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I am soooo disappointed with The Light at the Bottom of the World! I adore apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic fiction, and with the current Climate Crisis, this book should have been exciting and topical and basically just something I would love. Unfortunately, my only take away from this book is that it is SUCH a boring book.
The setting of underwater London had so much potential, and I was very excited to dive in (lol) to this world and see how the country had changed. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough description, and the characters just flitted from one place to another without really talking about it. I didn’t get a feel for the setting at all, and to be honest I got a bit confused about exactly where everyone was.
The characters also had ideas that came out of nowhere, with no build up or suspense, and it was as though I, as the reader, was supposed to be following along the whole time. Except I was unable to follow along because the writing was so chaotic and disjointed.
In addition to all of that, nothing really happened, and for some reason the story has been dragged into a duology. I feel like this could have been a strong standalone if the writing had been tightened up, but The Light at the Bottom of the World ended up being a whole lot of missed potential.
YES YES YES thank you! I am so happy to see someone agree with me because tbh, I was worried that I was losing my mind with all the glowing reviews like… did we read the same thing?! The dialogue was straight up cringey, and like you said, what the HECK was even happening? I couldn’t even almost picture the world, so that potential was totally out the window. Like you, I am a HUGE dystopian-post apoc fan, and also like you, I was STOKED by the potential for the climate crisis to come into play, but alas. And YES the characters were so dull, and like- Leyla was either too dumb to close the door, or some brilliant escapist, and I’m like… these actions are wholly inconsistent?
Ugh, I am so sorry you had a rough time with this one too, but I am SO glad that we can commiserate! ????
Glad it wasn’t just me, but sorry you didn’t love it either! I’m so sad about this one. I definitely hyped it up too much in my head.