Reviews

Dr. Franklin's Island by Ann Halam

pjams84's review against another edition

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4.0

It took me a while to get into this book, but it was worth it.

aidannpilgrim's review

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2.0

It was okay.

blessa's review against another edition

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4.0

re-read recently as a comfort thing, revisiting some of my favorites when i was a young teenager. like coming back home--i had forgotten how informative halam's vision of science fiction was on me.

katevrst's review against another edition

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3.0

A good sci-fi book, unfortunately the story is written for kids. When you take this story and create some depth, the result could be amazing.

disasterbisexual's review against another edition

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5.0

Phenomenal. One of my all time favorites. Funny, clever, intense, realistically written teenagers, gives me lots of feelings and reads like an old friend.

beth_c's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

iceangel9's review against another edition

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3.0

Semi, Miranda, and Arnie survive a plane crash on their way to the rain forests of Ecuador. They find themselves on an island they believe to be deserted. Then they stumble into the hands of Dr. Franklin, a scientist, who is eager to use three teenagers who are presumed dead by the world in his experiments in genetic engineering. A modern version of the Wells' classic The Island of Dr. Moreau.

samisokay's review against another edition

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3.0

This book was pretty good. It was definitely a great idea, but the writing kind of ruined it for me. I really liked the idea, and concept that children were captured and genetically modified to become transgenics, and I thought that the concept of getting lost on an island was good for the idea. Now, I found the original concept to be close to the short story The Most Dangerous Game . Otherwise, the actual idea of humans with DNA is similar to the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson.

To be honest, I didn't like how the book was written. The author told it from the viewpoint of Semi (yes, that is the main characters name) and she was supposed to have won a trip to South America due to her outstanding skills in science, and she was also, supposedly, shy. Now, maybe it was just me, but in her head, she did not sound smart. She talked a lot about how shy she was, and maybe mentioned her love for science a few times... but I mostly just heard her whining about being shy. To me, she sounded more like a 3rd grader, instead of a brainiac high schooler. Also, how many times are they going to try and escape but fail? I mean, the story would've been good with a few, but after what felt like the first 5 times of the same thing happening it started to get repetitive.

Overall, this book was good, though I don't think I'll reread it. Like I said, it was a really good concept, just not played out how I would want it to.
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