I’m a generous sweet review fairy for giving this two stars. Why on gods green earth did this book have 50 characters with similar names?! (Cunningham, Collins, Christopher, Coleridge, Daniel, Donald Davies, dickie, derby I COULD GO ON). I could not for the life of me keep track of anyone, not even the people the main character was body-hopping into. There are so many plot holes I don’t even know where to start. And so many convenient solutions when things get tough. Oh, are we trapped? Good thing our main character did something off-page to save the day that’s not revealed to the reader until the last moment (even though the book is literally a minute by minute progression through 8 days)! You can tell this thing went through a bazillion drafts and edits. Clues are revealed at the wrong times, reveals are alluded to without context, little plot points are stuffed in to make it work. I’m tired. Thank god that’s over.

This book was BRILLIANT. I truly cannot fathom how this story could have even been concocted with how many insane layers there are. Every twist landed exactly as it should, no amount of guesswork or suspicions (even when correct) could spoil the ending, and it all still fit perfectly in place together when considering it retroactively. I'm truly in awe of how well it was written too, as the book went on I could feel every bit of madness and desperation building alongside our protagonist as I also tried to piece everything together. To so effectively handle the different characters and time changes on top of the mystery and a bit of magic without relying on a heavy dose of deus ex machina...a standing ovation to Turton. This book requires an intense level of attention because of how complicated it all is, but if you really want something that'll make you think (and if you have many hours to dedicate at the cost of all other responsibilities once you get hooked) I legitimately cannot think of another book I would recommend more.

I found this book to be crazy confusing! Yes, it was "atmospheric and ingeniously plotted" but it was also a grind for me to get through.

I think if I'd had a physical book instead of an audio version I may have suffered less, because I would have referred to the "cast list" at the start to remember who characters were, and I could have flipped back to previous scenes with the plague doctor to remember what earlier conversations were. As it was I just had to keep pushing forward, usually befuddled, weary, and struggling.


Things I liked:
- a number of turns of phrase caught my attention and added to the atmosphere, very evocative descriptions
- I liked that for the most part we trusted Anna and that she was a constant.
- All the hosts ended up having a moment/part in figuring stuff out.

Things I didn't like:
- this book took too long to get to the 'revealing' parts. I mean that when you first start reading there is an acceptable length of time before the reader is clued into basic rules or facts of the world/situation. If the section that is the 'hook' to catch your attention goes on for too long before it's time for some explanation, I start to become frustrated and lose interest. For me personally, I was enjoying Bell at the start, and willing to go along with the program despite missing memories because presumably those would come along. But soon I was drowning in questions (as was Aiden) and it felt like answers really weren't happening until we first meet Daniel, which is quite a ways into the book! Plus, every thing Aiden thinks he figures out raises another batch of questions.
- I'd say a classical mystery format is that the reader is given clues along the way (and maybe doesn't even realize they're clues) but the best mysteries I've read have allowed me to make guesses and be on the same team as the main detective character, maybe sometimes even being one step ahead of that main character. But in this book, Aiden is completely lost and bumbling his way through, and the "clues" just make things worse! The very first thing I'd have done in his position is try to get all my hosts together, to pool as much info as possible, and steal the sketchbook of answers from Anna if she wouldn't hand it over! Aiden spends so much of his time hoping that his future selves will be plotting and planning and be so much further ahead than he is, yet it felt like he barely got started with Ravencourt and then didn't make any progress or do much proper 'investigating' until Brashton! Very frustrating.
- I still have so many questions about this world! Are Aiden and Anna still alive? I was getting the impression early on that their souls were sort of in this purgatory afterlife, but then by the end it seemed like they were really alive and now on the lam? The government or something has the abilities to remove people's memories and put people's "souls" into other hosts all in some huge time-hole prison experiments?? This whole layer seemed stupid to me and the roles of the plague doctor and the silver tear version were more confusing than the plot.