REVIEW: The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

Title: The Book of M
Author: Peng Shepherd
Rating: 3/5

I finished 'The Book of M' about a week ago now and have had enough time to fully form all my mixed feelings about it, so here's my (spoiler-y) review!

I fell in love with the book as soon as I started reading it, but it got progressively harder to enjoy the more I stuck with it. And here's why.

There wasn't nearly enough world building. I would have actually preferred 'The Book of M' to be split into two books if it meant we would get more world building in the first. There just wasn't enough explaining - the whole way through I felt like there were gaps in my knowledge about the world when characters would mention something I was expected to have figured out on my own. It was kinda confusing. I know it's not good to spell everything out but at least give us a chance maybe ???

For example, I never understood how Ursula managed to get them out of the cage and into this new and improved RV. I had so many questions. Where is the old RV? How did she get them all out? What did she give up in order to do so?? 

And don't even get me started on the deathkites. Does anyone actually know what they are? Because I don't. They have such a cool name as well, I would have loved to know more about them.

Most things seemed to be explained later on in the book once you pieced all the puzzle pieces together, but, and I don't know about you, I don't want to have to work hard to understand a book. It should be easy and accessible.

However, one thing I really did love was the characters. Maybe Shepherd sacrificed the world building in order to give the characters more depth and personality, and I might just be able to forgive her for it if that's so. I love the relationships between all the characters (even though I am on the fence about Naz and Ory's romance - initially I thought they were another forced YA romance but I have to say I do like the idea of them together).

Also, I think 'The Book of M' might have my favourite fantasy story line ever. Or it's a close second to The Shades of Magic series. I want to tell everyone I know about it because I loved the concept so much.

Although, at times it felt like not enough was done with it. Like the whole people-forgetting-normal-things-so-they-cease-to-exist-in-the-real-world concept was so cool. But I felt like it was mentioned briefly once at the beginning and then not explored again until the end with the water wall thingy. I just wish we got more.

Another thing I loved was how there was never a dull moment. It's rare to come across a 400+ page book where I'm not bored even for a second. It was full of great twists and turns and an incredibly unpredictable plot twist. I totally wasn't expecting the whole (spoiler) Max/Ursula thing. Having said that, nothing about this story was predictable.

But Ory's reaction to the Max/Ursula thing made zero sense. He had absolutely no emotion. Why wasn't he jumping for joy when he found out 'she' was there? Why wasn't he furious when he found out about Ursula? Why wasn't he the least bit confused about how this had all happened? He had absolutely no reaction to all of it and it felt clunky, maybe a tad lazy too.

Even though I had a few problems with it, I still really enjoyed 'The Book of M'. I feel a bit bad for criticising it so much... But I still loved it. Even now, a week after finishing it, I'm still thinking about the concept of losing your shadow on a regular basis. This was a great debut novel and I can't wait to see what Shepherd will do next.

-----------