Book synopsis from Goodreads:

Getting sold to the empire was never part of the plan.

Ember lives two very different lives. By day she’s a mysterious Roma future-teller, and by night she struggles to care for her sick father. All she wants is the power to control her own life–no arranged marriage, no more poverty. Her future-reading talent is what will get her there.

But when the Empire discovers her gift, Ember’s life changes forever.

Ember soon finds her innocent talent is far more dangerous than she believed. The Empire wants to turn her into a deadly weapon. But Ember has plans of her own, and they don’t include living under the Empire’s control.

Because even the best weapons can backfire.

DNF at 68% or Chapter 22

It’s difficult to not finish a book; but the fact is I have a massive pile of books on my TBR list and only one life to live and read them all, so some are inevitably going to end up on the chopping block.
That being said, I’d like to share a few reasons for why I stopped reading, and I’m adopting a quick Q&A borrowed from WordPress blogger Niki at “The Obsessive Bookseller” https://nikihawkes.com/ who also borrowed it from Nikki at “There Were Books Involved”, with permissions.

Did you really give “Flicker” a chance?

Yes, I wasn’t enjoying the book when I started it last summer (2022) and put it down for a bit. Made it to the 68% mark.

Have you enjoyed other books in the same genre?

Sci-fi, space adventures, heroines with cool powers? Yes!

Did you have certain expectations before starting it?

I thought I was in for a Veronica Roth “Divergent” type read but set in space instead.

What ultimately made you stop reading?

Fed up! I can’t keep reading this book. It feels like a chore.

First of all the book’s synopsis talked about a girl living 2 lives. I really wanted more of that fortune-telling part, but we get treated to one small scene at the start of the book before main character Ember gets captured and then immediately drafted in the big bad government’s program of mind reading/manipulation. Does she handle this well? No. Of course not. You’d think she’d try everything in her power to escape and get back to her father, right? NO. Instead we get the trope of “girl from no-where, basically a peasant falls for the hottest star boy in class whom all the other girls in class are in love with too”. And star boy ignores all other girls and falls in love with peasant girl back. Cue jealous classmates and awkward “oh star boy, why do you like me? I’m nobody. I’m so surprised” romance scenes. Ugh. Why?

Is there anything you liked about “Flicker”?

The beginning. I liked the fortune-telling tent! Maybe I should just go find a fortune-telling book instead.

So you DNFed the book. Would you still recommend it?

I wouldn’t recommend this unless you want a quick, mellow girl-bumbling-around-in-space read.

Thanks for listening!

Rlygirl

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