Rating: 2/5
Read: Dec 29th, 2015
** I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
This is a fantastic and unique debut. I predict a bright future in the writing world for Gill, this is only the beginning.
The most impressive aspect of this novel, especially for being a debut, is the uniqueness of it. These days it’s hard to write a book that is completely unique and is unlike another book of its genre, and seeing as this is a dystopian that’s impressive.
I was initially intrigued about the whole ‘world underwater’ thing, and that aspect made the book what it was. The ideas of the United Underworld, The Shell, Old World, etc. were so, again, unique, and interesting to read about.
The writing style in this novel was quite different, we often changed views between characters in the middle of a page (never first person though), and I quite liked that because it kept the books pace up and kept it intriguing. The descriptions like ‘young woman’, ‘the women’, etc. got annoying at times, because they were so repetitive, but that’s probably just my personal preference.
In terms of characters, I didn’t really care much for them, but I did care enough to appreciate their places within the novel. Red, our main girl, was ruthless and I admired that about her, she took pity where it was needed but also knew where enough was enough.
The only thing that may have been a bit of a downfall for this book is that I found myself getting bored throughout various parts of the novel, it just didn’t completely grip me. This could also be due to major christmas festivities and room renovations which left me with basically zero time to read throughout the past 2 weeks…uh
All in all, I’d recommend this book to those who enjoy a good dystopian, and also those willing to try a new kind-of novel that is both riveting and unique.
I wish all the best of luck to Chris Gill in the future!
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