I just finished reading this book and had the exact same thought. It felt like I didn't get any proper answers to all the mystery in the first part of the book. It has left me a little dissatisfied.AlexisLib wrote: ↑19 Jul 2020, 20:03 I didn't notice this while reading, I think because I was swept up in the expedition in the second half, so while thinking back on it now I realize that there were a lot of things in the first part that were never answered.
I kept thinking that there was something more sinister about the expedition behind it on the part of Boris. He was acting mysteriously all along, as were Irina and Yuri. Fake hotel maids going into Grant's room, the thief in his uncle's apartment, having to kill Godunov (if it was just for the journal, they could have just stolen it). Even Randall's journal didn't really give that many clues (the only one I could think of was the wolves coming back for their dead).
Yet this was just dropped in the second part. I get that it was maybe to make it unclear whether Irina was good or bad, but there needed to be some kind of resolution of whatever the author intended with all this. At one point I thought it was to make money from all the plants etc. and kill all the people who knew about it (all the people on the expedition) but we never find out what was supposed to come from all that. It seems like a pretty big flaw.
What do you think?
Holes in the plot re: sinister aspects
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Re: Holes in the plot re: sinister aspects
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Exactly! It felt like the 1st part of the book had nothing to do with the 3rd one. There were so many unanswered questions like Boris's involvement. I know he wanted Randall's journal, but to kill someone to do it feels a bit extreme if all he was worried about was Grant finding out about the expedition. There was so much of mystery in the beginning and everyone was a suspect, but in the end the author just dismissed it off like it was nothing.t_mann23 wrote: ↑24 Jun 2021, 13:46 I didn't really think about that until you mentioned it, but I do agree. It seemed like there was such a complex web of secrets at the beginning of the novel that just fell away once the expedition began. The focus seemed to shift on the strange effects of Zona and the fight for survival. Again, when most of the crew decided to stay in Zona at the end, it seemed like all their commitments back in the "real" world were insignificant and forgettable, despite any people they may have left behind. One of the big rules about writing is to create tension as much as possible, but only when it makes sense. It seemed like this book created tension at the beginning just to draw readers in, and then left it all without resolution.
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I do agree totally with this we never find out exactly what role Boris played in all this. We are left only with Grant's suspicion on the murder of Godunov. I do believe and I hope I am right that this leaves space for a second novel?AlexisLib wrote: ↑19 Jul 2020, 20:03 I didn't notice this while reading, I think because I was swept up in the expedition in the second half, so while thinking back on it now I realize that there were a lot of things in the first part that were never answered.
I kept thinking that there was something more sinister about the expedition behind it on the part of Boris. He was acting mysteriously all along, as were Irina and Yuri. Fake hotel maids going into Grant's room, the thief in his uncle's apartment, having to kill Godunov (if it was just for the journal, they could have just stolen it). Even Randall's journal didn't really give that many clues (the only one I could think of was the wolves coming back for their dead).
Yet this was just dropped in the second part. I get that it was maybe to make it unclear whether Irina was good or bad, but there needed to be some kind of resolution of whatever the author intended with all this. At one point I thought it was to make money from all the plants etc. and kill all the people who knew about it (all the people on the expedition) but we never find out what was supposed to come from all that. It seems like a pretty big flaw.
What do you think?
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In my opinion, Grant should have read everything in the diary so as to know what he is up against. In a real world scenario, it would have been a very foolish endeavor on his part not to read everything first. I guess it is part of the suspense building technique of the author.Andrada Madalina wrote: ↑17 Nov 2022, 16:52 I agree with all the mentioned holes in the plot. I would have liked to discover the hidden reason for the first expedition, and I doubted each character while reading the book. I didn't understand why Oleg's death was necessary and why Grant didn't investigate it. Also, I didn't understand why Grant didn't read all of his uncle's diary sooner to get more information about his suicide mission.
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One thing that really bothered me was the thief that came to steal only God knows what from Randall's apartment. I kept wondering who sent him
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