Fiona

Readable but ultimately disappointing due to a chicken-shit ending and lack of character development.

Fuuuck. I was not expecting that. I got this from the library because of the hype and I don't often do audiobooks because my brain doesn't seem to retain information delivered aurally but I'm glad I heard this in the author's voice. It's harrowing to hear what she went through; it's laid out in such a basic way, without caveats or excuses, that the trauma is obvious but never devolves into self-pity.

A wonderfully sweeping historical saga that is irrevocably marred by the author's lack of faith in his readers' mental acuity and insistence on recapping the plot for them at every turn. Very distracting and a little offensive; I was paying attention, Mr. Follett, I promise.

The two first person narratives did not have distinct enough voices; I kept forgetting which kid was talking to me. Very distracting.

The artwork is beautiful and the narrative is intriguing but the characters are really flat so I didn't actually care what happened.