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opticflow's review
2.0
If you read spy genre or watch spy films, you know exactly what you're in for - big bad bosses with Eastern European accents, sexy lady props, escape in a hail of gunfire, double agents, chase scenes, combat training montage, explosions. Yeah, it's all here. This action packed spy cliché was written so seriously that it became laughable. Picture me reading this on the bus and cracking up like a lunatic. There is no difference between this 17 year old girl's single minded focus and abilities and Jason Bourne's, so what could have set this apart is exactly what makes it a disappointment.
lady_sarabella's review
5.0
A great read, for teens and adults alike. If you enjoyed watching 'Taken', you will love this book!
emtheauthor's review
4.0
All Gwendolyn Bloom has is her father.
As the daughter of a diplomat, Gwen has moved countless times, knows five languages, and has zero friends. All the kids at her newest prep school are snobby and pretentious, and make it known to Gwen that she's not rich enough to be included. Lonely and haunted by her mother's death years earlier, all she has is her bestie relationship with her dad.
But then one night, dad doesn't come home—CIA agents do instead. Apparently her father isn't a diplomat at all, but an undercover agent, and he's been compromised. The agency claims they're doing all they can, but with their promises as well as their theory her father just left, Gwen has her doubts. And when she finds a secret code her father left behind, she decides she'll go get him herself.
What starts off as a rather slow story with murky characters I was only half interested in, develops into an action packed thriller full of intrigue, violence, and deep moral questions. Despite its flaws, The Cruelty is worth the read.
Lets start with the flaws: first, Gwen. I've read many reviews that people's biggest problem with the book was the main character and how difficult she can be to connect with. I'm torn with that statement, because Gwen is kind of a contradiction for me. At some points, she's bland and as dimensional as a piece of cardboard. Other times, though, I'd get a glimpse of personality that makes her lack of dimension seem more like character flaws than writing flaws. Regardless, she can make it difficult to start and get into the story. In the last half, though—especially in the last quarter—I was fascinated by her character development, and watching how she hardened and change was almost more interesting than the plot. How many of us have wondered how far we would be willing to go for those we love? Gwen answers that question while becoming a weapon: cruel, deadly, and complex. It wasn't until near the climax that I truly saw and appreciated her character arc, and even if it isn't perfect, it's still entertaining. Even if it's written by a guy who clearly leans toward Hollywood's stereotypical 'kick butt female who is basically a man with long hair but who cares' tendencies these days. It was annoying at times, but, like I said, the climax and intricacies allowed me to look past it eventually.
The cast of supporting characters ranged from totally goodsebump-inducing awesome to barely getting an eye roll (I'm looking at you Terrance). Does she really have to run into a classmate she's been going to school with for ages but they've never really met until now, and they totally hit it off? Does he really have to coincidentally be super rich and a hacker and the perfect sidekick-ish that she needs for pulling this off? Really? Does she have to? Because that absolutely killed it for me. And that was on, like, chapter two. If the unnecessary insta-love turns you off as much as me, never fear: he mostly fades into the background so we can meet people that are complicated and intriguing and actually matter. Namely, Marina, the Russian prostitute that makes me want to both laugh and cry; Roman, the mafia leader's conflicted, lethal (and secretly gay) son; Yael, the kick butt trainer that I had a love/hate relationship with but can't argue that she's dang cool; and Bohdan Kladivo, the mafia leader, who is as strangely admirable as he is insanely terrifying. These characters are deep and morally gray and SO freaking fascinating to read about (to the point where sometimes I didn't really even care about Gwen, so good thing she got cooler when these people came around or I'd want to ditch her for them). They added such a dark and gritty level to this dark and gritty book, and I loved them all for their complicated morals and brutal natures that really made me stop and think.
They book starts out a little shaky, which I think is why so many people quit fifty pages in. If you have a weird moral issue with DNF-ing books, as I do, you'll be glad to know that the plot does get better. The last half is filled with intense action and surprising turns that kept me going, and the last few chapters had me on the edge of my seat, unsure which way everything was going to go.
The one thing that I truly loved and really solidified the book for me was the writing. For the story being told, the tone and style were majorly on point, and I felt the Scott Bergstrom's talent made up for the story's weaknesses. It had an edge to it that complimented everything he was trying to do, and I really liked it. The settings Gwen found herself in were also written vividly without being boring. I felt the dirty grime and harsh realities of the lowly streets Gwen found herself on, and it only helped the story and her character to be transported there with her.
As I said, The Cruelty isn't a perfect book, but it definitely scratches my YA spy thriller itch.
Rated 3.9/5 for ambiguous and complex supporting characters, deep moral struggles, and a writing style that highlighted the protagonist's decent into a dangerous and vivid world
As the daughter of a diplomat, Gwen has moved countless times, knows five languages, and has zero friends. All the kids at her newest prep school are snobby and pretentious, and make it known to Gwen that she's not rich enough to be included. Lonely and haunted by her mother's death years earlier, all she has is her bestie relationship with her dad.
But then one night, dad doesn't come home—CIA agents do instead. Apparently her father isn't a diplomat at all, but an undercover agent, and he's been compromised. The agency claims they're doing all they can, but with their promises as well as their theory her father just left, Gwen has her doubts. And when she finds a secret code her father left behind, she decides she'll go get him herself.
What starts off as a rather slow story with murky characters I was only half interested in, develops into an action packed thriller full of intrigue, violence, and deep moral questions. Despite its flaws, The Cruelty is worth the read.
Lets start with the flaws: first, Gwen. I've read many reviews that people's biggest problem with the book was the main character and how difficult she can be to connect with. I'm torn with that statement, because Gwen is kind of a contradiction for me. At some points, she's bland and as dimensional as a piece of cardboard. Other times, though, I'd get a glimpse of personality that makes her lack of dimension seem more like character flaws than writing flaws. Regardless, she can make it difficult to start and get into the story. In the last half, though—especially in the last quarter—I was fascinated by her character development, and watching how she hardened and change was almost more interesting than the plot. How many of us have wondered how far we would be willing to go for those we love? Gwen answers that question while becoming a weapon: cruel, deadly, and complex. It wasn't until near the climax that I truly saw and appreciated her character arc, and even if it isn't perfect, it's still entertaining. Even if it's written by a guy who clearly leans toward Hollywood's stereotypical 'kick butt female who is basically a man with long hair but who cares' tendencies these days. It was annoying at times, but, like I said, the climax and intricacies allowed me to look past it eventually.
The cast of supporting characters ranged from totally goodsebump-inducing awesome to barely getting an eye roll (I'm looking at you Terrance). Does she really have to run into a classmate she's been going to school with for ages but they've never really met until now, and they totally hit it off? Does he really have to coincidentally be super rich and a hacker and the perfect sidekick-ish that she needs for pulling this off? Really? Does she have to? Because that absolutely killed it for me. And that was on, like, chapter two. If the unnecessary insta-love turns you off as much as me, never fear: he mostly fades into the background so we can meet people that are complicated and intriguing and actually matter. Namely, Marina, the Russian prostitute that makes me want to both laugh and cry; Roman, the mafia leader's conflicted, lethal (and secretly gay) son; Yael, the kick butt trainer that I had a love/hate relationship with but can't argue that she's dang cool; and Bohdan Kladivo, the mafia leader, who is as strangely admirable as he is insanely terrifying. These characters are deep and morally gray and SO freaking fascinating to read about (to the point where sometimes I didn't really even care about Gwen, so good thing she got cooler when these people came around or I'd want to ditch her for them). They added such a dark and gritty level to this dark and gritty book, and I loved them all for their complicated morals and brutal natures that really made me stop and think.
They book starts out a little shaky, which I think is why so many people quit fifty pages in. If you have a weird moral issue with DNF-ing books, as I do, you'll be glad to know that the plot does get better. The last half is filled with intense action and surprising turns that kept me going, and the last few chapters had me on the edge of my seat, unsure which way everything was going to go.
The one thing that I truly loved and really solidified the book for me was the writing. For the story being told, the tone and style were majorly on point, and I felt the Scott Bergstrom's talent made up for the story's weaknesses. It had an edge to it that complimented everything he was trying to do, and I really liked it. The settings Gwen found herself in were also written vividly without being boring. I felt the dirty grime and harsh realities of the lowly streets Gwen found herself on, and it only helped the story and her character to be transported there with her.
As I said, The Cruelty isn't a perfect book, but it definitely scratches my YA spy thriller itch.
Rated 3.9/5 for ambiguous and complex supporting characters, deep moral struggles, and a writing style that highlighted the protagonist's decent into a dangerous and vivid world
cupcakegirly's review
Author controversy aside, this has the components for a decent thriller, but something is missing in the execution. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I do know my suspension of belief only stretches so far.
DNF at page 43 and skimmed the ending.
DNF at page 43 and skimmed the ending.
thepolybrary's review
3.0
Full review with links to source articles on The Bent Bookworm!
This book has already had a lot of buzz, mainly because of the author’s condescending and inflammatory comments about YA in general. I have a LOT of thoughts on his comments and general attitude, but I tried – I really, really tried – to not let my view of the author color the book. I agreed to the review before knowing anything about all the drama, so I felt like that was only fair. Usually when I try a new author, debut or not, I don’t research a lot about the author. I like to let the book speak for itself. In the end, I feel like The Cruelty (Scott Bergstrom’s debut, releasing in February 2017) mostly did that. I ended up giving it 3/5 stars, in spite of feeling like the author himself probably deserves 2/5. Or maybe 1/5. Because really, sir, you are not special, your book is not going to revolutionize YA, and it’s definitely not going to dazzle long-time readers of the genre. Also, sidenote: even though you’ve already made enough money to be able to quit your advertising executive career, you might want to work more on networking with your fellow writers instead of alienating and insulting them. But enough about Scott Bergstrom. After all, a lot of creative people lack social skills and if their work is dazzling enough we excuse them for it, right? Anyway, that was how and why I approached reading this book. Sadly, overall I felt like Mr. Bergstrom is not genius enough to be excused for his behavior.
So, the positive: the pacing is really spot on. I whizzed through this in a single afternoon/evening. There’s none of the stream-of-consciousness dwelling that bogs down some YA books. Even though there were aspects of the writing and characters that bothered me, I was interested enough in the plot line to ignore everything else I had planned for the day and read it all in one go. Also, the ending left me with enough questions (while not being a true cliffhanger) that, had the sequel been available, I would have picked it up right away. That in itself added the extra half star to me. The suspense and anticipation is definitely the most well-written thing about this book.
![](https://bentneedle.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/giphy8.gif?w=466&h=261"/)
The story takes place in several different countries. In my experience, you can almost always tell when an author is writing about a locale they’ve never personally seen or lived. It just rings false or like they’re ticking off a list, and having lived abroad myself I notice it more than I ever did before. Now, I haven’t been to all of the countries Gwen visits and don’t claim to be any kind of expert, but the descriptions feel very real. I think that Bergstrom has probably visited these countries or he researched very, very well.
Now for the negatives. I’m going to try not to rant on and on about these…but who am I kidding, I’m probably going to rant.
The book starts off REALLY rocky. I almost DNFed it at page 15. We start off with the special snowflake trope (OMG, she speaks French! even thinks in French and accidentally blurts it in class! oops!), followed by much angst. Sigh, page turn, and then –
Let’s start off by throwing rocks at dystopian YA!! Yay!! Because we’re not writing almost the EXACT SAME type of book and calling it special, are we, Precious? *insert much eyerolling* I’m not even that much a fan of the dystopian type books! What I’m NOT a fan of, is generalization – and buddy, you just hit every student in the room with your spitwad. And this wasn’t even the point of the almost DNF.
What the…? I mean…who even talks or thinks that way? It seems totally out of place in the current context and setting, and is just such a jolt of stupid and bad writing that I came *this close* to throwing the book across the room and doing something else with my afternoon. However, I continued. Mostly because I wanted to see if it could really be THAT bad. There were a few similar instances, like this one:
Not quite on the same level as the seventeen-year-old legs quote, but close. Most of the female-specific points or themes in this book sound utterly redonkulous. Like a seventeen-year-old boy was trying to imagine how girls think. Big fat fail. The body image comments really grated on me…like somehow, when the book begins, we’re supposed to see Gwendolyn as overweight…I think? Only she’s an overweight gymnast, which totally makes sense. Also she doesn’t like being looked at but dyes her hair bright red…and then in the grand scheme of changing herself so she can go hunt for her father she has to dye her hair a more unnoticeable shade and become this lean, muscled, martial artist type. Well, I have news for you…that shit doesn’t happen overnight, and not even in the several weeks Gwendolyn has to work on it. If she’s indeed overweight/out of shape as it seems we’re supposed to believe. I don’t know. I’m confused as to what the perception there was supposed to be.
Then, the love interest is lame. A plot device. Gwendolyn needs an ally back home, one with smarts, money, and connections…and suddenly she’s all weak-kneed for this boy she’s barely even looked at before. There was no buildup, just suddenly she runs into him and starts shaking. Sorry, but I have no feels for this at all.
Actually, I pretty much have no feels at all for the entire story, which is really sad. I mostly feel annoyance. I wanted more from the characters. Characters are easily the biggest and most important part of a book, to me. Gwendolyn, her father, even the people that help her, just aren’t generally likable and while yes, Gwendolyn definitely changes through the book, I found the changes a bit far-fetched. She morphs rather quickly from a slightly bitter, spoiled high school girl to a lean, mean, killing machine. Really? But, ok. I’m willing to suspend disbelief a bit – after all, that’s what we do for any book, right? But it’s the author’s job to sell us on it. Sadly, the writing style is such that I couldn’t STAY suspended in my disbelief. I was repeatedly jarred out of it. But I still wanted to know what happened. How’s that for a quandary?
Best line in the entire book, I swear. And it does get ugly, the longer it goes on. It’s like a train wreck you can’t stop watching, as Gwendolyn delves deeper and deeper into the criminal underworld in her search for her father. She develops an amazing poker face and some steel nerves, even in the face of a rising body count and discovering a sex trafficking ring – somehow she manages to stay cool. But at what cost? That’s the real question, and in the end, the question of what was saved and what was lost is still somewhat up in the air.
Many thanks to Feiwel & Friends for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This book has already had a lot of buzz, mainly because of the author’s condescending and inflammatory comments about YA in general. I have a LOT of thoughts on his comments and general attitude, but I tried – I really, really tried – to not let my view of the author color the book. I agreed to the review before knowing anything about all the drama, so I felt like that was only fair. Usually when I try a new author, debut or not, I don’t research a lot about the author. I like to let the book speak for itself. In the end, I feel like The Cruelty (Scott Bergstrom’s debut, releasing in February 2017) mostly did that. I ended up giving it 3/5 stars, in spite of feeling like the author himself probably deserves 2/5. Or maybe 1/5. Because really, sir, you are not special, your book is not going to revolutionize YA, and it’s definitely not going to dazzle long-time readers of the genre. Also, sidenote: even though you’ve already made enough money to be able to quit your advertising executive career, you might want to work more on networking with your fellow writers instead of alienating and insulting them. But enough about Scott Bergstrom. After all, a lot of creative people lack social skills and if their work is dazzling enough we excuse them for it, right? Anyway, that was how and why I approached reading this book. Sadly, overall I felt like Mr. Bergstrom is not genius enough to be excused for his behavior.
So, the positive: the pacing is really spot on. I whizzed through this in a single afternoon/evening. There’s none of the stream-of-consciousness dwelling that bogs down some YA books. Even though there were aspects of the writing and characters that bothered me, I was interested enough in the plot line to ignore everything else I had planned for the day and read it all in one go. Also, the ending left me with enough questions (while not being a true cliffhanger) that, had the sequel been available, I would have picked it up right away. That in itself added the extra half star to me. The suspense and anticipation is definitely the most well-written thing about this book.
The story takes place in several different countries. In my experience, you can almost always tell when an author is writing about a locale they’ve never personally seen or lived. It just rings false or like they’re ticking off a list, and having lived abroad myself I notice it more than I ever did before. Now, I haven’t been to all of the countries Gwen visits and don’t claim to be any kind of expert, but the descriptions feel very real. I think that Bergstrom has probably visited these countries or he researched very, very well.
Now for the negatives. I’m going to try not to rant on and on about these…but who am I kidding, I’m probably going to rant.
The book starts off REALLY rocky. I almost DNFed it at page 15. We start off with the special snowflake trope (OMG, she speaks French! even thinks in French and accidentally blurts it in class! oops!), followed by much angst. Sigh, page turn, and then –
I pull a book out of my backpack and lean against the door as the train shoots through the tunnel under the river toward Queens. It’s a novel with a teenage heroine set in a dystopian future. Which novel in particular doesn’t matter because they’re all the same. Poor teenage heroine, having to march off to war when all she really wants to do is run away with that beautiful boy and live off wild berries and love.
Let’s start off by throwing rocks at dystopian YA!! Yay!! Because we’re not writing almost the EXACT SAME type of book and calling it special, are we, Precious? *insert much eyerolling* I’m not even that much a fan of the dystopian type books! What I’m NOT a fan of, is generalization – and buddy, you just hit every student in the room with your spitwad. And this wasn’t even the point of the almost DNF.
Guys out on the sidewalk in front of the shops whistle and catcall after me. They love this – the school uniform, the flash of seventeen-year-old legs.
What the…? I mean…who even talks or thinks that way? It seems totally out of place in the current context and setting, and is just such a jolt of stupid and bad writing that I came *this close* to throwing the book across the room and doing something else with my afternoon. However, I continued. Mostly because I wanted to see if it could really be THAT bad. There were a few similar instances, like this one:
He uses as his tools reason and facts, a whole orchestra of them. But in the end, they bounce off the armor of my stubbornness.
Not quite on the same level as the seventeen-year-old legs quote, but close. Most of the female-specific points or themes in this book sound utterly redonkulous. Like a seventeen-year-old boy was trying to imagine how girls think. Big fat fail. The body image comments really grated on me…like somehow, when the book begins, we’re supposed to see Gwendolyn as overweight…I think? Only she’s an overweight gymnast, which totally makes sense. Also she doesn’t like being looked at but dyes her hair bright red…and then in the grand scheme of changing herself so she can go hunt for her father she has to dye her hair a more unnoticeable shade and become this lean, muscled, martial artist type. Well, I have news for you…that shit doesn’t happen overnight, and not even in the several weeks Gwendolyn has to work on it. If she’s indeed overweight/out of shape as it seems we’re supposed to believe. I don’t know. I’m confused as to what the perception there was supposed to be.
Then, the love interest is lame. A plot device. Gwendolyn needs an ally back home, one with smarts, money, and connections…and suddenly she’s all weak-kneed for this boy she’s barely even looked at before. There was no buildup, just suddenly she runs into him and starts shaking. Sorry, but I have no feels for this at all.
Actually, I pretty much have no feels at all for the entire story, which is really sad. I mostly feel annoyance. I wanted more from the characters. Characters are easily the biggest and most important part of a book, to me. Gwendolyn, her father, even the people that help her, just aren’t generally likable and while yes, Gwendolyn definitely changes through the book, I found the changes a bit far-fetched. She morphs rather quickly from a slightly bitter, spoiled high school girl to a lean, mean, killing machine. Really? But, ok. I’m willing to suspend disbelief a bit – after all, that’s what we do for any book, right? But it’s the author’s job to sell us on it. Sadly, the writing style is such that I couldn’t STAY suspended in my disbelief. I was repeatedly jarred out of it. But I still wanted to know what happened. How’s that for a quandary?
“Justice isn’t some abstract thing, Gwendolyn. What your did tonight, that’s what it looks like. Ugly and mean.”
Best line in the entire book, I swear. And it does get ugly, the longer it goes on. It’s like a train wreck you can’t stop watching, as Gwendolyn delves deeper and deeper into the criminal underworld in her search for her father. She develops an amazing poker face and some steel nerves, even in the face of a rising body count and discovering a sex trafficking ring – somehow she manages to stay cool. But at what cost? That’s the real question, and in the end, the question of what was saved and what was lost is still somewhat up in the air.
Many thanks to Feiwel & Friends for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
scottishben's review
3.0
I like spy novels as long as they are neither too silly nor complex plot wise. Although this takes a little getting going its all rather fun and quite well done. Need a bit of suspense of belief but not to the level of a Bond or anything.
Pretty forgettable afterwards but fun whilst reading
Pretty forgettable afterwards but fun whilst reading
milkteajeon's review
3.0
like a 3.5 :) the action was pretty good, if a bit gruesome, but honestly I'm mostly just satisfied by the fact that i got this for $5 lol :') tbh i didn't really feel anything for gwen and i feel like 'the thing inside me takes over' is a bit? standard now but that's cool lol. i'm not sure what's up with like terrance tho, like is that meant to be a real romance?? not sure
bookedbrunette's review
4.0
𝙸𝚝’𝚜 𝚊 𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚋𝚎𝚍. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚏 𝚗𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎: 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚘𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝, 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎, 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚝, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The Cruelty
Scott Bergstrom
Pages: 368
Fav Characters: Marina, Bohdan, Yael, Gwen
Before I start this, I need to say something. This book, including it’s sequel, were given to me for FREE by an old friend of mine and I hadn’t got the chance to read them. Well, I finally did and I’m so thankful I did. Shoutout to an old friend for encouraging my reading addiction.
Anyhow…
I really liked this book a lot. It was a female lead, rage-inducing, suspenseful tale where a 17 year old daughter must save her father from the clutches of mob bosses, mafia men and murderers. If anyone knows the movie Taken, it’s a similar plot but, it’s the daughter saving the kidnapped father haha!
I enjoyed the plot of the overall storyline the best. Everything flowed nicely as the daughter is going from country to country fighting, stealing, retrieving and hiding. I really enjoyed the YA feel as well. It was from a 17 year old’s perspective but, the seriousness and violence was in your face as much as the YA portions were and I LOVED THAT!
This book, on the outside, is a story for enjoyers of suspense, political issues, the secrets behind our government and traveling. But, taking a deeper look into the words and the characters, we can see that this is a parallel of war. There are many sides to a war yet, in the end there is no clear winner because war means loss, even if you win, you lose. There were no clear winners in this book and I really enjoyed that. One of the prevailing themes constantly being reminded to the main character is the atrocity of the world we live in. The men who are in power and who abuse that power taking it out on others who’s only crime was being born into the wrong countries. I really, really enjoyed this book.
Aside from the political parts of the story, we get to imagine what a world made for shady adults looks like to an ordinary 17 year old girl. We see that even though she is young and doesn’t have a hurtful bone in her body, the extents that she does and learns in order to save her father, are ones I would never dare do. Unless it was for family.
This book may be fictional and it may be a story and characters who aren’t flesh and blood but, the feelings it evoked and the moments I was able to share with these characters are so important to me. It’s important for me because, as a woman living in this world, the things that were talked about and done, I know happens. I don’t know if it happens around me but, power doesn’t dare, it just is, and we can’t stop bad things from happening. Murder, trafficking, drug dealing, killing, illegal money laundering and so much more. This world is run by devil’s whose blood is green with bills. As long as money runs freely, not a single person blinks twice at such horrific acts.
I really believe that this is one of those stories you could get lost in and then look up and it’s been 18 hours LOL.
One other thing I want to mention about this book is that…we were able to see perspectives of everyone. Yes, we only got Gwen’s POV but, her interactions with characters were enough to learn about them. One of the characters who I absolutely love, is actually a terrible, terrible person. He is known for his many crimes but, we never see him commit these. We only see him as a father to a son. There is another parallel here as well. A girl who would do anything to find her father and a son who desperately reaches to impress his father. Again, the book was so great that I actually loved one of the villains. He was nice, kind, even gentle with the main character and it made me understand a hard truth of the world.
Not all devils are evil and not all angels are pure.
I loved it but, one thing I do have to admit, the ending, or the last two or so chapters, felt rushed. I understood what was happening and I got the gist of how it happened but, it seemed too naive to write the ending the way it was. We know there are still devils who exist out there. Still evils to happen and murderers to kill. I own the second book so…I’m going right into it. :)
I RECOMMEND!!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The Cruelty
Scott Bergstrom
Pages: 368
Fav Characters: Marina, Bohdan, Yael, Gwen
Before I start this, I need to say something. This book, including it’s sequel, were given to me for FREE by an old friend of mine and I hadn’t got the chance to read them. Well, I finally did and I’m so thankful I did. Shoutout to an old friend for encouraging my reading addiction.
Anyhow…
I really liked this book a lot. It was a female lead, rage-inducing, suspenseful tale where a 17 year old daughter must save her father from the clutches of mob bosses, mafia men and murderers. If anyone knows the movie Taken, it’s a similar plot but, it’s the daughter saving the kidnapped father haha!
I enjoyed the plot of the overall storyline the best. Everything flowed nicely as the daughter is going from country to country fighting, stealing, retrieving and hiding. I really enjoyed the YA feel as well. It was from a 17 year old’s perspective but, the seriousness and violence was in your face as much as the YA portions were and I LOVED THAT!
This book, on the outside, is a story for enjoyers of suspense, political issues, the secrets behind our government and traveling. But, taking a deeper look into the words and the characters, we can see that this is a parallel of war. There are many sides to a war yet, in the end there is no clear winner because war means loss, even if you win, you lose. There were no clear winners in this book and I really enjoyed that. One of the prevailing themes constantly being reminded to the main character is the atrocity of the world we live in. The men who are in power and who abuse that power taking it out on others who’s only crime was being born into the wrong countries. I really, really enjoyed this book.
Aside from the political parts of the story, we get to imagine what a world made for shady adults looks like to an ordinary 17 year old girl. We see that even though she is young and doesn’t have a hurtful bone in her body, the extents that she does and learns in order to save her father, are ones I would never dare do. Unless it was for family.
This book may be fictional and it may be a story and characters who aren’t flesh and blood but, the feelings it evoked and the moments I was able to share with these characters are so important to me. It’s important for me because, as a woman living in this world, the things that were talked about and done, I know happens. I don’t know if it happens around me but, power doesn’t dare, it just is, and we can’t stop bad things from happening. Murder, trafficking, drug dealing, killing, illegal money laundering and so much more. This world is run by devil’s whose blood is green with bills. As long as money runs freely, not a single person blinks twice at such horrific acts.
I really believe that this is one of those stories you could get lost in and then look up and it’s been 18 hours LOL.
One other thing I want to mention about this book is that…we were able to see perspectives of everyone. Yes, we only got Gwen’s POV but, her interactions with characters were enough to learn about them. One of the characters who I absolutely love, is actually a terrible, terrible person. He is known for his many crimes but, we never see him commit these. We only see him as a father to a son. There is another parallel here as well. A girl who would do anything to find her father and a son who desperately reaches to impress his father. Again, the book was so great that I actually loved one of the villains. He was nice, kind, even gentle with the main character and it made me understand a hard truth of the world.
Not all devils are evil and not all angels are pure.
I loved it but, one thing I do have to admit, the ending, or the last two or so chapters, felt rushed. I understood what was happening and I got the gist of how it happened but, it seemed too naive to write the ending the way it was. We know there are still devils who exist out there. Still evils to happen and murderers to kill. I own the second book so…I’m going right into it. :)
I RECOMMEND!!!