I honestly don't think you could love this as much if you're not from the west coast.I honestly don't think you could love this as much if you're not from the west coast....more
honestly, i didn't think the secret place was up to par with the likeness, but it seems like every person 4.5/5 stars - might drop to 4 with some time
honestly, i didn't think the secret place was up to par with the likeness, but it seems like every person who reads the dms series puts the books in a different order. here's mine:
the likeness in the woods the secret place broken harbour faithful place
i've been trying to figure out how to say what i thought was missing from this novel. all of french's other dms novels have been intense and embodied everything that comes with psychological thrill. the events of the likeness were heightened to such a high level because of the tight relationships between the housemates and the fact that cassie was essentially alone in the middle of it all; in the woods was a careful design and i have honestly never been so scared of a seventeen year old girl; broken harbour was the definition of "what the actual fuck" and every second was a masterpiece; and faithful place was overlaid with the past and sucker punched you in the end with who the killer really was.
and i really think that the secret place could have been the same.... but it was missing some of that thrill. the secret place begins essentially the way described in the description - holly mackey brings now-detective stephen moran a card she found on a board called "the secret place" at her all-girls school - a board that allows students at st. kilda's to anonymously post their secrets. the card states "i know who killed chris harper," a boy who attended colm's (the boys' school next door to st. kilda's) and was killed the preview school year on the grounds of st. kilda's after sneaking out from colm's and into kilda's. moran then brings the card to detective antoinette conway who worked the case when it first broke, and the two head back to st. kilda's to see if there'll be a break in the case with this new piece of evidence/information.
the book alternates between moran's narration of the new part of the investigation and third-person close narrative from the perspective of holly or one of her friends starting almost nine months before chris's murder. moran's narrative covers one day, while holly's and her friends cover nine months, and their narration spends the entire book trying to catch up with moran's. the contrast between the way holly and her friends are portrayed in their narrative compared to how moran and conway saw them was really integral to the book - it gave it depth that should have led to the heart-pounding feel the other dms books had.
i think the biggest issue was that the motive of the killer wasn't developed sooner, and was not set up properly. (view spoiler)[ becca killed chris for the sake of the girls' friendship, right? but the bonds between holly's group of friends were not explored on a level that would have made the reveal impactful. it was a shock yes, but at that point in the novel, moran and conway had already run through essentially everyone else numerous times. i think that that - running through every single person involved - damaged the reveal because it opened up a number of questions: why hadn't it been julia? why not holly? at that point, moran and conway had given the reader a million possibilities as to why it could have been any one of them, and it felt like french randomly picked from those possibilities that settled on becca. now i know that's not true, and once you found out who it was, it was evident that she had been setting it up from the start, but i don't think it was enough. i think that becca's motive was truly brilliant - not in the way that it was unexpected (though french could have played that angle, and could have played it better) - but that it fit with french's style. french gives such power to every character, and to everything that they say. a simple agreement not to date boys from colm's is heightened to a godlike decision not to allow prometheus to give mankind fire. it's incredible. it's the reason why i fell in love with her writing in the first place. and it was there in the secret place, yes, but not enough to support the motive and make it something that would affect the reader on that higher level. i think that if the friendship had been pressed a bit more, maybe even overdone, then the motive would have been something that you could taste earlier on and been wary of. if we had seen the danger of the friendship and been scared of its potential from an earlier point, then the motive would have been that fear coming true right before our eyes. and i think that would have been so much more emotional on my end. additionally, if the witchcraft/whatever had been played out a bit more, i would have gotten more out of it. a taste, in this setting, was good, but i wish there had been just that bit extra. (hide spoiler)]
but overall: conway and moran's relationship was good (thank you, french, for not breaking them like you did rob and cassie), but could have been stronger, used more; the parallel narratives complemented each other and gave insight where necessary; the focus of the novel, on those girls and the intrigue of friendships at that age, is a favourite of mine, and i think that french did an adequate job with it - could have done more, but what she gave me was brilliant. i think that if she had given a bit of the likeness to this book, it would have been magical. ...more
prelim review: a) I love Maya Delaney so much I'm crying because of her b) this book was everything the two previous weren't and was so much bette4.75/5
prelim review: a) I love Maya Delaney so much I'm crying because of her b) this book was everything the two previous weren't and was so much better and wrapped everything up so nicely and U G H c) detailed review to come
OKAY
Maya Delaney is truly one of the only female protags I really, truly love and adore. I love her so much I was basically crying throughout because I love her so much.
ANYWAY
THE WRITING Armstrong has this amazing way of drawing you in and then locking the door behind her as she runs away, laughing hysterically, leaving you to be absorbed into the story and cry about everything. I loved every damn second of it. Brilliant, lovely prose that I just want to sink into again and again and again.
THE SETTING Hello!! I want Canada to adopt me!! God, all the locations in these series are gorgeous and mysterious and Perfect Story Material. I'm going to be using this word a lot throughout this review but: lovely. Absolutely lovely. It all felt so concrete and real and I felt like I could close my eyes and see exactly what Armstrong intended me to see. The forests, the cities, the facilities... all of it was crystal clear and I was never confused as to where things were happening.
THE CHARACTERS I have to say, it's rare I love a YA, supernatural protag as much as I love this protag. Others that I loved: Calla Nightshade of the Nightshade series and Rose Hathaway of the Vampire Academy Series (except Rose makes many more questionable decisions than does Maya). But, in case I wasn't clear: I LOVE MAYA DELANEY. She's so level headed and so real and has the best relationships and U G H. I'll never be over her. She has developed so much since the first book, all while retaining her trade mark voice-of-reason. And Daniel? Hello favourite. Rafe got on my nerves a few times, but.... ah, that resolves itself eventually. There are some new characters, and I felt like I didn't have enough time with them, but they were likable and fit with the others.
THE PLOT To be honest, this was my favourite book out of the series. I rarely enjoy those parts of the series where characters are on the run, but I. Loved. This. So much. So much! There were a good number of turns, nothing that was revealed, but the story had a very VERY VERY pleasing resolution.
main points: - will not rate bc guilty pleasure series - nicole kinda wanders off into europe, and the entire focus shifts to the coven moving all over main points: - will not rate bc guilty pleasure series - nicole kinda wanders off into europe, and the entire focus shifts to the coven moving all over the world. - holly is still spiraling downwards, and i still love it. - nicole... gets a surprise. well, more like i get a surprise because i hadn't read this series in four years. - jer's brilliant decision to throw the TWITCHING DEMON HAND in the back seat of the car. ...more
would definitely recommend to anyone who liked doctor who (before moffat ruined it) and torchwood.
so! most importantly, the setting: london! but4.5/5
would definitely recommend to anyone who liked doctor who (before moffat ruined it) and torchwood.
so! most importantly, the setting: london! but not just london.... london..... with aliens. (essentially - never actually called aliens, so maybe let's think of them as "other.") the premise of the story is that there's a group of people with extraordinary abilities that are employed by the british government (like a supernatural mi5 and mi 6) to essentially keep the world in check. london itself doesn't play a huge role, but o'malley does use it to create a wonderful backdrop. its quite obvious that the events are actually set in london, england, and not postulated to maybe happen in london, england by some american author who desires a british accent in their life.
the protagonist is myfanwy thomas (pronunciation explained in book, so no hermione fiascoes) and to say that she's my dream scifi protag would be an understatement. the story begins when myfanwy wakes up and reads a note from herself to herself written in the past telling her that she has lost her memory and will have to catch up to her past self. and so we have an interesting contrast all throughout the book: old myfanwy versus new myfanwy. it's a great and realistic representation of a female character, and i'm so happy that i got both an enthralling story and an admirable female protag all in one book. the other characters were dickensed (or something) by o'malley, which fits the theme of the book perfectly. ...more