Review: The Reader

The Reader by Traci Chee
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book. It sounded pretty cool, a sort of latter-day Inkheart in a fantasy world full of all sorts of kingdoms, a sort of bridge between MG and YA readership, and bringing a good amount of diversity to the table too. Unfortunately, in execution, The Reader left a lot to be desired. I found myself scratching my head a lot at the whole "This is a book" thing, which felt like it was playing a little too much with Magritte-style "Treachery of Images" and, of course, if this is supposed to be a world where reading isn't a thing, where do people know what "This is a book" even says? I'm sure there's an explanation somewhere, but after about 150-200 pages of a narrative that constantly gets interrupted for long stretches that travel completely elsewhere, I don't particularly feel like discovering it. DNF, for now, but maybe I'll take another try at this one someday.

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