The Residency – Kayla Frederick

3 stars

The Residency is an excellent example of things sounding way too good to be true and turning out badly.  A group of artists in New York get offered a once in a lifetime chance to go on an art residency and compete for a half a million dollars. Surely there’s nothing sinister afoot here…

This was a quick, fun read with a dash of education on top of it. Definitely the most dangerous art lesson I’ve ever had! I liked that the guy behind everything, The Curator, wasn’t just some psycho bent on destruction for no reason. He was creating art in the only way he had the skill for and determined to impart some hard lessons on his chosen artists.

Where this book fell a little short for me was with the characters. It was hard for me to feel anything for them because they didn’t give me much of a reason to. I didn’t learn a whole lot about them, only their somewhat tragic backstories at opportune moments, so I wasn’t able to connect with them as much as I wanted to. It was also hard for me to put together the timeline and how long the characters actually spent at the residency. It only seemed like maybe two days, three at the max, instead of the week they were supposed to be there.

All in all, The Residency isn’t a bad book! If you’re looking for a unique, interesting read to get sucked into, this will do just fine. If you’re looking for something with deep characters and complex plotlines, this one may be a touch too straightforward and not to your taste.