Member Reviews
When I first started this book I couldn't put it down. I loved the world building and the history behind what was happening. I also loved the time skips and the fact that all of the POVs were set in different times, meaning we got to see how the world continued to change.
When Simon's POV was added it slowly became my favourite. The addition of someone looking down on Earth worked well with the 2 perspectives of the people currently living on it and it was really enjoyable.
However, this book read the same as every multiple POV book does for me and I slowly lost interest in multiple sides of the story. I only really cared about Simon's story and found myself skim reading the other 2. It also took getting to about 50% of the way through the book for things to start actually happening. I loved the world building, but unfortunately, in terms of actual plot, this book lost me along the way. And there were multiple times I felt like just putting it down and leaving it there.
The concept was amazing and it although I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I wouldn it was executed well. The writing itself was beautiful too. There is definitely an audience out there for this book but unfortunately I dont think I am part of it.
I would still recommend this book to and post apocalyptic/sci-fi fans, and I would definitely still try other works from this author in the future.
This review has also been added to Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.
This is one of my favourite genres but not often done well. This however was done very well!!!!
It kept me wanting more.
My sincerest thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the views expressed in this are my own.
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I absolutely loved the blurb of Forgive Us. I felt it left out just enough to pull me into the story, and the story definitely lived up to its promise.
I was super excited to see what this post-apocalyptic Earth would be like and was not at all disappointed. The worldbuilding is immaculate. The details are well though out and many of the survival aspects seemed all too realistic and not at all far-fetched.
I was also happy to see that the characters' struggles in this world were appropriately brutal and their individual motivations were portrayed wonderfully.
I did feel that the ending was somewhat rushed and found it a bit odd how some key characters died when things were just seeming to pick up.
This was definitely a great debut and I'm excited to see Gunnarsson's future works.
Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 stars
Forgive Us by E.T. Gunnarsson
In this nonlinear narrative, we follow London and Rose who are survivors of the post-apocalyptic Earth; Simon who is a member of the Rapture, a group of people who were sent to a space station to live until Earth is habitable again; Oliver a survivor who has a motorcycle and big dreams for the future.
The dates don't make much sense, in the first three-fourths of the novel, but as you get closer to the ending, it starts to make more sense.
I gave it 4 stars, because although it is well written, it seems towards the end, that several key players are killed off, with not much fanfare, especially since they were such key elements in the book. Seemed to be almost rushed at the end. It is part of a series, so there wasn't a plausible reason (to me) to have ended that way.
There were a lot of details in the first parts of the book, telling how hard it was to survive on an unfriendly Earth. You find yourself rooting for the survivors.
Many thanks to #netgalley and #forgiveus for the complimentary copy I was under no obligation to post a review.
I received a free review copy of Forgive Us from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review - my sincerest thanks to both the author and the publisher. :)
This was an excellent book, the author cleverly weaving 3 distinct stories with various characters into one. The first big reveal where two of the stories became connected had my jaw on the floor. Just one of those things that was done subtly didn't beat you over the head with it. By the time the 3rd was intertwined I was hoping desperately that it was the character I thought it might be. Mr. Gunnarsson didn't disappoint.
The tales woven are those as old as time but in a fresh desperate world. Human nature, the resilience, the drive to survive, the love, the lofty ideals torn asunder by paranoia, power, and greed. Each individual story is told in a chaptered order there by splitting up the stories until they slowly come together. This style was incredibly engaging as most chapters would end on a cliffhanger and you were desperate to find out what happened to the other characters but also get back around to the characters you just left.
This is an incredible freshman debut for the author, I sincerely hope he continues writing and will be on the outlook for any other work he has published.