sounded more like we were going to see more of the after-effects than the captivity, but there was actually quite a lot of Jason's captivity shown in detail. It made it less interesting, later, when the trigger words were used, because we already knew what to expect and what was coming. If the captivity hadn't been shown so extensively, and that line repeated so often, I could easily have been surprised by the end of the story. Instead, it was a little predictable.
I thought the idea of a religious organisation being terrorists was an interesting one. It's certainly a unique take, compared to other books I've read, and I could see how much work had been put into researching and detailing it all. But, again, it was inconsistent. There was a lot of heavy emphasis on the military and captivity aspect of the story, but very little actual characterisation.
When it comes to the relationship aspect, I honestly wouldn't have minded if it wasn't there at all. It wasn't really necessary for the story, since it didn't end up being the one thing that snapped Jason out of his fugue state, like I thought. It felt a little forced and unnatural. I didn't buy the close connection between Jason and Eric, and I wasn't all that comfortable with the sex scene either, because it felt far too much like Eric taking advantage of Jason, especially when Jason said no and Eric literally talked him into it. It was only later that Jason admitted he did occasionally bottom for others, but that wasn't made clear and it felt too much like Eric pushing him into something he didn't want, using his position as an authority figure and the only stable thing in Jason's life, to coerce him.
Overall, while the story was interesting, I think the 55 pages really limited it. If it had been twice as long, it could have further explored the relationship between Jason and Eric, shown us a little of why Jason was so torn up about Kilik, and gone on beyond the ending to show us a conclusion to the whole Order business. As it is, the story ended far too abruptly, leaving a huge cliffhanger that feels like it requires another story, at least, to finish the plot.
Copy received through Netgalley
~
Experiment Number Six
Mina MacLeod
★★★☆☆
55 Pages
For a book of 55 pages, I was disappointed to find that there were no chapter headings. This may should a bit stupid, but I like to have a breather in between chapters, to write my notes. Plus, I feel like the way the story was presented would have benefited from chapters – such as a Prologue for the captivity aspect, and then the main story, especially when it came to instances where the timeline jumped. This wasn't done very clearly, and I think a simple chapter change, or a timeline notice of “so-many days later” would have really helped orientate me into the story. But, there were times when the timeline was so unclear that I didn't know if hours, days or weeks had passed, and there often wasn't any indication to help me figure it out.
As well as quite a vague timeline, the story was told in present tense, which isn't my favourite to begin with. However, I was able to follow this one, and I could appreciate why it was chosen for this kind of storytelling.
While the writing style was okay – it didn't put me off, but it didn't draw me in, either – I found there were inconsistencies throughout. There were some editing issues, as well as a missing scene break at one point, an inconsistent use of numbers and how they were written e.g. “120 over seventy”. I also wasn't quite prepared for the extensive and often graphic medical torture that was included in the story. From the blurb, it sounded more like we were going to see more of the after-effects than the captivity, but there was actually quite a lot of Jason's captivity shown in detail. It made it less interesting, later, when the trigger words were used, because we already knew what to expect and what was coming. If the captivity hadn't been shown so extensively, and that line repeated so often, I could easily have been surprised by the end of the story. Instead, it was a little predictable.
I thought the idea of a religious organisation being terrorists was an interesting one. It's certainly a unique take, compared to other books I've read, and I could see how much work had been put into researching and detailing it all. But, again, it was inconsistent. There was a lot of heavy emphasis on the military and captivity aspect of the story, but very little actual characterisation.
When it comes to the relationship aspect, I honestly wouldn't have minded if it wasn't there at all. It wasn't really necessary for the story, since it didn't end up being the one thing that snapped Jason out of his fugue state, like I thought. It felt a little forced and unnatural. I didn't buy the close connection between Jason and Eric, and I wasn't all that comfortable with the sex scene either, because it felt far too much like Eric taking advantage of Jason, especially when Jason said no and Eric literally talked him into it. It was only later that Jason admitted he did occasionally bottom for others, but that wasn't made clear and it felt too much like Eric pushing him into something he didn't want, using his position as an authority figure and the only stable thing in Jason's life, to coerce him.
Overall, while the story was interesting, I think the 55 pages really limited it. If it had been twice as long, it could have further explored the relationship between Jason and Eric, shown us a little of why Jason was so torn up about Kilik, and gone on beyond the ending to show us a conclusion to the whole Order business. As it is, the story ended far too abruptly, leaving a huge cliffhanger that feels like it requires another story, at least, to finish the plot.
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