Ambrose
4/16/2026
It's not very often that I rate a book three stars and think it had really good writing overall. I think that Partridge did a good job with the narrative side of this Novella. I enjoyed the characters, and the pacing felt good for the most part, although there were a few instances of long internal monologues. What I think needed work was the world-building; the plot just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I don't know why people can't leave the town... I don't know what "invisible barrier gets broken." All that's considered "normal" simply had me suspending my disbelief a little bit too much. I'm not a writer and don't claim to be, but I think the unfortunate part for me on this one is all of this stuff could have been fixed... the bones of a fantastic novella are there. It just wasn't as effective for me once I started to not be immersed in the storytelling and instead questioned why the writer decided to write the world as they did.
Read Primarily Because: Found on Libby.