DNFing Heartless

Because I have said that I will try and be as honest as I can about (and it's important to be honest with each other, dear reader, in my opinion). Sometimes, no matter how much we want to "click" with a story, for one reason or another, you just don't.

And sadly, Heartless is one of them. I think I know why, but let's talk about the book first before I explain my thinking.

We all know the story of Alice in Wonderland. But do we know the story about the Queen of Hearts? Before she became Queen, Cath just wanted to be the best baker in Hearts. She just wanted to fall in love.

The King Of Hearts wants to marry her, much to Cath's horror, and when she meets the new court jester, Jest, Cath feels a pull towards him. She wants to have control over her own life, her own destiny. But in Wonderland, where magic, monsters and madness go hand in hand, fate has other plans...

This type of book, I should be all over! I always seem to like Alice in Wonderland reimaginings/retellings and go towards them, and I have been excited to read this since I first heard of it a few years ago.

But why am I DNFing this? At 50 percent (yes, half way!)?

I have a mix of reasons. I think I might be in a bit of a reading slump since reading Garth Nix's Goldenhand and because of this, I am a bit harsh on my reading. And I did try to read several other stories before I started Heartless and seeing as I made it to 50%, I'm not entirely certain if this is the full reason.

I think I have two problems: the pacing and the characters. From what I have read, the majority of the story is quite slow in pace. I don't mind a slower paced story, but there were times I really struggled with the pacing. When it got going, I flew through those pages, but then it's slowed and I struggled to keep my reading pace going.

My problem with the characters is that they felt flat at times and, because of this, I didn't connect with them. If they were a little fleshed out, I think I would be on board with them. But they felt flat and, because of this, I didn't related.

I am saying this now that this isn't a review. I am not reviewing Heartless. I'm stating why I decided to stop reading this now (even though I'm currently meant to be in an adult literature reading month). I would like to return to read this once I feel more out of my reading slump and maybe closer to UK publication date.