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jenemyspider's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
zannayo's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Gotta stick it out for a bit but it gets more engaging later
stephxsu's review against another edition
A fascinating premise and setting, but the writing style and flat characters reveals the author's youth when she wrote this. It could have done with several complete rewrites as her writing matured, but alas, we get dramatic, unoriginal writing; a too-angelic-to-be-true protagonist; and brashly drawn Baddie Bad Badd villains.
thecrematedwizard's review against another edition
4.0
First off, I absolutely loved this book! I loved Elspeth and I loved the world of mystery and fantasy that enveloped her story. She was such a strong and inspiring character, given that she was thrown between the wars and had numerous people wanting to murder her at only 14/15 years old - let's just say she's a lot braver than i'd ever be. I loved the fact that Elspeth was able to communicate with animals telepathically and I feel that it gave the story just that extra element of depth (I mean, Maruman is the most relatable cat in history - his sass is unmatched). Matthew and Dameon were such kind and gentle souls and were with Elspeth every step of the way - in this sense Carmody gave me the 'three musketeer' relationship I never even knew I needed. And Rushton. Don't even get me started on Rushton - I would hands down swim through a river of lava for him, he honestly deserves the world. Throughout the book there was always that element of suspense which literally had me on the edge of my seat and I just couldn't put it down - I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Definitely reading the rest of the series.
bridgette22's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
embereye's review against another edition
4.0
This is a reread from a while ago. This time through this book struck me as SUPER short. Lots of info comes through though and it really sets the stage for the series. Post-apocalypse future YA story with mutant abilities of various kinds. Fun!
emerygirl's review against another edition
3.0
This book took a really long time for me to get into. I was just about ready to quit, but decided to give it one more try. I am glad I did, because then I really started to like it. Once you get into the second part things start to make more sense. And it gets really good. I am interested to see where the second book goes.
kivt's review against another edition
2.0
The style of the first book is really painfully bad. Everyone is super stilted and formal and Speaks In Great Portentous Tones.
serru's review against another edition
2.0
This is a book that I was really looking forward to and it turned out to be a great disappointment. The premise has all the things I like-- a dystopian post-apocalyptic world where science and knowledge has crumbled and people struggle to cobble together an existence, humans discovering their newly-developing supernatural powers, conspiracies and the search for truth, even talking animals... I see so much potential in this series but I was really let down by the author's writing.
One of the cardinal rules of writing is tell, not show. Now, there are plenty of books I've read that break this rule quite a bit and I still enjoyed them but this particular book isn't one of them. Instead of giving us the actual scenes wherein important information is revealed or important conversations occur, we are simply told afterward that this or that happened or so-and-so had a talk and said these things. It meant that there was very little action in the book because we're just given a summary of what happened only after it occurred. This made for such an incredibly frustrating and boring read and I no longer feel interested in the series.
One of the cardinal rules of writing is tell, not show. Now, there are plenty of books I've read that break this rule quite a bit and I still enjoyed them but this particular book isn't one of them. Instead of giving us the actual scenes wherein important information is revealed or important conversations occur, we are simply told afterward that this or that happened or so-and-so had a talk and said these things. It meant that there was very little action in the book because we're just given a summary of what happened only after it occurred. This made for such an incredibly frustrating and boring read and I no longer feel interested in the series.