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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Oppel offers young readers a fascinating adventure story strung together with dangerous events and suspicious characters. Truly an enticing read.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A wild romp of an adventure story, this was an entertaining listen. Recommend the audiobook.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
On paper this book has everything that I theoretically love: historical fiction, a long train journey, a traveling circus, , and a sprinkle of magic. It does deliver on all of those things for me personally, but it fell a little short in other places. One of my biggest complaints is the romance between . The constant pining and cheeks flushing and hands brushing was incredibly annoying and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes many times . Maybe I wouldn’t have cared if I had read it when I was part of the target age range for this book, but I think the story would have been better if they were just friends, which is what I usually expect from middle grade books and part of the reason I like them. Overall still a great and compelling story, solid 4 star read for me.
Spoiler
a heist plotSpoiler
Will and Maren. You meet Maren within the first five pages and it’s instantly obvious she’s going to be a future love interestSpoiler
, though that’s about as bad as it gets in terms of romance scene contentSpoiler
The Indian cosplay was also a little weird but made sense in context, I guess.
A solid 4.5 Stars.
The ONLY reason this book doesn't get the full 5 stars is I felt the beginning was a bit slow, however once we got going, it was a real fun time so much so that I definitely see myself the future looking back on my rating and review of this book and thinking, 'That's a bit harsh, isn't it? I mean the beginning wasn't all that bad - I may just bump this up to 5 stars real quick.'
This was an awesome read (and bonus points for being super Canadian - heyo! Go Canada!)
So as I mentioned, the beginning was a bit slow but definitely NOT ENOUGH to have people turn away from this book. It's more of me saying "Just FYI, get through the first little bit and then you will be flying. You won't have to wait too long."
The story itself was magical the whole way. I loved being on that train, hearing it work, seeing the snow and landscape fly by. It was really beautiful. Of course the story within the train was even better.
Plot
This is aimed more at middle-grades but this did nothing to the quality of the book, meaning that no matter your age, you can enjoy it. It's Middle-Grade/Meant-For-All, if you know what I mean.
It wasn't a complicated read nor did it leave anything missing. It was paced well, giving you enough time to appreciate each new setting in the train but not staying anywhere long enough for you to get bored.
Writing
Third Person / Present Tense
Kenneth Oppel really brought the world to life. I felt the snow, felt the rumble of the train, saw the different passengers ...etc, which is all you can really ask of an author when writing a story (that and a good story, I guess).
I haven't seen a story written in present tense before (or at least don't remember if I have). It made it more intriguing though. It almost created this sense that even the story teller didn't know what was about to happen, and was just updating you as the story progressed. Pretty nifty stuff.
Characters
I don't believe there were any stupid characters! (You know what I mean, the ones that make stupid mistakes just to create situation with a lil' drama that were otherwise TOTALLY AVOIDABLE, and you're just sitting there thing - "Well, I mean Okay - but I feel more mad at you than worried.")
Will
Protagonist
A shy character but written well. Sometimes I find with shy characters, they are rather bland because "Oh, I am shy so I don't do much." but shy people are still super interesting, they just might not talk as much. Luckily with Will here, we got to see different parts of him, not just shy. He also had a nice character development throughout the story. It made sense and went at a steady pace. I liked who he was at the end of the book compared to the beginning.
Maren
Tight Rope Walker
Overall just a very sweet character. I liked her a lot. She was powerful, capable, and - once again - really sweet. I don't have much more to say about her except it was very easy to root for her -and Will - in the story.
Mr.Dorian
Ring Leader
To put it shortly - an interesting man. His demeanour was wonderful (casual, but purposeful, in control, and a tad mysterious). I don't really know how else to put it except saying, "I like his aesthetic".
Borgan
Brakeman/Antagonist
I can appreciate a good middle-grade villain when I see one. There were actually stakes with this guy, actual danger. While I was reading this I couldn't help think of [b:InkHeart|28194|Inkheart (Inkworld, #1)|Cornelia Funke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1538266636s/28194.jpg|2628323]'s villains where we were continually told "These are bad guys. CAREFUL! BAD. GUYS." but didn't really see the extent of it, whereas in The Boundless it was inverted. We weren't told these were bad guys, we were shown, which makes everything more thrilling.
BONUS: Cover
Real quick - can we just appreciate the beauty of this cover. Literally the reason I picked it up (I know, I know) and I was lucky enough to enjoy it as well.
Overall - it was good. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, and it does have a little more magic and wonder than you'd expect.
The ONLY reason this book doesn't get the full 5 stars is I felt the beginning was a bit slow, however once we got going, it was a real fun time so much so that I definitely see myself the future looking back on my rating and review of this book and thinking, 'That's a bit harsh, isn't it? I mean the beginning wasn't all that bad - I may just bump this up to 5 stars real quick.'
This was an awesome read (and bonus points for being super Canadian - heyo! Go Canada!)
So as I mentioned, the beginning was a bit slow but definitely NOT ENOUGH to have people turn away from this book. It's more of me saying "Just FYI, get through the first little bit and then you will be flying. You won't have to wait too long."
The story itself was magical the whole way. I loved being on that train, hearing it work, seeing the snow and landscape fly by. It was really beautiful. Of course the story within the train was even better.
Plot
This is aimed more at middle-grades but this did nothing to the quality of the book, meaning that no matter your age, you can enjoy it. It's Middle-Grade/Meant-For-All, if you know what I mean.
It wasn't a complicated read nor did it leave anything missing. It was paced well, giving you enough time to appreciate each new setting in the train but not staying anywhere long enough for you to get bored.
Writing
Third Person / Present Tense
Kenneth Oppel really brought the world to life. I felt the snow, felt the rumble of the train, saw the different passengers ...etc, which is all you can really ask of an author when writing a story (that and a good story, I guess).
I haven't seen a story written in present tense before (or at least don't remember if I have). It made it more intriguing though. It almost created this sense that even the story teller didn't know what was about to happen, and was just updating you as the story progressed. Pretty nifty stuff.
Characters
I don't believe there were any stupid characters! (You know what I mean, the ones that make stupid mistakes just to create situation with a lil' drama that were otherwise TOTALLY AVOIDABLE, and you're just sitting there thing - "Well, I mean Okay - but I feel more mad at you than worried.")
Will
Protagonist
A shy character but written well. Sometimes I find with shy characters, they are rather bland because "Oh, I am shy so I don't do much." but shy people are still super interesting, they just might not talk as much. Luckily with Will here, we got to see different parts of him, not just shy. He also had a nice character development throughout the story. It made sense and went at a steady pace. I liked who he was at the end of the book compared to the beginning.
Maren
Tight Rope Walker
Overall just a very sweet character. I liked her a lot. She was powerful, capable, and - once again - really sweet. I don't have much more to say about her except it was very easy to root for her -and Will - in the story.
Mr.Dorian
Ring Leader
To put it shortly - an interesting man.
Spoiler
I liked him a lot but had conflicting feelings about him in the end.Borgan
Brakeman/Antagonist
I can appreciate a good middle-grade villain when I see one. There were actually stakes with this guy, actual danger. While I was reading this I couldn't help think of [b:InkHeart|28194|Inkheart (Inkworld, #1)|Cornelia Funke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1538266636s/28194.jpg|2628323]'s villains where we were continually told "These are bad guys. CAREFUL! BAD. GUYS." but didn't really see the extent of it, whereas in The Boundless it was inverted. We weren't told these were bad guys, we were shown, which makes everything more thrilling.
BONUS: Cover
Real quick - can we just appreciate the beauty of this cover. Literally the reason I picked it up (I know, I know) and I was lucky enough to enjoy it as well.
Overall - it was good. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, and it does have a little more magic and wonder than you'd expect.
Not my favorite book by Mr. Oppel, but still a very fun, fast-paced read. I enjoyed it very much. Worth the read if you like adventure stories with a hint of romance. 4 out of 5 stars. Very good.
The CPR is near and dear to my heart as my father works for them. I grew up around tracks and trains. The Boundless while highly fantastical, is deeply engaging and I am remind why Kenneth Oppel is one of my favorites.
Kenneth Oppel excels at writing edge-of-your-seat adventures. I was holding my breath at many points throughout the story, and the characters were all interesting. I can't wait to start recommending this to patrons.
A wonderful adventurous book! I would love to ride the Boundless!
The Boundless is another entertaining adventure from Kenneth Oppel. He has a grasp on action scenes in Teen or younger books like nobody else writing today and I wish more people would try his books out. While this fell a little short of the Matt Cruse series, it had much the same appeal but with its own charm. The story moves along as fast as The Boundless itself!