Statuesque by Ada Rossi
Genre: General Fiction
2 Stars
One Liner: Wasted potential
Hannah joins Emily’s troupe as a statuesque in an attempt to climb the social ladder and achieve her dreams. Emily guarantees a perfect match for her troupe members, which leads Hannah into dark waters. Emily’s socialite status gives Hannah a luxurious life. But what does it cost her? Can she have a life of her own and get what she wants?
The story comes from a limited third-person POV of Hannah.
What I Like:
It’s rare for books to have a lead character that makes a living as a live statue. The scenes where Hannah describes her preparation and process to play her role (rather, not ‘play’) were the best part of the book.
The narration gains pace over time, though it doesn’t help much by then. Freddie is adorable, and Xe does what he was meant to do (it does feel like an overused trope, but it still works).
Hannah’s POV makes her sound like an immature girl with her head in the clouds. Since I think that’s what the author was aiming for, this point stays here. If it’s not, I’ll have to move it to the next section.
What Didn’t Work for Me:
The foreshadowing was too much. I still don’t see the need for it, and as much as I like the concept, I don’t want to be hit in the face with a brick in every chapter.
Emily was the farthest thing from a 'subtle' manipulator. She was blatantly obvious. Hannah’s lack of common sense cannot be portrayed as Emily’s success at manipulating her.
I knew what would happen (a certain gruesome incident) halfway through the book. It was so obvious that I only had to wait for the climax to arrive.
The excessive foreshadowing made me imagine a dark story and increased my expectations. What I got was a watered-down version with the supposedly important character having almost no role to play.
I was looking for something intense (not to be confused with ‘hyper’, which is what I got at the end), given the introduction and the first chapter, but man, that was the most disappointing part of the book. Why create a character so magnetic when they don’t have a solid role in the story?
The other twist was super easy to guess. All thanks to excessive clues and foreshadowing again. This concept doesn’t work for all plots and overdoing it will ruin the story for the reader.
The ending was (a little too) easy, but I was glad that the book would be over when I saw the remaining page count. There weren’t enough to continue the drama.
To summarize, Statuesque as a plot had great potential, but much of it was wasted (unless the book was never meant to be dark, in which case, the foreshadowing and hints of sensuality were misleading the reader).
Thank you, NetGalley and Butterdragons Publishing, for the eARC.
#NetGalley #Stauesque
*****
P.S: I read The Condemned Oak Tree by the author and loved it. This one could have been so much better but ended up diluted.
**
P.P.S: I read my friend’s review after writing mine and saw that the book is a retelling of a classic. Since I had to ask her about it, my review stays the same. And did I say that cover is bad?
**
TW: Animal cruelty and murder
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