Hexed

Rating

2 stars

Date Read

18/07/2015 - 04/08/2015

Age Group

13+

General Thoughts

I was almost contemplating not writing a review. It's not that it was that bad, but it wasn't that good either. Hence the two stars. The first half was difficult to get through. The writer was trying way too hard, the dialogues were unrealistic, the characters unbelievable and the plot nonexistant.

The only reason I kept reading is because it's summer, I was feeling lenient and my friend had lended me a hardback so I might as well make the most of it. But if it wasn't for basking in the hot sunlight, trying to occupy myself with something else than tv series and wanting to read a book with paper pages for a change -because, as you know:

- I wouldn't be writing this now.


Anyway, the second half is much better. There is a tangible change, the blueprints of a plot, however predictable, appear, the heroine is (a tad) less conceited, shallow and egocentric, the conversations sound more like conversations and there are even some "good" jokes.

Main Characters

Indigo

Indie is neither likeable nor relatable. She holds foul company - her bff is a bitch and her bf cheated on her with said bff - she treats people like garbage and she doesn't appreciate anything. She is quick to judge and a bad listener. However, despite her shallow, brainless, stereotyped character, the cheerleader does become easier to sympathize with after a few - or several- chapters, after a lot of bad luck turns her life upside down. She almost starts to sound smart, as she makes up a plan to save the world and realises who her real friends are. Or not...

Bishop

It's all about vocabulary. And I hate it when people use skinny (ok, I'm not sure if she said skinny and I'm too bored to check but she did say thin) and tall (tall I don't have a problem with it's the combination gets my nerves) to describe a male fictional character. I mean, "lean" I get. But "thin"? I just get this image in my head of Goob in "Meet the Robinsons" and it's hard to get rid of it afterwards when she instists he's hot and attractive and handsome etc.

See what I mean? And who names an allegedly hot guy Bishop anyway? Too obvious, not creative and certainly not attractive. And these are his best qualities.

He's boring and insensible, supposedly using sarcasm to deal with traumatic experiences, cracking jokes at the most inappropriate moments, so stereotyped he's strangle-worthy. If the plan was to make the reader fall for him then I'm sorry to say that it was a failure. Miserable one at that.

Writing

The writing was simple, too simple. Like a the writer was just looking for something to do in her free time and decided to write a book. Fluent language, yes, but not the kind that draws you in to the book and makes it impossible to put it down. More of an  "it's a nice grocery list" kind of fluent.

Narrative

As I said, the writer was trying a bit too hard. Although there were a few jokes that were almost funny, it felt like she was trying to make her protagonist sarcastic and witty and failed . Istead, Indie came off as self absorbed and snobbish, snapping at people and making fun of them. And when you can't - or won't - relate to the narrator-slash-protagonist, how can you like a book?

All in all

Yes, I know I read the whole of it. It's just that, as my mother likes to remind me, I can get very lenient with people... And it's not like I had any better options at the time. It wasn't that bad, it flowed easily and, at the time, I even found it entertaining. It's just that, now that it's been a couple of weeks, whenever I think of Hexed I feel frustrated. I do not recommend it to anyone but the lenient ones with time to kill. And I'm not, God forbid, going after the sequels.

XOXO

Aggie Pearson