Review: Sundial

Sundial by Catriona Ward
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.
This was my first book by Catriona Ward, and I was very excited to read it, because I'd heard such good things about The Last House on Needless Street. But this book was just not for me. I really tried, but by about half-way through I was having to force myself to pick it up and read it, and was just not engaged with the stories or with the characters. I don't know if it was because the storyline itself felt very disjointed, with what was happening in the present with Rob and Callie, what happened in the past in the desert commune/mad scientist lab, or the strange story that Rob was writing. Each of those felt like a completely different story with a completely different tone. But the reason might have also been because I found it hard to connect with the characters. Just when I thought I had Rob figured out she would go and do something completely bizarre. The same with Callie. And then just when I thought I had those two figured out we'd jump back in time to read more about unsettling experiments on dogs. Sometimes in books you can feel like you are not sure what will happen next, or how everything is connected, but the author is able to keep you interested enough that you don't mind and really want to keep reading so you can uncover all the mystery and unlock all the secrets. In this case everything was just too bizarre, jarring, and disjointed for me to find myself caring about what would happen next.
From what I have seen of other reviews, most people either love this book or hate it. I can tell you that I did not love it, and I would not recommend it (especially if you are a dog person).

View all my reviews