I received an ARC of The Failures by Benjamin Liar for an honest review. 

Not interested in watching my video review, then look below for the major bullet points. 

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Rating: 4 out of 5

Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy / 4 Stars

Hello friends!

In this blog, I’m reviewing The Failures by Benjamin Liar. As usual, the first half of the review will be spoiler-free, and more about my overall thoughts, whereas, for the second half, I’ll be doing a technical review. There will be spoilers there to help you strengthen your craft. 

• I pulled the synopsis out of my ass. I struggled with what to give away and what to keep underwraps. Let me show you Goodreads’s synopsis as a comparison. “From a debut voice comes a genre-breaking blend of apocalyptic sci-fi and epic fantasy about a scattered group of unlikely heroes traveling across their broken mechanical planet to stave off eternal darkness. A tightly coiled puzzle of a thrill ride, The Failures launches The Wanderlands trilogy.” As you can see, I gave you a lot more details, but I’m not sure either one will make you want to read the book.

• Starting off… this book was a behemoth and hard to get through. At times I wanted to rip my hair out. I wanted to punch people. I lost the will to write a book. Because how the fuck did this pass multiple rounds of edits. (Was it edited????) I even said no to a book at the store last week because it was by the same publisher. Here’s the kicker… I’m considering book 2. I see the fucking brilliance now. I see what Liar was trying to do and I’m shocked. But was it worth the pain that I went through? I don’t know. I do know that I’m not going to be quickly recommending The Liars to anyone, especially if they’re not a staunch science fiction/fantasy reader. 

• The first problem, the world world-building. If you told me they didn’t breath oxygen on this planet, I would have believed you. I’m not even sure if the world is set in a mountain. And then there are these doors. Do the behemoths come from our world? To top it off, Liar changed the names of basic things instead of throwing his readers a bone. So I’m having to learn new words on top of the massive world-building and history. The learning curve was too much. The writing too dense. Only the bravest of souls could manage this. 

• The second problem… characters. So many characters. Lots of jumping between the POVs. I appreciated not knowing who the good guys were at the beginning (a check for wanting to read book 2). I think that I have a better idea now. It took too long for me to like the characters. They all seemed like complete assholes without any redeeming qualities. Sophie is introduced to us while killing butterflies. 

• And lastly, there’s the writing. If you kept up with my daily reading updates, you could see how much I wanted to cry. The writing is horrendous. It never got better, I think I got used to it. I was told how to think and feel. There was no rhythm. There weren’t any senses to live in. 

• To end with something positive… what Liar pulls off with the plot is unique and inspiring. It’s different than any book I’ve read in a while — reminisce of season 1 of The Witcher. 

Now look away if you don’t want spoilers. 

• Why the hell do I want to read the second book? Because the reveals and the time jumps hit me in the sweet spot. Ugh. I love those OMG moments. I have to know more. Twisty plots are my downfall. 

• Readers need to take Liar’s words for face value. He tells us to watch out from the beginning. 

• Like The Witcher, I loved that we didn’t know the story wasn’t being told in chronological order. The payoff was worth the pain. And I’m kicking myself for not noticing sooner. 

• Seeing the weaving of the plot helped me to see why this book was selected by an agent. The Failures is the fresh material that we need. 

Happy Reading!

Love,

Kait