I wanted so desperately to love this book. But I struggled to find anything about this story that I would want to experience again. It does keep you intrigued, the writing is gorgeous, but it felt as though it was trying far too hard. It doesn’t have that effortless feel that other crime thrillers have. There are many interlacing stories, which do come together at the end, but I felt disappointed by the final twist and it felt silly whilst the remainder of the book felt clever. I normally love the unreliable narrator trope, but it didn’t work for me in this book. The gamebook, Sero, chapters just felt stilted and odd within the story and nothing seemed to fit together for me.
It appears to want to make the reader question reality and whether there are any true choices, but I just wasn’t interested in the characters. Erma seems to be slowly drowning in darkness, becoming more and more focussed on her research. She has tunnel vision and appears to cut off her family and friends to this end. I couldn’t decide if I disliked her or pitied her, neither of which are a particularly nice reading experience. The other characters all fall into the background and none felt fully developed (which may have been purposeful, given that you are reading from Erma’s perspective). Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me.
It appears to want to make the reader question reality and whether there are any true choices, but I just wasn’t interested in the characters. Erma seems to be slowly drowning in darkness, becoming more and more focussed on her research. She has tunnel vision and appears to cut off her family and friends to this end. I couldn’t decide if I disliked her or pitied her, neither of which are a particularly nice reading experience. The other characters all fall into the background and none felt fully developed (which may have been purposeful, given that you are reading from Erma’s perspective). Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me.