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Jul 09, 2020polaris_mars rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
It might’ve been the fact that I school forced me to read this for a project, but I just couldn’t stand Refugee. I thought it wouldn’t be terrible because all the reviews on this book are glowing. But no, that was not the case. I prefer fantasy books and tend to read those, so trying out a new genre was vastly different for me. While I don’t have a problem with the genre itself, I have a massive problem with the book. I don’t mind the author switching the point of view. But I think the book could have been better if the author had kept all of one character's chapters in one area, then switch to the next point of view once the first character’s story was over. One chapter would end on a cliffhanger and then you have to wait for two chapters to return to that story. It’s miserable to read and because there are two chapters you have to read through and the story constantly keeps changing. It’s truly irritating and hard to follow. Normally, when an author switches the point of view, it happens in chronological order. It will resume the same story but from another perspective. But here, the switching of perspectives is thoroughly annoying. Another massive problem I have is that nothing in the story gets you invested. For example, something terrible happens to a character, but you don’t feel anything because it’s not the main character in that chapter. You just say, “Oh. Well that happened,” and then move on. This is also due to the switching of perspectives. You never get a chance to get invested in one character's story because it's constantly changing every chapter. And that’s the main problem of the book. Had I not been forced to read this, I would have dropped it almost immediately. So because I was disinterested in the book, it just felt like I was skimming chapters. I could feel myself not being invested at all in what was happening in the story. I genuinely don’t think the book is well written either. At the end of the story, the author tries something that could’ve been brilliant, but I predicted it halfway through the book. Ordinarily, I give books a pass if it’s predictable because I’ve read so many books, and books may use tropes because there may not be many ideas on how to do a twist. But Refugee’s ending was just so unsatisfying to come together, and again this comes from the constant switching of POVs and terrible storytelling. I absolutely did not enjoy this book at all. I would never recommend this book to anyone and heavily try to warn them it’s a terrible book. If you’re like me, and see all these glowing reviews and couldn’t find negative comments, please read this and consider it. Some people may like this book, but to me I was bored the entire time, not invested, and was unsatisfied with its ending. I believe if some things were altered, my opinion on this book would be better. But because of how it is composed, I could not stand this book.