It's engaging because Ethan's situation is genuinely frightening. Everyone is friendly but they all seem reluctant to help him make contact with anyone outside the town. He awakes in a hospital without his personal belongings and with no way to contact his boss or family.

Special Agent Ethan Burke is involved in an accident on his way into Wayward Pines, Idaho - a place where two missing agents were last supposed to be. Perhaps I wouldn't have picked up on it if I hadn't already seen a diverse cast in the show, but it was like coming to a lesser, whitewashed version of the story I've come to love. And the pearly-whiteness of the cast of characters practically glows from the pages. It's impossible not to notice how every woman becomes hot or 'cute'. Pines is built on a fantastic idea - no, really, a truly epic idea - and that strength just about manages to carry the book despite some poor writing, an asshole protagonist, and an exceptional lack of diversity that, given the situation, has even more troubling implications than usual.Ĭoming into this book after watching the show definitely affects how you view it. Yes, I know the 'reveal' has been spoiled, but that really wasn't my problem with it. The strengthening sense that something was very, very wrong.Īs with The Magicians, I have to confess I like the TV series Wayward Pines far better than the book. And the base emotion underlying it all that was getting harder and harder to ignore.

Recursion book review