Reviews

DNF: Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor

Title: Into the Dim
Author: Janet B. Taylor
SeriesInto the Dim #1
Publisher: HMH Books For Young Readers
Publication Date: March 1, 2016
Pages: 432
Format/Source: eARC/From Publisher, via NetGalley 
Age Group/Genre: Young Adult/Science Fiction

When fragile, sixteen-year-old Hope Walton loses her mom to an earthquake overseas, her secluded world crumbles. Agreeing to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic, but also a member of a secret society of time travelers. Trapped in the twelfth century in the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hope has seventy-two hours to rescue her mother and get back to their own time. Along the way, her path collides with that of a mysterious boy who could be vital to her mission . . . or the key to Hope’s undoing. Addictive, romantic, and rich with historical detail, Into the Dim is an Outlander for teens. (Cover and synopsis from Goodreads.)


Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish Into the Dim. I was really hoping to fall in love with it, and hoping that it would be a really cool time travel book that would remind me of Doctor Who. But that didn’t happen.


Certain aspects of Into the Dim reminded me of Ghost House and Compulsion, two other books that I DNFed. The writing was angsty, the main character was a brat who was forced to move RIGHT AWAY and who, when snooping in her aunt’s house, found something she didn’t understand and DEMANDED an explanation RIGHT AWAY. Her aunt was exhausted, and needed sleep, but NO. Hope HAS TO KNOW.


I didn’t like Hope, and I really didn’t like any of the other characters, with the exception of Mac, Moira, and Phoebe (but Phoebe was a bit too much like Alice from Twilight for me). I could also smell a love triangle from a mile away and it didn’t seem like a realistic one. Both possible love interests were annoying; one seemed super conceited and the other one was a total jerk.


I just really didn’t like the writing or the characters, and the plot seemed super forced and very cliched. I got to 25% (my usual DNF stopping point) and just couldn’t take it anymore. This was around 100 pages and Hope had just then been told about the time traveling, and that they were going to go back in time to find her mother. I understand that Hope as a character didn’t know what was going on, so she had to be told what was happening, but since readers already know all of this from the synopsis, it should have happened a lot quicker. And there were all these “reveals” that weren’t really reveals because, again, the readers already knew from the synopsis.


It really was a shame, though, because I thought the story sounded really interesting and I wanted to love it. I just wasn’t grabbed into the story and I had a lot of problems with the story which just made me not interested to go any further.

Disclaimer:  I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review. I was not compensated in any other way for this review.

5 Comments

  1. Kate Midnight Book Girl

    February 25, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    Sorry this one didn't work for you. I like the idea of time travel books, but I rarely find ones that pull it off successfully. This one sounds a bit like the author had a good idea and plot, but failed in the character department (so not into to teens demanding answers like they're Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men).

  2. Micheline D

    February 25, 2016 at 6:06 pm

    This was one of the new releases I was most excited about…until the reviews started flowing in. You are SO not the only one here – I've seen a few DNFs and some really, really terrible reviews for it so don't feel bad for not liking it OR for DNFing it…looks like you made the right call. It's a shame though, from the blurb it had so much potential!

  3. Greg

    February 26, 2016 at 2:49 am

    Sorry to hear this one didn't work out- I've seen reviews all over too so yeah. I was going to read this one and may still, but I'm a little leery- it sounds like it takes forever to get going, and I'm not super fond of bratty MC's either. :)

  4. Anissa Musquiz

    February 26, 2016 at 6:59 pm

    This book really does sound interesting and it's always a bummer when a book has a spoiler-filled synopsis. It's never fun to go into a super interesting story and realize you already know what's going on because of the information on the back.
    I also wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the Book Fangirling Blog Award if you're interested in taking on the tag! I'm not sure if you do tags so I understand if you choose not to do this one!
    http://thebookwormcentral.blogspot.com/2016/02/book-fangirling-blog-award.html

  5. Sierra Davenport

    February 27, 2016 at 5:27 am

    I'm so sad because I'm seeing a lot of DNFs on this book, but I loved it! I admit, I did find the beginning slow, but things picked up a lot once they started time traveling. And it may not make much difference to you now that you've DNFed, but it ended up not being a love triangle at all in any way, so that was pleasant. I actually was really surprised by just how deep the romance ended up getting, it was pretty good. Sorry you didn't enjoy it. :(

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