Deadly Divas Book Club discussion

Let's talk spoilers!

I love Post Apocalyptic and Dystopian books, so I went into this with high hopes. This book had a great concept and a lot of diversity which you don't see that often. The execution however was so disappointing and the writing was very bland for me.
There were several things that weren't answered. For example; I'm still unclear as to why The Statue of Liberty became a monster killer and where it fit into the story???
It was also never fully explained why people were losing their shadows? Odd considering that was the main focus in the book.

I can't tell you how many times I was going to DNF this book. I was so bored I just didn't care about any of the characters or the storyline. I think the author struggled to make this a cohesive story, but it was all over the place and was so jumbled that it was nowhere close to interesting. I gave this book 1 star.

This is just my opinion and I have every hope that everyone else enjoys the book. It just wasn't for me. Happy Reading all.

I am having such a hard time suspending belief for this book. Memory is attached to your shadow? Its magic? Whaat?

I wasn’t expecting the ending. I really was rooting for a happy ending. You never really found out what happened to Max. I feel like I have lots of unanswered questions, why were they all losing their shadow? The magic system just didn’t make sense to me. I’m not a big fan of post apocalyptic themes, and this book didn’t change my mind.

I'm not reading anyone's comments yet as I am not even half way through but so far it's heartbreaking.

I’m on page 259 (Hardback) a talking wolf? This book is full of surprises. I am going enjoying it in a “I need to know how it ends” way.

Finished it today. Ended up giving it 4 stars. Loved the beginning, thought it floundered in the middle, but that ending! Heartbreaking. I really enjoy post apocalyptic books. The whole shadows hold memories and the magic of the shadowless, I loved. Who are without our memories? Thought provoking.

Just finished it and I really can't decide what I think about it. I liked it but I don't know if that was because I wanted to know what was going on and wanted to find out answers to questions, but then the answers didn't come. Saying that though not getting answers didn't seem to annoy me too much...I liked the ending and did stay at the start of the last chapter of Part Four saying "It's not going to be her, it's the wrong person, I'm not reading it". I did read it! I hope I'm not the only person that does things like that.

I did spend a long proportion of reading this book shouting out to my husband "There's a talking Wolf, The Statue of Liberty is killing people, THERE ARE CROCODILES THE SIZE OF CRUISE SHIPS etc

I loved when Max said "Everyone is so afraid of losing their body when they die, but a body is worthless. A body remembers nothing at all, Nothing at all, It's not what is terrifying to lose."

I really can't wait till the live show about this one. Right on to Magpie Murders.

I haven't read the comments yet because I'm only 30% done - It took me a little bit to get into the story but I'm finally enjoying it. I'm starting to care about these characters.

I read this and loved it. But I like apocalyptic stories a lot, so that was no surprise to me.
Sandi - although I found the first part slightly slow, it didn't take long for me to get into the story. It pretty much jumps right into Ory figuring out that he has to go after Max and why Max left. I think it did surprise me that we didn't start getting Max's perspective for a little while, but I think that was necessary to lay out the world. And especially the history of the resort with all the friends who took refuge there.
The Statue of Liberty and a talking wolf were just examples of the way those with no shadow were able to manifest things - it had to do with the idea that this was something they possibly had once believed but had now forgotten. So for something like the talking wolf - Max knew wolves couldn't talk. But this was something she had forgotten, so now wolves (or that specific wolf) could talk. I don't think it spoke to anyone but her. The whole aspect of magic referred back to the legends in India. So there was no magic "system," per se, as there would be in a fantasy or even a dystopian. But it was necessary to the plot because of all those locked into the cage. Whether they inadvertently forgot something (like the Statue of Liberty) or intentionally forgot (like getting everyone out of the cage), it all manifested itself in reality as a side effect of losing their memories.
I'm surprised you didn't care about the characters, because this book broke my heart. The love that Ory/Zhang had for Max was so constant, so committed, it was devastating at the end. Talk about a plot twist I never saw coming!
Kayla - I wondered about the cause of the whole losing their shadow problem too. But did it really matter? The story was the journey of Ory to find Max. And again, I'm not sure there was any kind of organized magic system. It was just a side effect of the memory loss.
I wish I had know what happened to Max, but it's not hard to figure that she just stopped existing. It would make sense, since she would have forgotten who she was and since the "magic" manifested itself the way it did, she just wouldn't be there anymore. She'd vanish if nobody around her could remember who she was either. But even if she did vanish, there was no way to give her back her own memories. She'd always be someone else no matter what, which was what made it so heartbreaking for me. Ory lost her and then lost her again.
I really, really loved this book for the struggle and the loss and the love that was the thread throughout the entire story. I think it was an amazing debut. I can't wait to read more of Peng Shepherd's books.

This book was just not for me. I liked Ory and Max but it wasn’t enough to make me want to finish it. Nothing really made sense to me and I was not enjoying it at all. It was too out there for my brain.

Jen. I so agree with everything you said. I think Max just stopped existing too. As in our own world, once everyone is gone who remembered you, you become nonexistent. I can’t get this book out of my head. Like I said in an earlier comment, who are we without our memories?

I absolutely loved this book!! I found the writing to be gorgeous and I really enjoyed that it was a completely unique story, nothing even remotely similar to anything else I have read. That's hard to come by. It took me a little bit to grasp the concept of how things like a wolf talking happened, but I was still really enjoying the book before I caught on to that. It was a slower read for me, but that was not because I wasn't liking it, it was exactly the opposite. I was taking my time reading it so I could enjoy it more. Indian folklore is not something I have much knowledge of, so I found those aspects very interesting as well.

I know this wasn't the book for some of you, but I really loved it. Thanks for recommending it Jen!!!!

I'm just now starting this, I'm liking the story but finding the writing really awkward in places.

I just finished this book, and I don’t know how I feel. I love post apocalyptic books, (The Stand is my all time favorite book) but there were parts of this that were weird and confusing. There were also a lot of unanswered questions. I probably would have enjoyed reading the physical book more than listening to the audiobook. Right now I’m leaning towards a 3.5 rating, but that could change.

I never really enjoyed post apocalyptic stories but this was so good. The entire novel was heart breaking but I loved the characters. Can't wait to chat about it on the 29th!

I just finished it. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I think the concept was A+. I've never read anything like it. I generally really love apocalyptic stories but this one was just ok for me. I can't exactly put my finger on what it is that held me back from really loving it. I feel like the characters were great, the concept was great, but I still wasn't in love in with the story. The only thing i can think of is the writing. I think at times it was unnecessarily convoluted. I also think that the writing at times wasn't that great (sometimes it was but I think it wasn't consistently good). There were some passages that were so awkwardly worded. I also think honestly the story might be a little too meta for my tastes. That's definitely not a flaw in the book its just not my taste.

I finished this book and just like Magpie Murders it was just ok for me. Looking forward to discussing with ya'll in the live show.

This book was not for me....I LOVED the first 140 pages but then it just crashed for me !!!!!
I needed more answers ...more rules...it was too complicated! I didn’t HATE this book -I loved the concept, I loved Ory and Max’s love for eachother , but sadly, that wasn’t enough for me! I would rate this a 2.75 Star (to be exact-Lol).

I liked seeing everyone’s feedback on the two books. I could not make time in July to read either one. Look forward to August’s pick & the live show. ⭐️

http://www.unboundworlds.com/2018/07/...

I hope this link works. It leads to an interview with the author about the book.

I didn't finish the book :( I actually left it at my friend's house by mistake and decided that I don't really care to get it back. LOL. For me, the book dragged on for way too long, and some parts in the middle were very disjointed. I've always struggled with books that show multiple perspectives, so for me it was a bit much. I thought maybe they could've done away with Naz Ahmadi in order to simplify the multiple POVs situation. Also, like others have mentioned, I really struggled to actually give a crap about any of the characters; I'd say Maxine's POV came the closest. I managed to finish about 75% of the book, and after I left it at my friend's house I googled spoilers LOL!