Review: Raising Hell

Raising Hell by Bryony Pearce
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I will be honest and say that Raising Hell was a book that left me conflicted. The fact it was such a quick and easy read had a part of me wanting to give this a three-star rating. At the same time, it was too quick and easy for me to give it such a rating. Therefore, while this one did have some interesting elements, it was not quite enough to win me over.

I think the main reason why I did not love this, why I felt it was too quick and easy, was because there was no real depth to the worldbuilding. We had an explanation that linked to the story, yet there were lots of bigger picture details that were never explained in full. I wanted those details, wanted to see how they really played into things, yet there were always over and done with too quickly. I think part of this comes down to the fact that this story was so fast paced. It focused upon the action, which was great, but it meant the other important aspects were somewhat lacking. With more focus on these details – to create a bigger picture, to make the emotions of the characters more believable – it would have been great to explore some of the details at a slower pace, with the story spread out over a longer time.

All in all, this had potential, I enjoyed some aspects of it, but it didn’t quite deliver.

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