Great Imaginations

The thing I love the most about Victoria Schwab as a author is definitely her writing style. It flows, it's gorgeous but not overtly purple, and it's compulsively readable. It's also incredibly atmospheric and she is an expert at conveying tone through words. This is a brutal book, for the characters and for the reader, and it also transfers to the voice of the narrative.

I didn't have a lot of time to read while I was making my way through Vicious, and I had to keep putting it down for other tasks (editing). So it's hard for me to tell, if the circumstances were different, whether this would truly have been an unputdownable book for me. I do probably think so. It's a compelling story and it's definitely a thinking book. Ultimately it's a revenge story but there is much more to it than that. It' a story about morality, mortality, and good vs. evil and everything in between. It will make you question and wonder, and though there i an antagonist, no one is completely good or bad, much like real life. 

It's a brilliant book technically, and it's not often that you come across an author as skilled as Schwab. There are multiple layers to this story, it weaves in and out expertly, and there are so many subtle nuances and things that can be missed if you aren't paying attention. Short chapters, different POVs, flashbacks, all these techniques are utilized, and where I would normally criticize that there's too much going on, that is simply not the case. You don't even NOTICE that you are in a different POV when it switches because the book flows so damn well. How is that even possible? It's like almost every other book I have read pales in comparison to the talent I saw here.

But in spite of all the excellence, I can't give it the full five stars because I lacked an emotional connection to the book. I'm not sure why that is because everyone else seems to have connected to it, but while I was in awe of the story, the characters, and all the skill presented here, I wasn't attached to them. I was excited about the conclusion that I knew was coming; I wanted to see what happened and how it was handled, but that is the extent of what I felt. For the record, I loved the ending so that wasn't the issue either. So basically, this is an epic, epic book that I think EVERYONE should read, but in order for me not to mark it down for anything, it has to be a perfect book for me. That includes an emotional connection. 

I still am a huge fan of Victoria Schwab. I will read anything she puts out. I guess I need to read The Archived next.