Member Review
Review by
Sara B, Reviewer
The First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson.
Thank you Netgalley for an arc for an unbiased review.
Devastatingly beautiful. I find I use this description a lot when I'm drawn into certain books, and this is no exception. It is gutwrenching, emotional, and yes at times, because of the subjects tackled, difficult to read. Some might say uncomfortable. But I'm a firm believer, under the right criteria, it is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. To make you look back and question. To wonder, what if things were different.
There is a lot going on with this book. And I do mean a lot. However, despite that I still found myself engaged. Except one tiny aspect - at times I wasn't entirely sure on characters, so had to look back for context just to remind myself. It makes the book marked here a 4/5 stars, but realistically I'm hovering to 4.5/5
The ending wasn't clear until the last pages, and I'm grateful it wasn't as clear cut as it might've been. But once it came, I sat back and knew I hadn't wanted the book to end. Rin particularly was beautifully crafted.
This is a heavily driven character book. So while it has a lot of aspects I love to read (time travel, wlw, magic, worldbuilding), for some I know they'd possibly enjoy it less. But I say to anyone, please give this a chance. You might be surprised.
Thank you Netgalley for an arc for an unbiased review.
Devastatingly beautiful. I find I use this description a lot when I'm drawn into certain books, and this is no exception. It is gutwrenching, emotional, and yes at times, because of the subjects tackled, difficult to read. Some might say uncomfortable. But I'm a firm believer, under the right criteria, it is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. To make you look back and question. To wonder, what if things were different.
There is a lot going on with this book. And I do mean a lot. However, despite that I still found myself engaged. Except one tiny aspect - at times I wasn't entirely sure on characters, so had to look back for context just to remind myself. It makes the book marked here a 4/5 stars, but realistically I'm hovering to 4.5/5
The ending wasn't clear until the last pages, and I'm grateful it wasn't as clear cut as it might've been. But once it came, I sat back and knew I hadn't wanted the book to end. Rin particularly was beautifully crafted.
This is a heavily driven character book. So while it has a lot of aspects I love to read (time travel, wlw, magic, worldbuilding), for some I know they'd possibly enjoy it less. But I say to anyone, please give this a chance. You might be surprised.
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