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A review by tej_reads
Lucy Undying by Kiersten White
3.0
Lucy Undying is a retelling of Dracula by Bram Stoker, focusing on Dracula, Mina, Lucy and Jonathan. The story is told through journal entries, therapy transcripts and regular narrative but also had multiple POVs - in first second and third person and time jumps.
The idea White had for Lucy Undying is commendable but for me the execution fell flat. At times during the reading of this I wanted to give up, it was quite slow going until about the 60% mark at which point we go from slow pacing to foot on the pedal. Neither of which worked. I found the plot reveals to be predictable which is fine - this isn't a murder mystery but I wish they weren't there. I feel like we had a good thing going till the final reveal at which point it, the whole surprise reveal became a caricature of a plot twist taking away from the novel rather that adding to it. There were other issues, such as the romance between Lucy and Iris, I'm sorry but "butter chicken" freaked me out, and Iris basically fell in love with her at first sight which didn't help the case that there was nothing really between them in my opinion to substantiate a relationship except for maybe three lines.
It's a shame because I liked that Lucy Undying is sapphic and examines what it really means to know ones self and who can provide that for you, which is why it's got three stars but it felt like a chore at time to read and I wish it hadn't.
Thank you to Del Rey, Netgalley and Kiersten White for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The idea White had for Lucy Undying is commendable but for me the execution fell flat. At times during the reading of this I wanted to give up, it was quite slow going until about the 60% mark at which point we go from slow pacing to foot on the pedal. Neither of which worked. I found the plot reveals to be predictable which is fine - this isn't a murder mystery but I wish they weren't there. I feel like we had a good thing going till the final reveal at which point it, the whole surprise reveal became a caricature of a plot twist taking away from the novel rather that adding to it. There were other issues, such as the romance between Lucy and Iris, I'm sorry but "butter chicken" freaked me out, and Iris basically fell in love with her at first sight which didn't help the case that there was nothing really between them in my opinion to substantiate a relationship except for maybe three lines.
It's a shame because I liked that Lucy Undying is sapphic and examines what it really means to know ones self and who can provide that for you, which is why it's got three stars but it felt like a chore at time to read and I wish it hadn't.
Thank you to Del Rey, Netgalley and Kiersten White for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.