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.
View all my reviews
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.
View all my reviews
