Review of 'I Will Leave You Never'

In the middle of a perilous drought in the Northwest, an arsonist begins setting fires all around. It gives Zoe Penney nightmares about her home—seated right next to tinder-dry woods—rising up in explosions of fire, as well as haunting dreams of a little boy deep in the forest.

Winter brings the longed-for rains but also a cancer diagnosis for Zoe’s husband, Jay, which plunges the family into disbelief and fear. The children lean in close to their parents, can’t stop touching them. As Jay’s treatment begins, nature lets loose with strange and startling encounters, while a shadowy figure hovers about the corners of the house.

First, Zoe’s fear turns to anger: How can I love you if I am to lose you? How can I live in joy when the sky is falling? But she gradually learns that it’s possible to love anything, even terrible things—if you can love them for what they are teaching you.

Review

With an interesting beginning, I Will Leave You Never drops the ball quickly, following an emotionless Zoe as she tries to contend with her husband’s cancer diagnosis.

Poor Storytelling

I wish I had put this novel on my DNF pile. I thought the premise of the novel was interesting enough. A serial arsonist is terrorizing the area where Zoe lives with her husband and three children. She has strange dreams about a little boy in the woods with an abusive father.

Her dreams are pointless. They add nothing to the story and do not, in any way, connect her to the serial arsonist. In fact, the arsonist plays such a small part in the story that it seems pointless to even begin with it. It misleads the reader, making us think that the story will be a mystery/thriller instead of literary fiction, which the story evolves into.

Another poor part of the story was the transitions. Going back and forth between the past and the present was poorly done. There were times when I was reading, and I didn’t know I was in memory until later, and then suddenly, we’re in the present. It just wasn’t fluid.

Terrible Characterization

I hated Zoe. Initially, I felt I would get this complex character, this woman who must use her dreams to find out who the arsonist is while dealing with her husband’s cancer diagnosis. Wouldn’t that have been cool?

Instead, I got an emotionless woman who seemed to be a sociopath. The whole exchange is emotionless when she hits her neighbor’s dog and takes him to the vet. When her dog has puppies, her relationship with her friends and husband feels like emotions are foreign to her, like she has to think about how she feels before feeling.

There was no emotion to drive the story forward, to make the character dynamics matter.

Final Thoughts

I Will Leave You Never was a complete waste of my time. It was tedious and tiresome and lacked real depth.

• Writing Quality : 1/10
• Character Development :1/10
• "Couldn't Put It Down"-ness : 1/10
• Intellectual Depth: 1/10
• Originality: 2/10
• Overall Rating: 1 out of 5.

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About the Author

Cynthia Bujnicki graduated from Emerson College with a BA in Writing, Literature and Publishing. She has always loved to read since she was a child. A contributing writer for YA Fantasy Addicts, she is also the Editor-in-Chief for Cyn's Workshop. She lives in sunny South Florida with her husband, son and daughter and their two cats.