I
really really wanted to like this book. The premise is interesting, a
slowing has started in the earth's rotation, having all kinds of effects
on gravity, plant growth, magnetic fields. This is all very
interesting. And the writing is very good. The actual words on paper and
the prose are well done.
But.... It's boring. The narrator is 11
years old at the beginning of the book, so events just kind of happen
around her and she comments on them. An 11 year old is a bit young to
have a lot of agency in a novel. She can't really make anything happen,
so she takes to commenting on things as she sees them. Things other
people are doing. It makes for very very slow progress. The book is also
written from Julia's perspective looking back. She's around 20 years
old as the narrator, talking about things that happened when she was 11.
So there is a lot of "that was the last time I ever saw (insert minor
character name) again."
The drama of the events don't quite
match up with the reactions recorded by Julia. All the world's food is
grown in greenhouses using artificial lights? Hmmm.... pretty sure this
wouldn't quite cut it. Perhaps after reading the really really well
researched, The Martian (read my review here), it's too much to expect a young adult novel to
have plausible scientific calculations, but I wanted the cause and
effect to at least make sense. Even those things that Julie should be
able to convey or have some kind of dominion over are not taken as
opportunities. She ends up eating alone in the library at lunch time.
The
slow plodding of the plot, coupled with the complete impotence of the
main character made for a very very slow and unexciting read.
2/5 Stars.
Just. What? This story took an even worse turn but the masochist in me had to read it to see how it ended.
What I hated: the premise. Genetic damage? Ugh the convoluted way people had to care about this required mental gymnastics.
The dialogue. Why am I still reading these weird, awkward and misplaced exchanges which are the equivalent of "aw shucks" between the teenage characters?
The characters. They all suck. Or at least they are annoying. And there seems to be no difference between the narrative voices of Tris or Tobias. They are written the exact same way.
There's a "twist" to the book that fans of the series are pretty upset about. But for me that was the books only redeeming quality. And it's funny to call it a twist when it's basically the plot point of every chapter of Game of Thrones.
So that one star? That's for me. For finishing this one.
It will bother me if I don't also mention the lack of continuity in the book as well. How does Tobias have a photograph of his family in his house, the Erudite read textbooks all the time, but no one has heard of a freaking airplane? The Wright brothers could figure it out, and photography was around even before those two crazy brothers attached wings to a bicycle. I'm pretty sure photography technology is equally as complicated. But no, no, let's just have photographs of people in our homes.
1/5 Stars.
