Book Review: Chime

TITLE: Chime
AUTHOR: Franny Billingsley
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, drama, fantasy
PREMISE: Briony is convinced that she is a dangerous witch who ought to be hanged. Don't believe her? Here's her story.
MY REVIEW: I'm honestly not sure how to go about reviewing this. Because here's the thing. Chime is a very good book writing wise. The characters are well fleshed out, the world is unique, the prose are lovely. The thing is...I can't highly reccomend it because I know that this is one of those books people will either love or hate. It won't appeal to everyone and honestly even I wasn't that crazy about it but I did see that it was a good book, it just didn't appeal to my taste.
The main issue is that the narration and way of speaking in this book is odd and slightly frusterating to me. I know in my head that the author did this for a reason and I respect that but it was still frusterating because I spent much time trying to figure out what was being said instead of enjoying the story. It was like being back in English class and trying to decipher Shakespeare. Another frusteration was lack of details. I am STILL trying to figure out what time period this book takes place in cause I honestly have no clue. I know it's not modern times but it's not in the witch hunting era like I'd originally thought because Sherlock Holmes is mentioned. I'm sorry, I like knowing stuff like this, it helps me get a better feel for a book. Then there's the fact that it was honestly just boring a lot of times. I found myself starting to skim through it a lot. When that happens it means I'm bored with your book and want it finished.
So is it horrible? No. Like I said, it's very well written and parts were definitely interesting however, I can't highly rec it because I know there will be a lot of people who won't like this and be mad that I raved about it. Plus like I said, it was a tad boring at times. So in short it's good book but it's not for everyone.
WHO SHOULD READ: those not afraid of quirky books
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five