None
5 stars
This book is very much aimed at a YA audience. I'm not part of that audience and it's probably fair to say I was never what is considered a "young adult" even when I was :-) Not only that, but my background is from England, rather than North America and cultural differences abound. Because of this, I found the very first part of the book a little slow and hard to identify with the characters at this point. That's not a fault of the writing, just my own personal tastes and background.
What happens then is nothing short of remarkable and makes me so glad that I persevered. Once you get to the "meat" of the story you are dragged in to a helter-skelter ride that takes you into realms that are at once familiar, but also utterly surprising. It's more than fair to say that the opening in no …
This book is very much aimed at a YA audience. I'm not part of that audience and it's probably fair to say I was never what is considered a "young adult" even when I was :-) Not only that, but my background is from England, rather than North America and cultural differences abound. Because of this, I found the very first part of the book a little slow and hard to identify with the characters at this point. That's not a fault of the writing, just my own personal tastes and background.
What happens then is nothing short of remarkable and makes me so glad that I persevered. Once you get to the "meat" of the story you are dragged in to a helter-skelter ride that takes you into realms that are at once familiar, but also utterly surprising. It's more than fair to say that the opening in no way prepares you for what is about to come!
There is plenty of mystery in here and some adult themes that will certainly get you thinking. The characters are very well delineated and appealing once they start to move through the main part of the story.
The author doesn't pull any punches, but is also very sensitive to the audience, so there are only limited descriptions of certain aspects of the story. This isn't a criticism but rather a recognition of the talent of Ms. McMullen in handling some difficult topics in a way that other authors would simply avoid or gloss over with a lot of hand-waving. Here the author tackles the issues, but limits the detail in some areas in respect of her audience. Personally I think this is commendable, not just for a YA audience but also in general terms in a world where sometimes the "nasty " stuff is glorified for the sake of supposed "shock value" alone.
Definitely a five star read and heartily recommended to anyone, especially lovers of YA fiction.