Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance
by Ruth Emmie Lang
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I judged a book by its cover …
I mean how can you not?!?! Look at those covers!!! They are GORGEOUS!
I also judged the book by the title. Anything with “Beasts” and “Extraordinary” should be amazing. Add in those covers and I was expecting a high fantasy novel with magical creatures and beautiful landscapes. Something along the lines of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but with an actual focus on the beasts.
This was not that book.
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance is Magical realism. Its set in our world and there is really only one magical creature. I probably should have read the synopsis better.
And I feel bad, because if I hadn’t gone in with such wrong expectations I probably would have liked the book! But it was too different than what I expected, so it was hard to get into it.
The best part of the book was the POVs. I really liked how the author did it. She wrote very few chapters from the POV of the main character, Weylyn. Instead the chapters were told through the eyes of whoever he was with. When he visited his sister, she was the narrator of the chapter. When Weylyn was working it was narrated by his boss. This allowed the reader to learn about Weylyn through his actions, just like if you were meeting a person in real life. You weren’t in his head, so he was kind of a mystery throughout, which fit perfectly with the story.
Overall its not a bad book. If you haven’t read it yet, and want to, make sure you know it is NOT Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and you should be fine!
Did anyone else make that assumption too? Did it affect what you thought of the book? Please tell me I am not the only one!
I didn’t know what this was about either, and that cover definitely suggests cool beasts?? Sorry it was a disappointment!
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It really does! I’m glad I’m not the only one that thought that haha. And thanks 🙂
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I hadn’t heard of this book until reading your review, but I totally judged it by its cover and title also. The POV style sounds really neat, though.
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I’m glad I’m not the only one! It just doesn’t fit the story!! And I thought it was pretty cool 😀
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I totally get what you mean by making assumptions! And of course you are kind of unsettled and stay on a bad impression.
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Exactly! I try not to go into books with assumptions, but I couldn’t help it this time! The cover and title just pushed me too far into a mindset.
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I’m sorry to hear this was just an okay read for you. The title definitely makes me think of Fantastic Beasts as well, so thanks for the head’s up about that.
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Thanks! Haha glad I could warn ya, it definitely doesn’t have a Fantastic Beasts vibe when you actually read it!
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Expectations can really ruin the mood sometimes. I hadn’t heard of this one but it looks interesting. I have to be in the right mood for magical realism though. Thanks for the review!
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They really can! I usually try to go in with no or low expectations, but sometimes I just can’t help it!
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Oh no, you’re definitely not the only one — count me in as one of those who have experienced that, especially in regard to thrillers — that are labelled as such to appeal to people, but don’t have enough of a thriller aspect to count as one. I think I like the third cover best of all, though they all do look maigcal!
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