This was a very enjoyable book with an original premise. I like the author's style - very pacy and engaging.

Wow. What an incredible read! I literally could not put it down. Fans of speculative fiction, this book was written for you!

The Way Up is Death begins with a giant tower appearing in the sky above Britain, with one command written at the front door: ascend. Thirteen strangers are transported to the tower, and must climb to the top. But this is no ordinary building; each nightmarish level requires everything they have to make it through. And each level also demands a sacrifice. With the fate of humanity hanging on them, the group fights to make it to the top. But what will be waiting for whoever finally ascends?

This book combine Sci-Fi action with genuine explorations of what it means to be human, and it makes for an amazing story. It is fast-paced, pulling the reader straight into the action; I was on the edge of my seat reading about the characters fighting their way through what felt like cosmic-horror escape rooms from your worst nightmares. But the author balances out the action with well written characters (some sympathetic, others very unlikeable), and authentic depictions of grief, friendship, and sacrifice. This is a Sci-Fi speculative thriller with heart and action, and it was such a fun read. I’m very excited to see what the author writes next!

I would recommend The Way Up is Death to fans of Jeff VanderMeer, China Mieville, and general speculative fiction. You will not be disappointed by this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot Books for the arc! The thoughts and opinions stated in the review are my own.

This was a great horror fantasy book. I had a great time reading it, and really enjoyed the whole death game aspect of it.

I thought the tower was highly inventive, the characters were well written. Some you love, some you just hate, and can’t wait for them to get their comeuppance even though you’re rooting for them all to make it through this death maze.

Fast paced and exciting, this book is full of twists and turns and will keep you at the edge of your seat as the characters make their way through this death tower, trying to survive and figure out just what the heck is going on.

I look forward to reading more of this authors work!

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot Books for sending me an advanced copy of this book.

This book had me staying up til two am to finish it. There was never a good time to stop reading! Every chapter ended with something that you needed to know what happened next.

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and publisher.

This book was so intense. It reminded me a little of Dungeon Crawler Carl but this leaned more into sci-fi/horror than fantasy. A tower randomly appears in the sky above london. Thirteen people are lifted from their daily lives and appear outside it with a message to ‘ascend’. They are faced with horrific scenarios as they are forced to navigate upwards through the tower, their past transgressions being brought to light. Their morals and character will be heavily tested as they encounter the challenges within the tower.

This novel was so creative and the different levels throughout the tower are varied with the characters never knowing what to expect next. Anticipating what would come next was one of the best parts of the book. It was so compelling. Some of the things the characters encounter are really horrific and occasionally stomach churningly-graphic.

This was wildly entertaining, fast paced and a very intense read!

I really loved the concept of this and the beginning, when officials are dealing with the tower’s appearance in various ways, was really amusing. After that there were some good parts and cool ideas, but most never really hit home. Too many characters were obvious fodder for the tower traps so I never really connected with much. People who enjoy video games and puzzles could have fun with this book.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's not my favourite book by Dan Hanks but I loved the part about Larry the Cat becoming Prime Minister because that's the humour that made me love Dan Hanks' novels.
This one was a sort of And Then They Were None set in a sort of live video game run by a sentient tower.
It starts with a bang and it kept me going till it became a bit repetitive as it would be with an old-school video game. The characters are interesting and I liked Nia and Aidan, the underdogs.
There's a lot of suspense, of self-analysis and I missed the usual dose of humour as there was less in this story.
Note: I'm a bit too tired so I think that this can impact my review, it would surely be different at another time.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Squid Game controlled by a sentient tower in the sky meets Matt Haig existential emotional analysis.

The tower appeared in the skies above the UK on an otherwise unremarkable Saturday afternoon in the middle of May. Then 13 people are transported to the entrance, a timer counting down two days with the instruction ASCEND.
The 13 individuals are forced to master each level, facing different challenges with death chasing them in gruesome ways.
Is there a golden-egg-laying goose at the top or a giant?

We have three main POVs.
Alden, a primary school teacher by day and a local band member by night dealing with grief.
Nia, a designer who is timid and always being pushed around.
Dirk, a famous influencer who thinks the world revolves around him. THE WORST.

Whilst this is fast-paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat, this also deals with deep character motivations and fears. Feeling like just another insignificant person who had made no impact, no difference. Dealing with a world that seems designed to push you aside, under, away. Balancing perceptions and expectations with a real self.

<b>Alden knew the shroud of grief was thick and little anybody said in these moments ever helped. It was often just noise, and you were so saturated with grief there was no room for anything else to sink into you. Words, feelings, music, emotions, real-life responsibilities. None of it seemed to matter anymore. It all became droplets in a flood.
</b>
I loved the light humour throughout as well. It is a really easy book to get addicted to. The humour and topics are very on the nose and relevant to our current climate (mentions of Covid).
To give you a flavour of what convinced me I would have a good time within the first few pages:

<b>For the entirety of Thursday night, the UK was leaderless. Some said it was the most stable the country had been in some decades. Others put together a petition for Larry the Downing Street cat to take over. It reached forty million signatures by three in the morning.
</b>
The ending definitely brought down my enjoyment. It became more existential and too optimistic and philosophical. Compared to the rest of the book with squid game vibes, this felt like a complete tonal change.

If you like book by Matt Haig but want it in video game, thriller format; this is for you!

Arc gifted by Angry Robot.

A mysterious tower, floating on a island above England, forces thirteen strangers into an ascending death game.

I'm a big fan of the whole death game genre, so this was right up my alley. As the characters ascend the tower, they go through different levels, each unique in their own setting. This kept my interest, I always wanted to know what comes next. I won't go into detail, you should go into this blind.

The characters were well written, each with their own voice, although they are similar to other characters in death game stories, I still liked them. One in particular was intentionally written to be insufferable, and the author did this annoying, selfish guy so much justice. Can't remember the last time I hated a character this much.

What I did not like as much was the ending. I felt like something was missing. The epilogue chapter is there, and while most characters get closure, some parts of the story are left completely open. Despite that, I would still recommend this book, especially if you love death games, or simply a story with lots of variety in it's settings.

3.75 rounded up

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc of this book.

This book is about a mysterious tower (kind of reminds me of tartarus) that appears in the middle of England and thirteen random people are teleported inside one day with the word ASCEND showing on the entrance door and two days to discover what in the world they need to do to get out of this tower, and what it all means...or die trying.

The book really started out with a bang and continued to surprise me throughout it. The deaths were very gory and well described. The characters were interesting, though a little one-dimensiomal at times. It was interesting to see the different levels of the tower and how it morphed itself to a particular person and their struggles. The creatures that were created by the tower were wild as well!

The story had notes of social issues of today that were brought up well throughout the story and helped to contribute to it instead of like some books that throw social/political beliefs in just to do. There are also notes of dealing with grief and finding meaning in life to move on when things don't go as we expect. I wish there was a little more to the ending as it seemed a little lackluster and sudden with no real explanation though.

I really would be interested in seeing this adapted into a movie, even if it was B rated, because it feels like something you'd watch on sci-fi. I really enjoyed this book and am interested in seeing what else the author has in store.

extraordinary and unique, quite surreal tale about a group of thirteen random people who mysteriously find themselves on a floating tower. i loved all of them (except Dirk). 4.5 stars, rounded up. tysm for the arc.

Very well crafted thriller. This would appeal to gamers, escape room enthusiasts and those who love a good mystery. This has such a unique storyline and was a great read.

Ascend. The only explicit instruction given to the unwilling participants of a deadly contest with far-reaching consequences. Readers will be enthralled by the fantastic environments and even more fantastic denizens of the mysterious tower in these pages. Drawing on the tree of life from Norse mythology, this story's lore is rock solid while casually disregarding the boundaries of normal reality. As the group is confronted with diabolical challenges, they begin to perceive consistent rules and wonder about the possibility of a larger purpose behind their ordeal. The action is propulsive and exciting, sometimes even terrifying, in this unconventional haunted house tale, but it's balanced with the depth and complexity of well-drawn characters.

Gaming fans will find the underlying premise irresistible: worlds customized to their personal experiences and aesthetic preferences, decorated in stunning detail that might distract from the danger lurking within—all to teach some larger, personally relevant lesson. It's a kaleidoscopic fantasy safari that would quickly go off the rails if not for the author's firm allegorical grounding. For a substantive speculative fiction story that astutely negotiates big ideas while still making it impossible to stop turning pages, look no further than The Way Up is Death.

A sensible, purposeful and significant thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the ARC.

I love books that follow this formula, this hunger games, squid games type of formula where people have to compete in deathly horrors in order to get out alive. This sort of trope is has been done a lot, especially in YA and dystopia, but always works as long as the stakes are high and the danger is high enough that the reader is kept on the edge of their seat. Plus, from my experience, a book that does the deadly games/competition trope will never feel unoriginal as long as it by brings something different to the table, and this one gives it a sci-fi spin featuring a deadly tower of horrors.

Imagine a tall crimson fortress appearing out of nowhere on top of a floating island, surrounded by unearthly pastel colored clouds. Obviously, something so nonsensical has people thinking it is an illusion, a giant advertisement, or even paranormal? Snipers try shooting at the tower but the bullet disappears before it can reach it. Missile strikes fail to do any sort of damage. Paranormal experts are out of their depth. After much global mayhem, the UK foreign secretary decided this tower in middle England hasn’t done anything of note so can be ignored. And remarkably, people did. By the next week, people had forgotten more or less, until a timer appears on the tower, and a single word appears on the gateway: ASCEND. In different parts all over the UK, all within a 300 mile radius of the tower, a select group of people vanish from where they’re standing, only to materialize at the base of the tower. Stranded there without phones, they have no choice but to ascend the tower. And things get brutal from there.

This book was so intense I had to take breaks from reading it because it was so tense and the stakes so high. This was a tough read to be honest because you truly never get a break or feel safe, and 400 pages is a long time to never feel safe. In fact, it’s so intense it’s almost not enjoyable to read? It’s just that stressful and the characters quite literally do not catch a break. An annoying point I do have to bring up though. I doubt the general public would get over and be bored of something so WEIRD in just a week, like the book says. It says that people forget about the tower a week later. Sorry but that’s just so unrealistic, people would not get a magical floating tower over England in just a week later lol.

I understand why the book left things as it did, but as someone who was seeking more explanations and answers, the ending felt lackluster. I think the main reason why I was so eager to keep reading is not because I wanted to see how they would and who would escape the tower, but because I wanted answers. Who was behind it all, what was their reasoning behind doing all this in the first place, how they can stomach the morality issues of causing so much violence and cruelty. All this…for what purpose? These things the book doesn’t go into, and they stay unanswered. So the ending is satisfying in a way…yet it also isn’t. I get that the logistics behind the tower and who are running it and why, aren’t the point of the book. But as this was my main motivator for finishing it, I was left disappointed when you don’t really get an explanation to any of that at the end. Still, this was a really good sci-fi horror read, filled with high stakes, and super tense. This book is not for the faint of heart at all!

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

4.5/5

What do you get when you throw 13 strangers into a deathtrap tower, tell them to “ASCEND,” and watch chaos unfold? You get The Way Up is Death, Dan Hanks’ twisted love child of The Hunger Games, Portal, and your most stressful video game session ever.

Spoiler: it’s great.

The setup is simple: one day, a floating tower shows up in England. A group of randoms—disillusioned teachers, underappreciated artists, and even an obnoxious influencer—find themselves zapped to its doorstep. Their mission? Survive. (And if you’re thinking, “How bad could it be?” just wait until the treasure chest scythes someone into pieces on floor one.)

Hanks takes this bonkers premise and runs with it, and the result is exceptional. A true nail-biter that toes the line between horror, sci-fi, and emotional gut punches. Each level of the tower resembles a sadistic escape room designed by a fever-dreaming psychopath. You never know what’s coming, and that’s half the fun—or terror, if your nerves are shot to bits.

The cast is awesome. There’s Alden, a grieving teacher, trying to find meaning; Nia, a game designer desperate to prove herself; and Earl and Rakie, a father-daughter duo you’ll probably root for. And then there’s Dirk, the self-absorbed influencer you’ll love to hate—seriously, he’s the worst, and you’ll cheer every time the tower messes with him.

But it’s not all blood and guts. Hanks sneaks in his sharp social commentary, thoughts on grief, loneliness, and even influencer culture. Somehow, between all the horror and humor, he sneaks in moments that genuinely make you feel things. Like, big existential feelings.

Shortcomings? Well, there’s at least one. Some characters are so obviously redshirts that their brutal demises aren’t surprising—they’re expected. The only question is the order in which they’ll die. Plus, they’re all bland and forgettable, especially when compared to a few key players.

Relentlessly paced and surprisingly heartfelt, The Way Up is Death is addictive. It’s weird, wild, and brutal. And if you’re interested in my opinion, it’s a must-read.

The Way Up Is Death is part Escape Room game and part supernatural sci-fi thriller.
On an ordinary day in the English countryside a tower suddenly appears in the sky. It looks like it is floating above the clouds. Drones, helicopters, the police, the army, the government – no one can offer an explanation as to what it is or how it came to be there.

With no attempts at communication and no end-of-the-world threats forthcoming, the English population -in their classic way - decides to “Keep Calm and Carry On” with its looming presence overhead.

Then a few weeks later, the tower suddenly comes to life with a countdown appearing down the side, and one single ominous word in neon lights at the top – Ascend.

Thirteen people are inexplicably beamed up to the tower. From all walks of life, they must work together as they enter the tower and discover the horrors it has in store for them.

It had so much potential but by 70% I was completely exhausted reading it and I found myself starting to skim it. It was very repetitive – climb one level of the tower, battle monster on that level, climb to next level – I just wanted it to get to the point. Yes, there were discoveries along the way, but the plot needed an injection of excitement and a faster pace.

The characters feel one dimensional, unfinished and very cliched. I wasn’t attached to any of them and didn’t really care if anything happened to them, which is unfortunate seeing as they are in mortal peril for much of the book.

The writing, although good, was not anything special. The tower setting had so much potential for providing an eerie, oppressive backdrop to the story, but I feel the description of it was underwhelming.

As I was scrolling on NetGalley looking for arcs to request, I very nearly overlooked the book because of the title. The synopsis of the book is what pushed me to request it in the end. Had I not read the blurb, the title alone would not have tempted me to read it. A more imaginative title to accompany the beautiful cover would attract more readers.

Thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Reading a book is a rarely a surface-level experience.

While some books do glance off your heart and soul as if they’re made of Teflon, others burrow their way down into the core of who you are and take up residence, while a precious few still, consume and absorb you to such an extent that you aren’t just reading turning pages, but deeply and completely living the journey right along with the characters, your heart in your mouth and your soul on the line as every twist and turn makes it presence viscerally felt.

The Way Up Is Death by Dan Hanks fits without question into the final one of those three categories, a book that demands so much of you, in the very best of ways, that you can’t simply pick it up and read it as if nothing at all is happening to you.

The fact is EVERYTHING is happening to you, sometimes it feels like on every single page, with this utterly immersive mix of fantasy, horror with some deftly-realised sci-fi thrown in for good measure, taking you on a ride that is all-encompassing and soul excoriating – don’t worry, it also builds you right back up, though not completely – and which goes to the very heart, the very heart, of what it means to be human.

While you will get your fair share of adventuring thrills and spills, and real moments of levity, warmth and emotional intimacy, and they will mean the absolute world to you, The Way Up Is Death is the ultimate long night of the soul, one that doesn’t let up for a second, and which rises and falls on the strength of its robustly-sculptured and empathetically-delivered characters.

The novel centres on a strange, glowing and colourful tower that appears out of nowhere one day over the countryside near Manchester, England, its origins cloaked in mystery and its intent manifestly unclear.

While its arrival does shock the populace of the UK, and indeed the world at first, Hanks rather wryly observes, in one of many on-point and wittily accurate takedowns of the digital culture that is currently subsuming us for better or worse, that everyone quickly adapts, and what was a viral social media sensation almost immediately becomes something else entirely, at once voraciously consumed by the ceaseless appetite of the 24/7 news cycle and then just …ignored as part of the furniture.

It looks for all intents and purposes like the planet simply has another weird thing to add to its list of inexplicable oddities, when all of a sudden, 13 quite disparate people are taken without warning from their everyday life and beamed to the ground surrounding the tower (still high up in the sky mind you so the land on which they stand is vertigo-inducing in and of itself).

A ragtag bunch strangers, among them a flight attendant, social media influencer, game designer, narcissistic children’s book author and teacher/musician, they are all equally uncertain about why they are there, and what the tower wants from them, other than it wants them to “Ascend”, the word emblazoned on its entrance in a way that is both beautifully lit and compulsively threatening.

While they are reluctant to move anywhere until they know what they are dealing with, the tower doesn’t afford them the luxury of deliberation and they set upwards, ever upwards, on a vivaciously terrifying journey through a number of harrowing levels where everything about them is tested, tested and tested again.

It’s not clear where the levels are drawn from, though that does emerge in time and is used to illuminate the characters still further – not all get the full 3D treatment; some like kind, self-sacrificial teacher Alden, game developer Nia and 13-year-old would-be writer Rakie get full service reveals while others are simply there, trope-heavy, to serve a worthy and propelling narrative purpose – but suffice to say, whatever is behind the tests meted out to the 13 strangers, it is designed to go deep into their psyches and souls and reveal exactly who they are.

But far, far more than that is how The Way Up Is Death really shines a light on the parlous state of the human condition, and how the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and the strengths of our virtue and worthiness of our accomplishments or otherwise, don’t always bear true under pressure.

For some of the characters, for many of them in fact, this plays out negatively as it becomes condemningly clear that they are million miles away from their internal narratives, but for others like Alden and Nia, it is revealing in a good way, demonstrating that their flawed and self-condemning internal narratives in no way reflect the laudably high quality of the people they are.

Beyond those individual reality checks of the quality of their humanity, what The Way Up Is Death beautifully demonstrates is the power of community, love and belonging to change the world.

All too often, these concepts are reduced to cheerleading bumper stickers, their meaning all but leached out by vacuous soundbite depictions, but in Hanks’s superlatively good adventure novel, where death and loss are scarily constant companions and survival is not even remotely guaranteed, they are muscular and robust and capable of reshaping worlds and realities.

You cannot walk away from this extraordinarily good novel without having the truth of this seared into you.

Our increasingly individualistic world fumbles and staggers when it comes to elevating the good of the many over that of the one, but in The Way Up Is Death makes it clear in ways intimate and epic but always profoundly emotionally impactful, that we are better when we stand together.

We may not always get the outcome we want, and indeed the lottery of The Way Up Is Death is that nothing, absolutely nothing, is guaranteed, and that any sense of control and influence over our lives is largely illusory – though it’s evident that what we choose to do has a heavy bearing on what happens to us; we are not simply victims of fate – but for life to matter, for our experiences to matter, especially under extreme, death-haunted duress, we need each other in ways than transcend trite meme-heavy messaging.

If you take anything away from this enthrallingly good, terrifyingly intense and emotionally rich novel, let it be that we are far stronger as one, and that when we prioritise community over self, we not only achieve great things, temporary though some maybe, but we transform ourselves in the process, and for however long that lasts, that can be the greatest gift we ever give ourselves and others.

When a mysterious tower appears in the skies over England, thirteen strangers are pulled from their lives to stand before it as a countdown begins. Above the doorway is one word: ASCEND.

As a grieving teacher, a reclusive artist, and a narcissistic celebrity children’s author lead the others in trying to understand why they’ve been chosen and what the tower is, it soon becomes clear the only way out of this for everyone… is up.

And so begins a race to the top, through sinking ships, haunted houses and other waking nightmares, as the group fights to hold onto its humanity, while the twisted horror of why they’re here grows ever more apparent – and death stalks their every move

We need more horror fantasy! I loved the combination in this one, everything I love abour both genres. I cant wait to read more books in this series and more of anything by this author!

Not what expected at all!

But to be fair, I don't even know what I expected in the first place, as this isn't my usual type of read.

However, I got hooked quite early in the book. The storyline kept me engrossed and at the edge of my seat, I found characters loveable and entertaining. Really, what a ride it has been!

The only reason I'm not giving 5 stars is - I would not pick this book up again. Not that's it bad, it's definetly not bad at all. It just lacked a little something for me to wish to re-read it.

If you thought Stephen King had conjured up the weirdest and darkest tower in existence, then Dan Hanks is here to prove you wrong in The Way Up is Death. In turns brutally disturbing, hysterically funny and soul-stirringly poignant, this extraordinarily bizarre acid trip of a survival adventure will melt your brain and crush your soul without remorse, and I love it all the more for it.

What would you do if one day, out of nowhere, you are mercilessly pulled out of your daily life and dropped along with 12 other strangers before a mysterious floating tower that demands you ASCEND. That, my friends, is just a tiny glimpse of the stupendously intriguing premise of The Way Up is Death. And as you can maybe guess from the title, it doesn’t take long for things to get disturbingly dark and absolutely batshit crazy in the best way possible.

Through the eyes of Alden, a lonely and grief-stricken teacher by day/singer by night, Nia, a weary and angry concept artist, and Dirk, a self-obsessed walking red flag of a celebrity children’s author, we get to experience the nightmarish madness contained within the tower from the front-row seat. While I sometimes had a hard time visualising the increasingly weird and mystifying settings that the tower contained, I never felt lost because these characters’ strong voices kept me so grounded throughout all the madness. Their virtues and vices are truly on full display (for better or worse; looking at you, Dirk), and I loved exploring how they each reacted in such an authentically unique way to the horrors that they were faced with over the course of the single day that they spend in this tower of terror (if they even make it that long).

See, on the surface this story might seem like just another brutal thrill fest of a race against death, but at its core it’s a deeply emotional and beautifully human story that just tugged on my heartstrings in all the most unexpected ways. The Way Up is Death is honestly more multi-layered than the twisted labyrinthine tower it’s set in, and I loved how with each new level the characters ascended, another layer of complexity and emotional depth was peeled back. Heavy themes such as grief, sexism, female rage, loneliness, sacrifice, morality, memory, love, humanity, and, naturally, mortality are all explored in surprisingly deep though often darkly entertaining ways without ever detracting from the addictive thrill factor of the narrative, which is exactly what makes this story stand out from the crowd to me.

Now, I do have to admit that I found some of the (side) characters to be little more than obvious cannon fodder or a mere vessel for the theme they were supposed to represent, which not only made some of the thematic messaging feel a bit on the nose, but also took away some of the stakes and unpredictability of the story for me. The slightly caricaturish character work combined with the break-neck speed pacing somewhat hindered my emotional investment in the wider cast of characters, and that ultimately made some of the supposedly hard-hitting moments fall a bit flat for me.

However, the key characters of the narrative absolutely carried the story for me (Rakie is the MVP, just saying), and I can’t deny that all the emotional gut punches just hurt oh so good in the end. For the longest time I was just along for the crazy ride, uncertain if or how we would get any satisfying answers to the deeper purpose behind the inexplicable mysteries and challenges of the tower, but Hanks managed to surprise me in all the best (or worst?) ways with the shocking revelations. The brutally bittersweet conclusion to The Way Up is Death was more satisfying than I could ever have hoped for, leaving me with only one big unresolved mystery in the end: how in the hell did Hanks manage to write a story that is simultaneously so bizarrely alien yet beautifully and relatably human?

Regardless of what your typical reading preferences are, The Way Up is Death is guaranteed to lure you in with its dangerously addictive storytelling, darkly alluring mysteries, visceral emotions, and scarily evocative imagery that will haunt your mind for days and nights to come. It’s got a bit of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, mystery, thriller, and arguably even a sick and twisted version of LitRPG, but ultimately it’s a powerfully moving and truly transcendental story that just speaks to the soul and showcases the incredible resilience of the human spirit. This is one of those stories that you simply can’t do justice to in a review, so please do yourself a favour and go experience its brilliant madness for yourself, if you dare.

I was lucky enough to receive a digital ARC of “The Way Up is Death,” by Dan Hanks!

I give this book 3/5 ⭐️. The title and cover are great, and are what made me so interested in this book to begin with. The concept of a tower randomly selecting 13 people from the area it “spawns” over is intriguing, and Hanks wastes no time in throwing us into the action. As the thirteen people begin to ascend as commanded by the tower, each floor is revealed to be pulled from one of the thirteen’s subconscious. To avoid spoiling anything, I’ll just say that the title of the book does not lie.

I felt the characters in this novel weren’t realistic enough, and at times it seemed like the writing involving them was slipping into the realm of caricature. It difficult for me to get emotionally attached to any of the thirteen, but it did make it very easy for me to hate Dirk! There was too much “telling” and not enough “showing,” especially when it came to characters’ emotions and relationships with one another. This was one of those books where I was aware of every page I was reading and struggled to immerse myself into the story. From what I’ve seen, a lot of other readers love this book, so I’ll accept it’s just not my cup of tea!