There was a good idea hiding in this book, but it somehow missed the page. While I understand where the exciting points should be in this mysterious, slightly gothic novel, the anti-climactic way everything gets presented muted the entire story. I say all this upfront because I'm not sure you should even keep reading this review. This was not a book for me.
Catherine House is almost like an abstract painting. You can kind of feel what's going on, but nothing is drawn in a way that hits you over the head. I typically read mysterious stories to feel a 'wow' at some point. It's a, "wow, I didn't see that coming" or, "wow, I can't believe that actually happened." There were no 'wow's' here. Even the 'a-ha moments, as characters discover certain truths in the story, felt lackadaisical.
It's even hard for me to summarize this story because so much about it bugs me, or falls short. Of course, I'll do it anyway, to a certain extent, this is a book review after all....
Catherine House is a college you go to for free if you get in. The only caveat is you can't make any contact with the outside world the entire time you're enrolled. You don't leave, there's no television, you're completely isolated. The admissions committee (if there is one) seems to target a certain type of student. They're all lost souls, I think, who aren't leaving behind anyone they have strong ties with, even if that includes their families. Why kids want to go here is never really made clear.
The school is also associated with a controversial area of science known as plasm. This isn't the study of a physical substance, like the name alludes to, but rather a force that somehow connects things and allows energy to be shared. In the past, the science was presented and shunned, so it's odd the school is still pursuing it without any type of review from the outside. Oh, and they're also experimenting on the students.
Then, there's The Tower, the location for near-torture punishment that nobody seems to have a problem with. Even when a student dies while there, we're all "cool" with it.
Everything about this book feels odd and not fully flushed out. The end lacks a much-needed sense of immediacy and sense. Through it all, the school seems to come away unscathed, as much by the outside world as the students who are suffering within its walls. It just doesn't feel entirely plausible. Even the student with the greatest internal conflict can't break fully away. It should feel scary, but it didn't.
It's okay to skip this one in my opinion. It's missing something, or a lot of things, to establish that emotional connection you want to feel when reading a story. At the very least, you want to feel some way about the characters, or the plot. I didn't.
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