Reviews

Alyzon Whitestarr by Isobelle Carmody

embereye's review against another edition

3.0

Strangely reminded me a bit of reading Pamela Dean's Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary. I kept expecting something to happen that didn't, and while I enjoyed a lot of the story, it was really strange and felt lopsided in some way I can't quite put my finger on.

johblogs's review against another edition

4.0

http://www.johblogs.com/2011/06/alyzon-whitestarr-by-isobel-carmody.html

mj38012's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.25

immortalgirl92's review against another edition

3.0

I really liked the first 100 pages but then the pace slowed down so much that I had a hard time wanting to finish this book at all. I'm happy that I did, because the drama at the end of the book made it worth it.

annie8782's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. It raises questions and thoughts that may not have otherwise come to mind, it has a fascinating plot, and the characters are very interesting. They all have different sides and really added to the story. Being Australian, I also always love when books are set here.
I can see why some people might not enjoy this book. It is a different story to what the blurb might lead to suggest, and a lot of the story was internal monologue. For me, this was fine, and I enjoyed this novel immensely.

I really liked the friendship between Alyzon, Gilly, Harrison, Raoul and Sarry. I also enjoyed the Whitestarr family daily life.

I liked that this book did not focus on romance at all, but still had just that tad bit because

Spoiler

Harrison and Alyzon really needed to end up together and I'm so glad they did.

Spoiler

I didn't like Serenity/Sybil, and wasn't surprised to see her go the direction that she did. The story is over, but I like to hope that she improved and became a better person, even if it took a while. It does confuse me, though, because I'm sure that she was only thirteen? A little over the top.

lazyowl's review against another edition

5.0

This book was not what I thought it would be. I was expecting a YA story of teenagers dealing with powers and the usual emotions and perils of becoming a young adult, but it was so much more. It tackled some heavy themes and really made me reflect on why people do bad things. Are they inherently evil? How do people become bad? So many philosophical questions went through my mind reading this and every time I put the book down, it would stay with me.
I think this is one book that will be in my thoughts for a while. I highly recommend this book, as I think it can challenge your thinking. It's dark but it's also full of hope as well.

immortalgirl92's review against another edition

3.0

I really liked the first 100 pages but then the pace slowed down so much that I had a hard time wanting to finish this book at all. I'm happy that I did, because the drama at the end of the book made it worth it.

emmafromoz's review against another edition

3.0

I love Isobelle Carmody's writing, but this disappointed me. Maybe the mood I'm in (tonsillitis and school holidays), maybe I've read too many beautifully written books lately, but the quality of the writing lets this idea down. The Obernewtyn Chronicles are tremendous fun - but I suspect part of the trouble with Alyzon Whitestarr is that it is set in our world, and hence our normal rules apply. So gaps in the plot become a serious issue. I did enjoy reading this, but I didn't love it.....

zombiemom54's review against another edition

3.0

Ok so this was a tough book to review. I liked the framework of the story but I didn't like the underlying tone of it. It started out great with the main character able to smell people's essences or souls. And also smell how and what they felt. I thought that was really interesting. Especially when the heartthrob of her high school smells like death warmed over. Seems plausible that someone with a dark spirit would smell like rotten food. Unfortunately the author took it a whole different direction with the claim that this " wrongness" was an infection that some weird guy with the absence of a smelly soul, was passing to as many people as possible. If it had been introduced as a metaphor it would have been a great book. In the end there was a good message ..... the only one who can break your spirit enough to allow the "wrongness" to enter is yourself. But again the push on the fictional infection was a put off for me. There was also a strong protest theme that I didn't care for. Obviously the author has an agenda and used her book as a catalyst. Not a bad summer read and I really liked the characters.

swampmouth's review against another edition

2.0

At first I was completely absorbed in this book. It had interesting characters, a mysterious plot and some beautiful prose. I felt let down as I got towards the end. I'm not sure if it's just how I interpreted it but the last few chapters left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. It seemed overly judgmental and just... it just got on my nerves. I couldn't even pin-point exactly why.