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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
God, I'm such a sucker for a book with a beautiful cover. And my God, the cover of The Boundless is stunning. I really wish that the story was at least half as beautiful or stunning as the cover is. I wish that I would've found The Boundless even slightly interesting. But alas, it was not meant to be.
Here's my issue with The Boundless...it was boring. I'm talking coma-inducing boring. The beginning was meh, so I thought "Let me give it at least until the middle. I'm sure it'll pick up by then". But it didn't. And once I reached the end, I thought "good riddance". The Boundless is pretty much bland characters doing bland things that are masquerading as adventurous...only it wasn't. Not even a little bit.
Another thing that annoyed me about The Boundless was Will's characterization. This is someone who is about 17. Yet his actions and his thoughts are those of a little kid, not an almost adult. It seems as though the author dumbed him down to justify an older teenager being a protagonist of what is essentially a children's novel instead of just having it be YA.
So, overall, I found The Boundless to be blah. I just wasn't the least bit intrigued and literally had to force myself to finish it. Now that I have, I'm breathing a sigh of relief. I say, skip it.
Here's my issue with The Boundless...it was boring. I'm talking coma-inducing boring. The beginning was meh, so I thought "Let me give it at least until the middle. I'm sure it'll pick up by then". But it didn't. And once I reached the end, I thought "good riddance". The Boundless is pretty much bland characters doing bland things that are masquerading as adventurous...only it wasn't. Not even a little bit.
Another thing that annoyed me about The Boundless was Will's characterization. This is someone who is about 17. Yet his actions and his thoughts are those of a little kid, not an almost adult. It seems as though the author dumbed him down to justify an older teenager being a protagonist of what is essentially a children's novel instead of just having it be YA.
So, overall, I found The Boundless to be blah. I just wasn't the least bit intrigued and literally had to force myself to finish it. Now that I have, I'm breathing a sigh of relief. I say, skip it.
I picked this up a couple years ago because of the gorgeous cover, and the promise of trains! It was a good read, I liked the heist bit, and I LOVED the train descriptions. I do wish there were illustrations and/or blueprints, because I want to know ever nook and cranny of the Boundless. The only thing I didn't really like was the weird bits of paranormal/fantastical activity. It just felt so out of place and it kept throwing me out of the book.
Out of Ten: 6/10
Review at a Glance: An alright read, but it's characters, plot and world didn't meet my expectations.
Review: This book was alright, it just wasn't quite at the standard that I expected. It was fine, but it didn't capture me as some of Kenneth Oppel's other works did. I've read both The Silverwing trilogy, which I enjoyed and The Matt Cruse trilogy (Airborn, Skybreaker and Starclimber), which is one of my favourites, and this book just didn't work as well for me as either of them.
The world building was something of a weakness in this book. It was just somewhat unclear what exactly did and didn't happen in the world. The lack of structure made it somewhat difficult to fully invest in the story. The Sasquatches worked for me but everything else didn't seem to fit with the world up until then.
Another thing that made it challenging to cultivate any interest in the story was the characters. They just didn't make me feel anything- not even a vague sense of interest. There just wasn't anything about them that I liked about them. Nothing about them felt very real to me, not their interests, or, really, any of their choices.
This book is told from third person, in present tense, which is a perspective that I don't read much of (I'm not generally a huge fan of present tense narration). The perspective is generally limited to Will, the main character, and Brogan, his main adversary. They style of the storytelling distanced me from the characters.
All this said, I loved the idea of the Boundless itself. A giant train? Yes please. This is the tale of the Boundless's maiden voyage, so it was interesting to see the cracks that were already showing in the social structure on the train, and how the train was designed. It also acknowledged the darker sides of the building of the railroad- the treatment of the rail layers, especially immigrant workers, as well as the treatment of Native peoples in Canada's history. Seriously, anyone who thinks Canada has this super-nice history where people didn't get hurt should have a look at a residential school for starters. This country definitely has some dark blots in our history... but I digress.
Overall, I felt parts of the story had potential, but it didn't really bear fruit for me. In the end, it wasn't really for me, I don't think- it just didn't hit enough notes for me, personally, as a reader.
Also posted on my blog
Review at a Glance: An alright read, but it's characters, plot and world didn't meet my expectations.
Review: This book was alright, it just wasn't quite at the standard that I expected. It was fine, but it didn't capture me as some of Kenneth Oppel's other works did. I've read both The Silverwing trilogy, which I enjoyed and The Matt Cruse trilogy (Airborn, Skybreaker and Starclimber), which is one of my favourites, and this book just didn't work as well for me as either of them.
The world building was something of a weakness in this book. It was just somewhat unclear what exactly did and didn't happen in the world. The lack of structure made it somewhat difficult to fully invest in the story. The Sasquatches worked for me but everything else didn't seem to fit with the world up until then.
Another thing that made it challenging to cultivate any interest in the story was the characters. They just didn't make me feel anything- not even a vague sense of interest. There just wasn't anything about them that I liked about them. Nothing about them felt very real to me, not their interests, or, really, any of their choices.
This book is told from third person, in present tense, which is a perspective that I don't read much of (I'm not generally a huge fan of present tense narration). The perspective is generally limited to Will, the main character, and Brogan, his main adversary. They style of the storytelling distanced me from the characters.
All this said, I loved the idea of the Boundless itself. A giant train? Yes please. This is the tale of the Boundless's maiden voyage, so it was interesting to see the cracks that were already showing in the social structure on the train, and how the train was designed. It also acknowledged the darker sides of the building of the railroad- the treatment of the rail layers, especially immigrant workers, as well as the treatment of Native peoples in Canada's history. Seriously, anyone who thinks Canada has this super-nice history where people didn't get hurt should have a look at a residential school for starters. This country definitely has some dark blots in our history... but I digress.
Overall, I felt parts of the story had potential, but it didn't really bear fruit for me. In the end, it wasn't really for me, I don't think- it just didn't hit enough notes for me, personally, as a reader.
Also posted on my blog
Nate and I listened to this on audio. It was well done - action packed, with interesting characters and emotional resonance. And the world building was great - it’s a just-slightly-not-our-world around the creation of the first transcontinental railroad in North America. But with more advanced steam-punk technology (a train that’s about ten miles long and two stories tall! Steam driven automata!) plus some strange creature - Sasquatch and bog hags and Windigo.
3. 5*
The beginning was a little slow, but once the pace picked up it was a lot of fun. Interesting story, with a twist
The beginning was a little slow, but once the pace picked up it was a lot of fun. Interesting story, with a twist
I love just about anything by Kenneth Oppel and this book does not disappoint. Action, magic, trains, murder, romance... Something for everyone.
The Plot was fast and definitely engaging. Buuut, for all that happened to characters, I found myself to net really care.
The book is so fast, you don't really have time to care for the characters, the moments in the story go by so rapidly, that there is no real room to develop and in the end, the main characters kind of are the same, even is the book tries to say different.
It still is a good book.
The book is so fast, you don't really have time to care for the characters, the moments in the story go by so rapidly, that there is no real room to develop and in the end, the main characters kind of are the same, even is the book tries to say different.
It still is a good book.