The Loop by: Shandy Lawson (2013)
208 pages
Genre: YA
Source: The Library
Goodreads Summary: Ben and Maggie have met, fallen in love, and died together countless times. Over
the course of two pivotal days—both the best and worst of their lives—they struggle again and again to resist the pull of fate and the force of time itself. With each failure, they return to the beginning of their end, a wild road trip that brings them to the scene of their own murders and into the hands of the man destined to kill them.
As time circles back on itself, events become more deeply ingrained, more inescapable for the two kids trapped inside the loop. The closer they come to breaking out, the tighter fate’s clutches seem to grip them. They devise a desperate plan to break free and survive the days ahead, but what if Ben and Maggie’s only shot at not dying is surviving apart?
the course of two pivotal days—both the best and worst of their lives—they struggle again and again to resist the pull of fate and the force of time itself. With each failure, they return to the beginning of their end, a wild road trip that brings them to the scene of their own murders and into the hands of the man destined to kill them.
As time circles back on itself, events become more deeply ingrained, more inescapable for the two kids trapped inside the loop. The closer they come to breaking out, the tighter fate’s clutches seem to grip them. They devise a desperate plan to break free and survive the days ahead, but what if Ben and Maggie’s only shot at not dying is surviving apart?
My Review
The synopsis of The Loop held so much promise, but that promise was broken not even more than a couple of chapters into the novel. At first I was really into The Loop and was enjoying it, but then I got bored, extremely bored and irritated. I’m just going to tell you right up front, don’t waste your time on this one, but if you do at least it’s only 208 pages long so if you end up not liking it you won't lose a lot of time.
I didn’t care about Maggie or Ben, I didn’t believe in their relationship, and I just straight up didn’t even care that they kept dying in this loop they are having to relive.Which sounds horrible, but I’m just telling the truth. I just found them kind of stupid and annoying. Now even though I didn’t like these characters, or at least didn’t care about them, I was still thinking that the interesting concept of being in a time loop and trying to get out of it would keep me intrigued. I’m sure it would be interesting, if as a reader we got to see more than these characters just going through the loop like two whole times. That is not enough, the synopsis said they have been through this loop countless times and yet we only get to see it a couple of times with very small and not very interesting changes, basically making the loops just seem annoyingly repetitive.
I'm giving The Loop two stars instead of one because there were still a few small times when this book really showed its uniqueness and managed to make me feel a very tiny something.
So there you have it. I advise you to skip this one, it isn’t nearly as good as the synopsis makes you believe it will be. Then again I have seen some positive reviews on goodreads so you can always check those out before making your decision to skip this one or read it.
That sucks. The summary had me thinking of a short story where two lives are intertwined like this one. They meet, fall in love, and get killed but change it at the end. I think it's based on a fairy tale... anyways it was really good and this one sounded like it too. But, characters are the most important part of a book. If you can't connect with them then the books not worth it. Too bad :/
ReplyDeleteI think part of it was how short the book was, but either way I just had no connection with the characters. :(
DeleteI think the key to making this concept work is having the MC's grow and having their experiences change as a result of that growth during each successive loop. Unfortunately, it sounds like this book did none of that and top it off with no connection to the people, well, I guess that would make for a boring/frustrating read. Sorry to hear this didn't pan out and thanks for the forewarning!
ReplyDeleteEaxctly, I didn't see any real growth of the characters!
DeleteI feel like I don't see you rate many books this low. Definite red flag for me! I will take your advice and skip this one. :) (But I agree the synopsis does make it sound promising)!
ReplyDeleteI very rarely have low ratings, you are right, this book just did nothing for me and with such a great sounding premise too. :(
DeleteI always get so easily irritated with books or movies where the characters keep reliving the same moment/day/month etc. I guess I just don't have the patience, haha. Sorry you didn't enjoy this one =(
ReplyDeleteI guess I didn't have the patience either. :)
DeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteI just saw this review, and while I very rarely comment on reviews, I wanted to say that I agree with quite a bit of it.
Decisions were made, big decisions, that negatively impacted the final version of the book, and as a new writer I lacked the confidence to go against the powers that be and tell them it should be done differently. As a result I'm not so crazy about the novel we ended up with, and I don't blame you if you aren't either.
I learned a lot from the process, and I read every review like this one that I can find, making mental notes of what was liked and what was not. So, in that way you guys are helping to shape my next book, which I think you'll like quite a lot, if you choose to give it a chance.
Anyway. Thanks for the review. Cheers!
Shandy
Shandy,
DeleteThanks for the honest feedback/information!
I will definitely be willing to give your next book a chance. :)