Oh, boy. Where should I even begin with this one? This book has in many ways been both the source of my sanity as well as the reason for my anxiety. It all started back in January of this year (2017) when the New Year's resolutions were still fresh in my mind. So to keep my promise to read more, I was in a bookstore, the closest place to heaven on earth, well, it and a library, when a book with a very interesting cover caught my eye. That book, as you can see from the title was Asylum by Madeleine Roux. I picked it up, looked it over and put it right back where I got it from.
The cover and the description intrigued me, sure, but from the sound of it, it was far from the genre that I usually read. However, no matter how much I tried to find another suitable book for me to pick up, my thoughts returned to the Asylum. Now that I have written those words down, I realize how odd they sound out of context...point is, I ended up buying the book. When I took it home and did some research, I was perhaps more than a bit discouraged by this book's rating on Goodreads. No, seriously, a lot of the comments were brutal and that's putting it nicely. But since I already owned the book, it was too late to backtrack and I must admit, it turned out to be a pleasant distraction from my exam preparations.
The actual review
When I saw this book I assumed it to be a suspenseful thriller, a horror for young adults. No, but really, look at the cover! Wouldn't have you thought the same? I quickly realized that those assumptions were quite wrong, in fact, this came off as an urban exploration story with a sprinkle of mystery. This is actually the reason a lot of other readers gave such poor reviews. It felt like false advertising because the first impression did not meet expectations. On Goodreads, Asylum is under the fiction and fantasy categories, wich is an aspect most of us overlooked but that is not the author's fault.
When it came to the storyline, I personally thought that it didn't live up to its full potential. It held so much promise from the beginning but somehow lost itself along the way nonetheless the overall concept was great, I personally absolutely loved it. However, there was this point in time, while reading chapter 3 or 4 when I realized that we as readers were introduced to the stories antagonist and this was so obvious, at least to me, that I thought it was impossible, way too obvious to be true. Strangest of all, the story seemed to realize this as well, as it spent the rest of its duration trying to point at every other character to convince me that my assumptions, in the beginning, were incorrect. Just when I was nearly convinced that my hunch was barking at the wrong tree, the suspect in question turned out to be the antagonist all along.
Speaking of antagonists, it was never made clear, at least to me, whether the influence to the story was of human or supernatural origin. There were signs that pointed to both, it was in fact so self-contradictory that my confusion is still present. Now I know that Asylum is not a standalone novel, it is in fact, a series and perhaps that is why this aspect of the story was so poorly explained. I personally believe that an explanation would have added to the story rather than taken away from it, but that's just a personal preference.
One other notable thing about Asylum is the shortness of its chapters. When I say the chapters were short, I mean single digit in page count. While I found it to be oddly convenient, as at the time I did not have much time to read, it also made it feel like a collection of shorts with a common theme rather than a fluid story.
Lastly, I would like to mention the illustrations, which presence added so much to the story. They were marvelous. The team behind them did a wonderful job. If I was to wear a top-hat, I would tip it in their honor.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the story. It might be hard to tell from my review, but that is truly the case. It was a pleasant read, and even though I didn't find it to be particularly memorable or outstanding, it was still enjoyable. It managed to distract me from the stress of exams and that counts for something. I gave it 3/5 stars.
So tell me, have you ever read a book just because of its cover? If so, how did it work out for you?
As always, thank you for reading.
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