Play Book Tag discussion

This is a book that feels like it's going somewhere, like it's all building toward something, some cohesive vision the author has, and then it just...doesn't.

It has an unconventional voice that a lot of people struggle with, but I liked the strangeness of our POV character. She really appealed to me for some reason, possibly because of her fascination with the natural world and/or her tendency toward self-reflection in a very psychologically analytical way that felt both accurate and effective without actually changing who she is or how she relates to the world.

Once the book gets through the initial setup where we're basically using context clues to semi-blindly navigate our way to a vague understanding of Area X and this supposedly scientific exhibition we're following, there's this awesome section where it earns the "thriller" label that had me absolutely riveted. And, it turns out, completely fooled about how well the author was driving this wild ride because the narrative starts to devolve long before the plot does.

I had to really push myself to get through the ending, which was very unsatisfying in terms of what happens to this one specific person whose journey I'd become invested in. It's just Book One in a series, but from what I can tell the series follows Area X as a concept, as opposed to The Biologist's story specifically (the characters don't use their names, just job labels), and while Area X is interesting, what interests me about it (and pretty much any speculative book I ever read) is how it interacts with/is affected by people at an individual level. I like the big picture, but I like it to be explored in a personal way. This does that for the majority of the book and then spirals off into ... something else. I think. It's honestly hard to say because I think it's a bit of a hot mess at the end, in a way that I blame on the writing more than the plot, which is why I don't see myself continuing with the series.

Kudos to you for finishing it, Pam. It would have gotten thrown against my bedroom wall (seriously)😂😉

Luckily it was only 200 pages, so it was a short commitment! I don't think I would have tried to finish it otherwise.