Critical Eleven by Ika NatassaRating:
/5
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Read it in a day. Might be a record for me, but it's only because I was curious whether their relationship would end up on the dark side or not. The ending turned out to be okay, though I have to admit that I felt like punching someone on the face reading how the FC behaves throughout their problem. I'm still not okay with the way she treats the issue between them. It's like watching five years old getting scolded for the first time in her life. I did try to understand her circumstance; imagining what it feels like to be on her shoes, but even a clearly immature girl like me knows that in love, there's nothing worse than shutting yourself down to your partner when the bumps coming on the way. The MC is super patient; he really deserves a medallion for putting up with a wom- girl like that.
Talking about the writing, I appreciate the effort the author put to write the story in alternating POV. The voice of Ale and Anya could be differentiated clearly. What I did not like is, first, how the author seems to love changing timeline during narration. One second we read about Anya describing her surroundings on the plane, next paragraph we could find a dialogue between her and Ale, only to find out that Anya is actually alone on the plane with Ale is memories away from her. There's no clear slates that differ each scene, whether it's a memory or present events. The transition was done roughly and it's so confusing all the time (it was like that in ALMOST every narration). Second, I have a big issue with the language the author used in this book. I read this book in Bahasa and as much as I love reading books in English, it always annoys me when an author keeps slipping English sentences in between the scenes. I understand that sometimes an author needs to highlight some parts to deepen the message being relayed there by using foreign language. But when it's overdone to the point when even describing the crowd in a restaurant is written in foreign language, it became more annoying than poetic. If it's not for my sister who kept nagging at me to finish the book (because she loved it, that she even cried), I doubted I'd continue reading the book with this second issue I have with the writing.
Despite it all, I liked the dynamic of the romance between Ale and Anya here. How two strangers who met by coincidence would later create such strong romance (though it was a bit spoiled by Anya's unbelievable personality). Also, Ale's tight relationship with his siblings is really something to envy. And oh, the little trivia about Critical Eleven term makes a great point to start a story. It's just so unfortunate that it's not being elaborated further except on the beginning scene of Ale and Anya's first encounter. I was hoping that since it's the title and it's also being highlighted on the blurb, that it'd somehow become an analogy to the whole story. But it's not.
In the end, I have to settle down with three stars for this one. It's all for Ale, though.
Love, read, and review,
Cynthia D.
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