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cimorene1558's review against another edition
3.0
I think this has the potential to be a much bigger book than it is, but I quite liked it. It's another teenage god sort of book, but on a smaller and quieter scale than many of the others. Undine is a teen who seems to be developing magic powers at the beginning of the book, but the perspective throughout stays very intimate--much more about how being magical can screw up your family and social life, but in a good way, not "oh my God, I have magical powers and my boyfriend doesn't love me anymore!". Good because, yes, it sure would screw up your relationships with people, and sometimes stories ignore that.
stefhyena's review
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Interesting idea. I could have done without Undine emerging as boy crazy. Early 2000s seems a little late to be portraying that as "normal development" or whatever, something she can't help. I don't mind that she didn't get with Trout but I don't like the way he was portrayed within that and I am not convinced we needed all of the other two.
Undine's relationship with her little brother is cool as well as with her "aunty" but apart from that the female relationships in the book are somewhat lacking. There is Undine and her dysfunctional relationship with her mum (and do mother's really have to choose between being as boring as Trout's mother or as selfish as Lou? Can't they have their own life without being horrid to their kids?). Trout's mother hates her in a way that seems like sterotypical MIL energy. The friends who notice where she is or care about her are boys. Trout's mother hates Lou as well.
The magic- light, dark thing and the parasiting off someone else's magic is interesting. The resolution of it seems a bit of a cop-out but I guess publishers wouldn't accept anything darker.The way of weaving in elements of Shakespeare's Tempest is great...hopefully stuff like that makes people curious to read it.
Undine's relationship with her little brother is cool as well as with her "aunty" but apart from that the female relationships in the book are somewhat lacking. There is Undine and her dysfunctional relationship with her mum (and do mother's really have to choose between being as boring as Trout's mother or as selfish as Lou? Can't they have their own life without being horrid to their kids?). Trout's mother hates her in a way that seems like sterotypical MIL energy. The friends who notice where she is or care about her are boys. Trout's mother hates Lou as well.
The magic- light, dark thing and the parasiting off someone else's magic is interesting. The resolution of it seems a bit of a cop-out but I guess publishers wouldn't accept anything darker.The way of weaving in elements of Shakespeare's Tempest is great...hopefully stuff like that makes people curious to read it.
somewheregirl7's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fairly strong book to start out. The characters and events were interesting and had me intrigued. I was eager to see how the story would develop and anticipated reading it each day. The book remained strong up until the very end but never delivered on some of its promise and was rather insipid in the final scenes.
Many aspects of the book center around allusions to Shakespeare's Tempest, some subtle, some overt. I fully expected that those strong ties would be explained in a satisfying way. Instead they were not. The author just left them as coincidence, a barely mentioned tendency of one of the characters to name his pets after characters from The Tempest. That ignores the other aspects of the book that mirrored The Tempest.
This is a decent read but extremely frustrating because of how good it COULD have been and wasn't. The basic writing talent is there, but the story does not deliver.
SPOILERS BELOW!
In
3
2
1
Undine never reads The Tempest during the course of the novel, however, the very last line in the book is Undine reciting a quote from the play. That really bothered me considering the character flat-out said she'd never read the play and then suddenly she can quote it.
I was disappointed at how the author portrayed Undine as this irresistable creature - EVERY boy (other than Dan) mentioned by name in the book is in love with her. That smacks of too much wish fulfillment and a tendency to over-glamorozie. I found it annoying.
The author did a good job of capturing teenage angst and how rough those years can be. Then she would lose those threads however. She never really explained Chaos Magic or spent much time on it - it's just this concept that was thrown in and took up a bit of page space. It felt unfinished.
The fight between Undine and her mother was also unrealistic. I can see why Undine reacted as she did, but the things that her mother said to her and how her mother acted were out-of-character with everything else we see and are told about her mother.
I really disliked the final resolution of the book. Undine's father has just tried to suck out her magic. So she forgives him and decides that he isn't a bad father and everything is going to be fine. His power-hunger just disappears. Poof. Magic. That is so completely unrealistic! The change does not feel genuine or warranted on either of their parts. I was also unhappy with how the author shows Trout dying and then *poof* magic, guess what he's not dead! There are no real consequences for anyone in this book. The teenagers behave recklessly as do the parents and there is never, ever any consequence for it. Undine SNUFFED OUT A STAR! Ummm she intrinsically altered the universe. Could we please spend more than a sentence on that? So it's just okay that she might have sent an entire solar system into chaos?
There were so many threads that were started and never picked up, like the Internet chat board stuff with Trout. Altogether those things take a very promising book and kill it - leaving it bland, forgettable and disappointing.
Many aspects of the book center around allusions to Shakespeare's Tempest, some subtle, some overt. I fully expected that those strong ties would be explained in a satisfying way. Instead they were not. The author just left them as coincidence, a barely mentioned tendency of one of the characters to name his pets after characters from The Tempest. That ignores the other aspects of the book that mirrored The Tempest.
This is a decent read but extremely frustrating because of how good it COULD have been and wasn't. The basic writing talent is there, but the story does not deliver.
SPOILERS BELOW!
In
3
2
1
Undine never reads The Tempest during the course of the novel, however, the very last line in the book is Undine reciting a quote from the play. That really bothered me considering the character flat-out said she'd never read the play and then suddenly she can quote it.
I was disappointed at how the author portrayed Undine as this irresistable creature - EVERY boy (other than Dan) mentioned by name in the book is in love with her. That smacks of too much wish fulfillment and a tendency to over-glamorozie. I found it annoying.
The author did a good job of capturing teenage angst and how rough those years can be. Then she would lose those threads however. She never really explained Chaos Magic or spent much time on it - it's just this concept that was thrown in and took up a bit of page space. It felt unfinished.
The fight between Undine and her mother was also unrealistic. I can see why Undine reacted as she did, but the things that her mother said to her and how her mother acted were out-of-character with everything else we see and are told about her mother.
I really disliked the final resolution of the book. Undine's father has just tried to suck out her magic. So she forgives him and decides that he isn't a bad father and everything is going to be fine. His power-hunger just disappears. Poof. Magic. That is so completely unrealistic! The change does not feel genuine or warranted on either of their parts. I was also unhappy with how the author shows Trout dying and then *poof* magic, guess what he's not dead! There are no real consequences for anyone in this book. The teenagers behave recklessly as do the parents and there is never, ever any consequence for it. Undine SNUFFED OUT A STAR! Ummm she intrinsically altered the universe. Could we please spend more than a sentence on that? So it's just okay that she might have sent an entire solar system into chaos?
There were so many threads that were started and never picked up, like the Internet chat board stuff with Trout. Altogether those things take a very promising book and kill it - leaving it bland, forgettable and disappointing.
kstep1805's review against another edition
3.0
I found myself not being able to put this book down. But not because it was so good as much as I was so confused. Perhaps I wasn't reading close enough but there was a lot alluded to but not explained. The story was certainly different from other YA paranormal stories which kept me interested.
clarkco's review against another edition
3.0
Average fantasy - uses elements from Shakespeare's The Tempest.
jessalynn_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
A blend of contemporary YA and fantasy - Undine deals with normal teenage girl things as well as a unexpected touch of the fantastic in her life - that worked in interesting ways. For instance, the way Undine learns to deal with her new power over boys shows using fantasy to heighten normal teen experiences can highlight different aspects of coming of age. The writing was lovely and made up for any places where the plotting didn't quite feel smooth. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the sequel.
carlyoc's review against another edition
4.0
Unique take on magic. doesn't fit into any particular mythical creature genre.
thegothiclibrary's review against another edition
3.0
A quick and easy read. Not a masterpiece, but entertaining nonetheless. It was pretty cheesy at times, though.
Amid Shakespeare references galore, a 16-year-old girl discovers that she is in possession of some very powerful magic. She struggles to come to terms with the magic inside her as it threatens to take control. She also discovers that her mother has been hiding some very big secrets from her for the past 16 years. Meanwhile, the reader is also given glimpses into the perspective of a boy named Trout, Undine's best friend who also happens to e madly in love with her. Trout's unrequited love threatens to ruin their friendship, until Trout experiences a few moments of excessively narrated character growth.
Amid Shakespeare references galore, a 16-year-old girl discovers that she is in possession of some very powerful magic. She struggles to come to terms with the magic inside her as it threatens to take control. She also discovers that her mother has been hiding some very big secrets from her for the past 16 years. Meanwhile, the reader is also given glimpses into the perspective of a boy named Trout, Undine's best friend who also happens to e madly in love with her. Trout's unrequited love threatens to ruin their friendship, until Trout experiences a few moments of excessively narrated character growth.
lauredhel's review against another edition
5.0
I just love the way Russon writes. For the first half in particular, the rhythm was electric, was corporeal - I found myself somehow breathing along with the book, and whenever I put it down for a moment, I felt a physical reorganisation, a hitch as my breathing rearranged itself.
I was put off for a little while by the sexualised compulsion scene [magically-coerced kissing, no rape, but this is because the characters were interrupted, not because they stopped willingly. The compulsion is semi-inadvertent, as this magic is entirely new to the character involved]. I think my difficulty was because of being in the head of the character perpetrating the compulsion. However, it was treated as horrible within the narrative, though I detected a certain ambivalence at first - I'm assuming this was the ambivalence of the POV character coming through. This character grew to take a look at herself and at the problematic nature of that behaviour, and to learn that it was essential to control her magic to avoid harming others.
As some other reviews opine, it may have wrapped it a little too quickly and neatly; but overall the book was a glorious allegory for the feelings and changes of adolescence, and a delightful fantasy tale in its own right. I'm looking forward to reading the next book, Breathe.
I was put off for a little while by the sexualised compulsion scene [magically-coerced kissing, no rape, but this is because the characters were interrupted, not because they stopped willingly. The compulsion is semi-inadvertent, as this magic is entirely new to the character involved]. I think my difficulty was because of being in the head of the character perpetrating the compulsion. However, it was treated as horrible within the narrative, though I detected a certain ambivalence at first - I'm assuming this was the ambivalence of the POV character coming through. This character grew to take a look at herself and at the problematic nature of that behaviour, and to learn that it was essential to control her magic to avoid harming others.
As some other reviews opine, it may have wrapped it a little too quickly and neatly; but overall the book was a glorious allegory for the feelings and changes of adolescence, and a delightful fantasy tale in its own right. I'm looking forward to reading the next book, Breathe.