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adkwriter15's review
2.0
This review first appeared on my blog, My Life is a Notebook, here. Follow the link to read a review with spoilers and other reviews!
There is one important thing everyone needs to know about The Chronicles of Nowhere. If you read the first book, you already know this, but for anyone elses knowledge: The Chronicles of Nowhere are NOT novels. They are serialized stories. This just means that every installment (so far) is only 100 pages or so.
But here’s the thing. I am legitimately confused by this installment. For me, the logical train of thought is: If this book is going to be so short, let’s pack it with action–or, at least, things that move the plot along. Shadowed Ground … didn’t. Perhaps this isn’t the right mind frame for serialized stories, but that was the mentality I went into it with. It was, I guess, the wrong one.
This book is entirely Chloe and Eliot centric. It almost feels as if Alexander and Chloe’s mom are no longer important. However, it got worse when it seemed that Alexander’s and Chloe’s mom’s storylines had the most juice in them, but we never got to see them. Out of 15 chapters, 2 were Alexander and 1 was Chloe’s mom from the viewpoint of a drunk, recently dumped and fired lawyer, if memory serves. These not only had the potential for the most plot juice, but also the most action as well but they were mostly forgotten.
Chloe and Eliot’s story had no real plot juice. First they’re talking. Then he’s trying to teach her how to fight. Then they’re talking. Then they’re driving. Then they’re talking. There’s finally *spoiler cut* over halfway into the book, but by then I’d lost my steam. I understand that Chloe is trying to deal with a lot, but the writing didn’t deal with it well. She spends so much time whining and freaking out that she becomes unlikable. Eliot is a cool character, but I don’t follow his schizo personality switches. They came without warning and seemed really out of place.
I really didn’t want to give this two stars, but I honestly couldn’t justify giving it three. So, it’s two and a half stars is my compromise. This book WAS better than a two star rating, whenever things were really going down or no one was talking (and Chloe wasn’t whining). Honestly, I just became far too frustrated with the lack of movement within the very short story. Keire clearly has the potential to write a really fast paced ride, but this just wasn’t it.
There is one important thing everyone needs to know about The Chronicles of Nowhere. If you read the first book, you already know this, but for anyone elses knowledge: The Chronicles of Nowhere are NOT novels. They are serialized stories. This just means that every installment (so far) is only 100 pages or so.
But here’s the thing. I am legitimately confused by this installment. For me, the logical train of thought is: If this book is going to be so short, let’s pack it with action–or, at least, things that move the plot along. Shadowed Ground … didn’t. Perhaps this isn’t the right mind frame for serialized stories, but that was the mentality I went into it with. It was, I guess, the wrong one.
This book is entirely Chloe and Eliot centric. It almost feels as if Alexander and Chloe’s mom are no longer important. However, it got worse when it seemed that Alexander’s and Chloe’s mom’s storylines had the most juice in them, but we never got to see them. Out of 15 chapters, 2 were Alexander and 1 was Chloe’s mom from the viewpoint of a drunk, recently dumped and fired lawyer, if memory serves. These not only had the potential for the most plot juice, but also the most action as well but they were mostly forgotten.
Chloe and Eliot’s story had no real plot juice. First they’re talking. Then he’s trying to teach her how to fight. Then they’re talking. Then they’re driving. Then they’re talking. There’s finally *spoiler cut* over halfway into the book, but by then I’d lost my steam. I understand that Chloe is trying to deal with a lot, but the writing didn’t deal with it well. She spends so much time whining and freaking out that she becomes unlikable. Eliot is a cool character, but I don’t follow his schizo personality switches. They came without warning and seemed really out of place.
I really didn’t want to give this two stars, but I honestly couldn’t justify giving it three. So, it’s two and a half stars is my compromise. This book WAS better than a two star rating, whenever things were really going down or no one was talking (and Chloe wasn’t whining). Honestly, I just became far too frustrated with the lack of movement within the very short story. Keire clearly has the potential to write a really fast paced ride, but this just wasn’t it.
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