L.K. Evans Blog

I liked it...

So have you ever read a book that seems to be loved by the entire world, yet you didn’t? That’s how I feel. Almost guilty. I should have love it, or at least really liked it.

Let me start by saying that this is the first Neil Gaiman book I’ve read. Will I pick up one of his other books? Maybe. I can’t deny that his writing has something appealing about it. There were passages of sheer genius that saved this from being something I didn’t like. They stirred a bit of melancholy in me. Those moments helped me get through it.

I picked this book up because I’ve seen it everywhere and have heard praises shouted about it. I read that it had a bit of fantasy to it, so I thought I’d give it a try. I’m really trying to branch out of my traditional fantasy genre, which is what I grew up on. I hardly read anything else when I was younger. I ventured to horror for a bit, but, honestly, I got bored and went through a very dark time of not reading much. It’s when I picked up a fantasy book I’d read over and over in high school that my love of reading burst to life once again. I knew then I was just a crazy reader who would never like to step outside her favorite genre. I don’t like to admit that. I want to be a well rounded reader, but sometimes you just have to accept who you are and be proud of it. So, I’m a diehard fantasy reader. I’ll step out now and again, but 9 times out of 10, I won’t love anything outside traditional/dark fantasy. This is part of those 9. It just didn’t hold my attention. I had to push myself to finish it. I procrastinated. Sadly—though I honestly can’t point out specifics—I just didn’t like the storyline. I really wanted to like the main protagonist, and there were times I felt a bit of something for him, but overall I was reading a story and I knew it. It was a story about a boy who got mixed up in some bad stuff from another place/world, stuff I didn’t find particularly interesting. His friend helps him through it. If you break it down, it has elements that I should have enjoyed. Yet, I was distant through the entire thing. Maybe it was the protagonist’s age, but I’ve read coming of age books before that I love, and some started when the character was around seven. So I’m not sure that’s it either. I’m extremely irritated by the fact that I can’t articulate why I didn’t care for it. I wish I could put my finger on it. I really do. 

So, this review probably doesn’t help anyone. I can’t say much else except that I’m an extremely picky reader, and this just wasn’t suited for my taste.