Circle of Stones - Suzanne Alyssa Andrew

This book is in many ways a circle of stones. It pulls of an incredibly interesting - but sometimes confusing - way of telling the story and makes it work better than I expected it to.

 

Every chapter is told from another POV of someone who's in one way or another related to the last person. This gives insights in many lives while still telling the bigger picture of Nik, a young artist, who's travelling all around Canada to find his girlfriend Jennifer, a dancer. For a long time it was unknown what happened, did Jennifer leave Nik, or did something happen to her. As it was no longer Nik's perspective we're following, it was impossible to know just how much he knew about it. 

 

Normally, I'm not known for liking multiple POVs. It's one of the tropes I've seen a time too many in YA. This was however something else and it felt like it was done really well. More importantly so, I enjoyed it. Every character struggles also with his/her own problems (instead of focussing only on the main story as I've seen in this kind of setting before). It was almost a shame when a chapter would end as it meant this character's life would be left and certain things would never become clear.

 

Nik's and Jennifer's story in total, was less impressive. It remained unclear for a long time, perhaps because the side stories were offering so many distractions. I did like the style though and would pick up her next book.

 

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!