Tal reviewed Strangest Forms by Ashe, Gregory
Review of 'Strangest Forms' on 'LibraryThing'
This was a disappointment. Not unexpected because I generally don't enjoy YA books so I went in with low expectations, which were unfortunately met. I'm actually not giving this a star rating because I liked Holmes, what little glimpses we got of him anyway. If it was to get a star, it would be a 2.5.returnreturnThings I liked about the book:returnreturnThe Holloway Holmes characterreturnreturnThings I didn't like about the book:returnreturnThe Jack Moreno character. The book was off to a terrible start for me when the narrator could only seem to describe other characters by their skin color. He's also a drug dealer but we're supposed to feel sorry for him because he's been knocked around by life. Poor poor Jack..the Victim narrative. So so sick of this push to deny personal responsibility everywhere. returnThat the only POV was the Jack Moreno character.returnThat the mystery was transparent and you knew the …
This was a disappointment. Not unexpected because I generally don't enjoy YA books so I went in with low expectations, which were unfortunately met. I'm actually not giving this a star rating because I liked Holmes, what little glimpses we got of him anyway. If it was to get a star, it would be a 2.5.returnreturnThings I liked about the book:returnreturnThe Holloway Holmes characterreturnreturnThings I didn't like about the book:returnreturnThe Jack Moreno character. The book was off to a terrible start for me when the narrator could only seem to describe other characters by their skin color. He's also a drug dealer but we're supposed to feel sorry for him because he's been knocked around by life. Poor poor Jack..the Victim narrative. So so sick of this push to deny personal responsibility everywhere. returnThat the only POV was the Jack Moreno character.returnThat the mystery was transparent and you knew the bad guy almost from the beginning. returnThat the book was filled with unnecessary padding that added nothing but tedious length to the story.returnThat almost every secondary character was a freaking cliche. Lazy writing. returnreturnIf this book centered the Holmes character it would have been so much better. Giving him any narrative voice at all might have salvaged the book for me.