The Arrivals - Melissa Marr

You know, just because it says “New York Times Best Selling Author” doesn’t mean you can’t have your editor take a little peak at your book to make sure that your story makes some sort of sense. Oh, and on a side note, I want to call shenanigans on this books synopsis. Totally not what this book is about.

Chloe walks into a bar and blows five years of sobriety. When she wakes, she finds herself in an unfamiliar world, The Wasteland. She discovers people from all times and places have also arrived there: Kitty and Jack, a brother and sister from the Wild West; Edgar, a prohibition bootlegger; Francis, a one-time hippie; Melody, a mentally unbalanced 1950s housewife; and Hector, a former carnival artist. None know why they arrived there--or if there is way out of a world populated by monsters and filled with corruption. Just as she did in Graveminder, Marr has created a vivid fantasy world that will enthrall. Melissa Marr's The Arrivals is a thoroughly original and wildly imagined tale about making choices in a life where death is unpredictable and often temporary.

This is a book falls into the whole “curiosity killed the cat” category of library books. I have several Melissa Marr books on my Kindle just waiting to be read. I got them because there were free and sounded interesting. More interesting than this book. But after reading this book, I just don’t know if I want to read them know.

Well…I read the first 100 pages. And then stopped. Because I felt like I was wasting my time. Completely. The writing was awful. It was so awkward and just didn’t make sense. It was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. I couldn’t develop the world in my own head.  And this book is not about Chloe, who by the way, is such a weak and boring character. Another issue with this book is that it’s not really about Chloe. It opens from the point of view of Kitty. And then switches to Jack. And then back to Kitty. We done see Chloe until like chapter 4 or 5. Really? Shanigans I say!

I didn’t get too far into this book because let’s face it, Marr’s creation of “a vivid fantasy world that will enthrall” TOTALLY DIDN’T HAPPEN! Shenanigans again I say! Shenanigans, shenanigans, and more shenanigans! There was nothing in the writing of this book that enthralled me. There was nothing that drew me into this strange world and characters. It was a struggle to read. I tried. I really did. I give this book more of a chance than I normally would, but I wanted to like it. But alas, it was crap.

Yes. That’s right. I called this book crap.

I just….I can’t. I know I should feel bad about completely bashing this book, but there seems to be a type of arrogance from Melissa Marr in the writing that says “I’m a New York Times Best Selling Author, I’ll write how I want and you the reader will be it just for this title I have!” 

Okay. I’m done. I have nothing else to say. Sorry that this was a super negative review. But this has totally been building up in me for a while. What has this book taught me? Do not fall into the whole trap of “Oh, they are a New York Times Best Selling Author, I bet this will be a great book!”

Shenanigans!

Until next time.Be yourself….unless you can be a pirate. Then always be the pirate!