For this next entry of Mark This Book Monday I'm sharing another ARC review that is part of my NetGalley November challenge! I'm doing quite worse than I hope, but I'm still trying to manage a decent amount to not fail my challenge too badly!
The Pentrals by Crystal Mack
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was quite intrigued when I read the blurb of The Pentrals in NetGalley so I decided to request it. I will try my best to keep this review as spoiler free as possible.
I have to say that despite not being a perfect read it didn't disappoint at all. The premise is quite unique since it is told from the perspective of a Shadow, a level 2 Pentral, that calls herself Antares. A Shadow is exactly what it sounds like, a dark mirror of our movements and shape, without details or colour. And they're assigned a Person on birth, a Person they have to Shadow in all their movements.
Violet is Antares person and she's been having a very hard time as of late, and Antares is not very sure as to why since her perspective doesn't allow her enough information. The setting of our story is in a utopian/dystopian city all covered in mirrors to make the most of the solar energy (or at least that's the official story). Then things do change when one day in a freak occurrence Violet and Antares swap places and Antares finds herself inside Violet's body.
We learn quite a few things about the Pentrals, that there are 4 levels, that there are two kinds of Pentrals, Shadows and Reflections and that Pentrals could have been humans before, which made me think of it equalling souls with Pentrals but it was never explained as such. There's still a lot of unexplained parts of this world, about the Pentrals and how they work and I'm hoping it will be expanded in the upcoming books. It still makes sense to have limited knowledge given we are seeing everything through Antares' perspective and as a Shadow her life was focused on working to match her Person's actions, nothing else.
The dystopian angle is given via a conspiracy and a puppet master pulling the strings behind all that's happening in the city. The controlling drugs, the mirripulation (that was a word that I couldn't help but think was not the best choice, it might fit but kept on sounding silly to me). We get some info on what and who might be behind it, but not enough on the why's. A proper villain needs a good motivation and get are given hints but not a strong justification. Again, I think it'll be explained and expanded on the next books but it gave the book a bit of an unfinished feel.
It was clearly a first book in a series, given us enough setting to get us started, but just with general big strokes and not enough detail. The world building is there but there are lot of questions unanswered and we get a bit of a rather limited look at the world. With the way the book ends we get a few answers and loads more questions, but it doesn't end with a throat-cutting cliffhanger, which is to be grateful for. The characters are well fleshed out, though some seem to have more life to them than others and the narrative is quite engaging.
All in all quite a good debut, deserving of 3.5 stars.
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The Pentrals by Crystal MackMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was quite intrigued when I read the blurb of The Pentrals in NetGalley so I decided to request it. I will try my best to keep this review as spoiler free as possible.
I have to say that despite not being a perfect read it didn't disappoint at all. The premise is quite unique since it is told from the perspective of a Shadow, a level 2 Pentral, that calls herself Antares. A Shadow is exactly what it sounds like, a dark mirror of our movements and shape, without details or colour. And they're assigned a Person on birth, a Person they have to Shadow in all their movements.
Violet is Antares person and she's been having a very hard time as of late, and Antares is not very sure as to why since her perspective doesn't allow her enough information. The setting of our story is in a utopian/dystopian city all covered in mirrors to make the most of the solar energy (or at least that's the official story). Then things do change when one day in a freak occurrence Violet and Antares swap places and Antares finds herself inside Violet's body.
We learn quite a few things about the Pentrals, that there are 4 levels, that there are two kinds of Pentrals, Shadows and Reflections and that Pentrals could have been humans before, which made me think of it equalling souls with Pentrals but it was never explained as such. There's still a lot of unexplained parts of this world, about the Pentrals and how they work and I'm hoping it will be expanded in the upcoming books. It still makes sense to have limited knowledge given we are seeing everything through Antares' perspective and as a Shadow her life was focused on working to match her Person's actions, nothing else.
The dystopian angle is given via a conspiracy and a puppet master pulling the strings behind all that's happening in the city. The controlling drugs, the mirripulation (that was a word that I couldn't help but think was not the best choice, it might fit but kept on sounding silly to me). We get some info on what and who might be behind it, but not enough on the why's. A proper villain needs a good motivation and get are given hints but not a strong justification. Again, I think it'll be explained and expanded on the next books but it gave the book a bit of an unfinished feel.
It was clearly a first book in a series, given us enough setting to get us started, but just with general big strokes and not enough detail. The world building is there but there are lot of questions unanswered and we get a bit of a rather limited look at the world. With the way the book ends we get a few answers and loads more questions, but it doesn't end with a throat-cutting cliffhanger, which is to be grateful for. The characters are well fleshed out, though some seem to have more life to them than others and the narrative is quite engaging.
All in all quite a good debut, deserving of 3.5 stars.
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A really helpful review, Pili! I haven't heard much about this one, but I like the sound of the concepts here. It doesn't sounds like anything that I've across too frequently before. It's a shame that the world-building was missing some detail, but hopefully that will be something that the rest of the series will provide. Thanks for sharing. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, Sam! It really felt fairly unique and fresh, I will be following the series!
DeleteHuh this is new to me. The whole Pentrals aspect sounds kind of neat. I actually prefer getting a limited information than having a story told through 3rd person. I'm assuming it's 1st person anyways >.< The dystopian angle sounds like how I like it, too, with an evil puppet master and conspiracies! Yeah!! I'll have to keep this one in mind! :)
ReplyDeleteIt was first person narrative, so the lack of details was also fitting with what the narrator knew. I hope you'll give this one a try!
DeleteThanks Giselle!
I am very intrigued by the Pentrals and this worldbuilding. Although it wasn't as detailed as you wanted it to be and there are still so many things left unexplained, these 4 levels of Pentrals and their connection to humans intrigue me.
ReplyDeleteAnd good to hear it's 1st person, I'm not a fan of other types of narratives.
Yeah, it really is a very intriguing premise and I can't wait to find out more in the next books!
DeleteHmmm, I saw this one on Netgalley too but gave it a pass. The concept of the Pentrals and the 4 levels is really interesting, but I think the lack of world building would really bug me. Thanks for your great review Pili!
ReplyDeleteJeann @ Happy Indulgence
It did bug me a bit but not too much, not enough to spoil the enjoyment of the book at least!
DeleteThanks Jeann!