Broken Things by Lauren Oliver

September 30, 2018     erinthebooknut     Book review

Broken Things by Lauren OliverBroken Things by Lauren Oliver
Published by HarperCollins on October 2, 2018
Pages: 416
Goodreads

It’s been five years since Summer Marks was brutally murdered in the woods.

Everyone thinks Mia and Brynn killed their best friend. That driven by their obsession with a novel called The Way into Lovelorn the three girls had imagined themselves into the magical world where their fantasies became twisted, even deadly.

The only thing is: they didn’t do it.

On the anniversary of Summer’s death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and pulls Mia and Brynn back together once again. But as the lines begin to blur between past and present and fiction and reality, the girls must confront what really happened in the woods all those years ago—no matter how monstrous.

3.5 Nuts

This is the first Lauren Oliver book I’ve finished since the Delirum series. I’m usually a fan of the YA murder mystery/thriller genre, so while this book wasn’t great, I did still enjoy the base story. I mean I did read the whole thing in a couple of days after all. The problem is that’s there’s just too damn much going on in here.

Let me explain.

BROKEN THINGS is not just a murder mystery. There are a ton of secondary stories, tertiary stories, and more. To prove it I’m going to count them.

  • The core murder mystery
  • The “addiction” sideplot
  • The hoarding sideplot
  • The ex boyfriend sideplot
  • The beloved book plot
  • The “past” sideplot
  • The unrequited romance plot

Plus a bunch of red herrings that would have been fine had there not been all this other stuff to deal with. Don’t get me wrong, this story is addictive. I got through it very fast. It was just overstuffed with plotlines.

I was really sad to see Oliver use the MC’s affection for the victim as more of a plot device than a character trait. That and the fact that it comes off more creepy than sweet. Sometimes friends start to like each other, just because it’s f/f doesn’t mean you have to make it weird. You can have an unrequited love bit without making it seem obsessive or uncomfortable. People do it all the time with m/f, why is f/f any different?

This isn’t a mystery you’d want to read again. Part of it is just the unpleasantness of it but part of it is that once you know the solution the rest of the book loses its suspense. Worth on read, if you can follow all the various plots, but I’d recommend getting this one out of the library. Not buying it.

What’s your favorite Lauren Oliver book? Share in the comments.

From my shelf to yours,

Erin

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