My smiley, giggly photo may have you believe I enjoyed my time reading this book. This face to the left is lying to you. This is a classic case of a book with a mind-blowing premise, but the execution meant that I couldn't even finish this book - so I'll keep this brief!
Set in a dystopian future where the world stops spinning, one half of the planet is stuck in freezing darkness, and the other is stuck in constant sun and heat. Only a small number of places are still habitable.
In an isolationist Britain, scientist Ellen Hopper receives a letter from a dying man, containing a dangerous secret.
Doesn't that synopsis sound like it'll be a whirlwind? There was so much potential here for a fantastic dystopian. This was my October book from Books with a Conscience, and I feel that I brought this on myself in some ways, as this is the first time that I requested a book that wasn't recommended to me by the service. This is the punishment I get; a book that was so dull that it put me off of reading for a full 5 days. I am now behind on my monthly reading. We can blame this book.
The main character, Ellen, was irritating. She complained consistently and was always negative. I don't have to like the protagonist, but there was no enjoyment in reading from her perspective. I was never rooting for her or her cause, so I had no investment in the progression of the storyline.
There was the occasional inclusion of what the slow of the earth's spinning had resulted in: parts of the world being inhabitable, immigration and which countries thrived and which couldn't survive. Good news: Britain is in a very desirable location when the world stops. These inclusions were what I was expecting more of when I heard about this book. It was sprinkled in there, but the main part of the book (the half that I read, anyway) was a very dull storyline. I will never know what happens, but given how little enjoyment I got from the first 200 pages, I don't really care to find out.
Initial Prediction: 4 stars
Final Rating: 1.5 stars
Publication Date: 6 February 2020
Publisher: Hutchinson
Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia
# of Pages: 416
Don’t bother...unless you need something to send you to sleep
Oh yikes! I think I'll pass on this one. 😅