Reviews

Opskurno by Andrew Caldecott

roseforemily's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

bassgirl456's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

jenny_hedberg's review against another edition

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3.0

When my curious crew members on the sailing boat asked me what I was reading and what I thought of it, I struggled to answer. How do you describe a book that is equal parts mystery, fantasy and dark academia? Add to this a dash of Pratchett-like quirkiness. In theory, Rotherweird sounds like the book for me, but in reality it was difficult to come to grips with. It wasn’t until the beginning of the end of the story that I felt like I knew what the story was about. I was surprised to learn that it was set in the year 2017 since there was a distinct lack of mobile phones, social media and computers… In fact, during the first 250 pages I was fumbling in the dark, just following the whims of the author. Sometimes, this kind of “exploratory” reading can be fun and part of the storytelling but now I felt like it was more down to this being the author’s first attempt at a novel. Some of the workarounds to keep the reader in the blind in regard to the mystery of the story were a little too obvious (in the style of “he thought of the secret thing he was going to do, then did the secret thing and finally celebrated that he had succeeded with his secret mission”). But hey! These are only the reasons this book isn’t getting a five star review from ME, it’s still worth a read if the blurb sounds interesting to you. It’s imaginative, ambitious, playful and there are several characters I would have liked to get to know better.

jen_k's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

fyre_flies's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bibliotheca_draconum's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

chumbuswumbus's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No

2.0

elliepeake's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

matt357's review against another edition

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3.0

This is a good story, with somme decent characters and twists, but it spends too long trying to make sure you know how smart it is. At least half the characters are named for an aspect of their personality in some way, so when the reasons for some of those who aren't clearly that are revealed, it comes as no surprise.

smudgedpage's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5