Finally finished that dense 900-page fantasy book our club picked

I debated swapping to audiobook halfway through so I could keep up with the discussion, but I stuck with paper and finished it last night. The twist at page 782 totally changed how I felt about the whole thing. Has anyone else had a book club read flip your opinion that late in the story?

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emmap163mo ago

Actually waiting 782 pages for a twist is bad storytelling more than anything... a good book shouldn't need that long to make its point. That just sounds like the author padded it out with filler and then tried to save the ending at the last minute. Maybe the club would have been better off discussing a book that earned its big moment earlier instead of making everyone wade through hundreds of pages first.

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mark6113mo ago

782 pages is a lot to ask for one payoff, @emmap16. I get where you're coming from, but some stories need that slow burn to make the twist hit harder. Not every book has to be a rollercoaster from page one. Sometimes the setup is part of the experience, even if it feels like filler in the moment. I read a thriller once that didn't reveal anything until chapter 30, and it stuck with me way more than a quick shock. But yeah, if the middle felt like a chore, I can see why you'd call it bad storytelling.

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