SOME FARAWAY PLACE | Lauren Shippen

I had a lot of trouble getting into this book.

I have long been a fan of Lauren Shippen’s podcast series, The Bright Sessions, so when the opportunity arose to get an ARC of one of her books, set in the same universe, I jumped at the chance.

The book has all the hallmarks of Shippen’s previous work – it’s creative, inclusive, exciting, and dangerous. I have a fondness for the characters she creates that I can’t explain – I just find them all so endearing.

So, I fully went into this book expecting to be absolutely whisked away by the story, to once again immerse myself in the stories of Atypicals.

Sadly, that didn’t happen.

There are no flaws in the story itself. Nineteen year old Rose grew up in a family of Atypicals. Even her brother, who took longer than usual to get his ability, is Atypical.

Rose, however, is not.

She’s been waiting and waiting and waiting for an ability to manifest, to no avail. Until she develops what the doctors call narcolepsy, and what her parents say is the early signs of her ability – she can enter and alter the dreams of others.

Honestly, this book has all the hallmarks of something I would, under most circumstances, ravenously devour in like, three hours. Rose is chubby and gay and doesn’t fit in. She’s awkward around pretty girls and struggles with balancing the life she wants to live with her family’s expectations. I was so prepared to be obsessed with this story. Unfortunately, I fear the writing style is what let it down.

The book is told through a series of journal entries, blog posts, and entries on a Reddit-style website, through the point of view of several of the characters in the story. This is an interesting and creative way to tell a story – especially when most of the characters are young and #online – but it just took me out of the story. Rose’s journal entries were particularly difficult to get through; they were unpolished in a way that I’m not entirely sure was deliberate.

I did enjoy the romance aspect of the story (obviously), and the precarious balance Rose tries to find between having a normal girlfriend while concealing a very abnormal ability was compelling. That said, even the sweet romance wasn’t enough to stop the format of the book from grating on my nerves.

I am fully convinced that if I had read this book a decade ago when I was also nineteen, I would have loved it, and been so enchanted with the journal format for telling a story, but unfortunately I found it a slog to get through. If your thing is epistolary tales, though, this will absolutely be your cup of tea.

Despite my feelings about this particular book, I still love Shippen’s work, and will definitely be keen on future Bright Sessions-based offerings from her. Some Faraway Place just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Tor Books for providing me with this ARC.