November Fox, #1. Following Joy - A Metaphysical Visionary Fable Review

**Thank you to the author and Netgalley for sending me an ARC in return for an honest review. 3 stars!!! This book is really hard for me to rate to be honest with you. Although, the concept is highly original, I found the execution to be rather confusing and heavy at times. Maybe I wasn't the targeted audience for this book. Don't get me wrong, I love philosophical books that pose the big questions in life. But somehow I feel that for a fictional piece of writing, complexity in subject matter can tend to make a book rather dry even though the lessons being taught within the pages are actually worth reading about. For me, I felt the MC November was rather childish to be honest. Her dialogue was very stilted and lacked conviction. I loved the adventures that the author draws out for her. The way the story was interconnected was beautiful. But November came across as very one dimensional. I didn't enjoy her character at all. As the book is based on three specific characters and told from their POVs. I found the Architect to be the best character of all. He is a philosophical being but is quite the rebel. I found him to be particularly witty and I liked how he really cares for November. The MC Erica, on the other hand, has lost her best friend in a car crash and most of her parts are written as notes as she is reading about November. However, even though the author draws correlations between all three MCs. I didn't get to know Erica at all. Like who is she. I guess this book was not very character driven but I suppose that was not the intention of the author. With regards to the minor characters, Klaus would have to be the best. I found him to very engaging yet highly bizarre. But his parts were the most fun while Rebmevon was the creepiest. I found those parts to be quite terrifying but I felt it rather lent balance to the book. As it tried to portray various aspects of life. So that was pretty interesting. Overall, I would say that this book would probably engage a particular audience. It's quite heavy on subject matter. I wish the author had simplified stuff because the core idea of the book is amazing once you get it. I wouldn't suggest this as a YA novel though it can be read by teens. It's a purely clean read. It's just that there's a lot of info-dumping. Other than that, it was a different kind of read for me.

#scifi #fantasy #EEBertram