MadgeWhitlin

Full review on my blog.

I won the audiobook of this in a goodreads giveaway, but I'll definitely be buying the hardcover. (And probably also the UK edition because I love both covers.)

I’m not much of an audiobook listener because my mind tends to wander, and it’s so easy for the narrator to annoy me, but Robert Petkoff did an excellent job, in my opinion. I’m not sure I would recommend this as an audiobook, though, because there are multiple characters to keep track of and it took me quite a while to keep them all straight in my head while listening. Petkoff did different voices for each, which would normally irritate me because it usually sounds so silly, but I think he pulled it off nicely.

The. Freaking. STORY. Holy crap, this book is my life right now and has left me haunted by The Bard. (I seriously can't escape Shakespeare since I started reading this. It's getting a little creepy and out of hand.) I don’t think I’ve stopped thinking about this book for more than a few minutes since I started it, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to end up re-reading it at least once this year, after I buy a hardcover copy. I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself re-reading it more than once this year, though. I just freaking love it.

I can’t say that I saw the end of this one coming, like I usually do with mysteries. Oliver is the main character and the story alternates between his memories and the present day, and I never once guessed this one particular big thing that’s revealed toward the end. I kind of guessed part of what happened, but not the whole thing. I guessed that he would be blamed for the murder, because it felt like he was being set up to take the fall, but omg I did not expect him to confess like that. It floored me and I had to pause the book, screech into a pillow, walk around and pour myself a drink, then gulp down most of it, before I was ready to hear the rest of the story. I then repeated the screeching, walking, and drinking at the very end. I desperately want more, but I’m glad the book ended where it did. It’s an open ending, which I’m not always a fan of, but I think it was done so well in this case. (It isn’t a true cliffhanger, if you’re opposed to those as I am. There are just any number of possibilities for what happens next.)

Rio’s writing was absolutely stunning, and this book, her debut, has landed her on my “auto-buy” list of authors. That’s a very, very short list (there are like two other authors on it, maybe three). If I didn’t know this was a debut, I would have never guessed it. Her ability to weave so many threads of story together, conceal things so masterfully, and transport the reader to this little world she’s created is breathtaking.

Every single character that had more than a passing mention was so fleshed out and real. These people didn’t feel like mere characters in a book. It was like Rio plucked living people out of the world and found a way to bind them in ink. I actually forgot a few times that this was fiction. It reached a point for me that I kept expecting to look up and find myself surrounded by them, and I feel like I know each of them now.

I would give this book all the stars, all the awards, and I can not wait to get a non-audio copy to re-read. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be one of those books that has about a million sticky flags marking every other line because it’s brilliant. I absolutely recommend it.