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librosconte's review against another edition
3.0
⚠️ trigger warnings: virus, epidemia, cuarentena, muertes (muchas), intento de suicidio.
"When is the virus ever going to be satisfied?
When does this stop? Why can't it just leave us alone?"
No voy a negarles, empecé esto porque me sentía con el mood re acorde a leer un libro de virus. Y, si recuerdan, la primera semana de la cuarentena, allá por marzo (uf, se sienten siglos) leí Wilder Girls, aunque en mi defensa entré a leer ese sin saber que los personajes estaban en cuarentena😅
Bueno, pero esta vez sí, fue por propia voluntad. Tenía esta trilogía en la mira desde hace muchos años porque amo las portadas y sus títulos en español (en inglés son👎) y finalmente me digné a leerla aprovechando el mood.
En Aislados nos encontramos en una isla, en la cual hay un brote de un virus y, por lo tanto, se pone en cuarentena toda la isla para que no se expanda al resto dr la población. Nuestra protagonista se llama Kaelyn, una adolescente de 16 años, si mal no recuerdo, hija de un microbiólogo.
La historia está narrada desde el punto de vista de la protagonista y en formato de cartas. Toooda la novela son cartas que Kaelyn le escribe a su mejor amigo, Leo, quien hace poco se mudó afuera de la isla. Los capítulos son cortos y amenos, y la historia entretiene, pero lamentablemente la narración no me terminó de convencer del todo. Creo que hubiese conectado más con la historia si no hubiese estado narrado en forma epistolar.
La primera parte del libro engancha, intriga mucho y, por ende, se lee rápido. Pero una vez que llegás a la mitad, sentí que la historia seguía sin mucha necesidad. Considerando que esto es una trilogía, no sé que más quería comentar al respecto en este primer libro pero lo sentí con bastante relleno.
"Seems to me they're sick too. Sick with fear. Sick with selfishness."
Lamentablemente, se me hizo bastante juvenil. A veces lo sentía más como un juvenil contemporáneo con virus que ciencia ficción juvenil. No era lo que yo estaba buscando.
Y ustedes dirán "¿por qué te pusiste a leer un libro juvenil si no era lo que querías?", y es que Virus Letal de James Dashner me encantó! Es juvenil, es distópico, hay un virus; es prefecto🤩 Pero lamentablemente Aislados terminó pasando sin pena ni gloria.
Además, como es una trilogía, tenía esperanzas con que fuese un post apocalíptico lleno de acción. Y no pasó.
Otro aspecto negativo que le encontré a la historia es que la protagonista, quien, como dije, es adolescente, a veces tenía pensamientos y actitudes pertenecientes a su edad, y esto está perfecto. Pero luego a veces se empezaba a preguntar cosas sobre el virus y qué hacer con esto, y con lo otro, y que si el virus tarda tanto tiempo en matar al infectado, y que si una persona infectada se podía volver a contagiar, etc etc etc(?). Y se ponía a investigar y cosas así, que no me parecían actitudes de una adolescente. En medio de una epidemia, a una adolescente no creo que le importe mucho el tema del virus y se empiece a cuestionar cosas. He sido adolescente en medio de la pandemia de la influenza y la verdad que a mi me resbalaba tres quinotos la pandemia😅😂 Con decirles que no quería ponerme barbijo porque me parecía "cualquiera" les digo todo😅 Pero la niña de esta novela a veces tenía actitudes no acordes a su edad. Está bien, tu padre es microbiólogo, but still... No me terminaba de cerrar. No me pareció para nada creíble ese aspecto.
Ahora, pasando a hablar de aspectos positivos, el virus. Como mencioné anteriormente, el virus no es el centro de la trama al 100%, pero es una parte importante y está todo muy bien reflejado. La epidemia, la cuarentena, los síntomas del resfrío, el pánico, todo muy real👏 Y eso es lo más importante, para mi, de una novela de virus, el lograr un relato super creíble, factible, tan real que al relacionarlo con nuestra situación actual no encuentres muchas diferencias. Y eso pasó👏
Además de lo realista del virus, las muertes. Me encantaron. Si son de esos lectores que no les gusta que muera nadie, no creo que esta sea su novela😅 Pero yo aprecié muchísimo las muertes porque en esta novela hay cero escrúpulos al respecto. Se infecta el que se infecta, muere el que muere, sin importar si eran personajes importantes en la historia o si estaban relacionados a los protagonistas. Y esto estuvo perfecto porque hizo aún más real la epidemia.
Sumado a todo esto, hay un par de escenas fuertes que, de nuevo, se super aprecian y agradecen por brindarle más realismo a la enfermedad.
"This is what we do. We make tea, we read books and watch people die."
En resumen, una novela juvenil entretenida y realista. Dejando de lado el drama juvenil que cada tanto aparece, es una novela que entretiene. Es muy realista (tan realista que mueren personajes importantes en la historia porque la vida es así, los virus son así. Atacan sin escrúpulos(?) pero a veces tiene mucho relleno. El final queda abierto, por supuesto, es una trilogía, pero no creo necesaria la existencia de más libros siguiendo esta historia. Al menos yo, no planeo seguir con la saga.
--- Reseña completa en mi bookstagram: Libros con(té)
pollyroth's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Stars
Do not, under any circumstances, read this book with a cold. That makes it all too real.
Do not, under any circumstances, read this book with a cold. That makes it all too real.
lazygal's review against another edition
4.0
Not a dystopia, but a rather realistic look at what could happen if a virulent virus strikes - just think of the hysteria surrounding MRSA, SARS, the H1N1 virus, etc.. The unrealistic part is that this is set on an island just off Canada, and thus easy to quarantine.
Kaelyn is a typical teen, except that she's living on a small island (one of the Summer People/Year-Rounders type of island). Her peers aren't quite sure what to make of her, as she's recently returned from several years in Toronto, but that's good because she can be a "new Kaelyn". Something has happened to her friendship with Leo and she starts an epistolary journal to try to mend that rift, but when the virus strikes it becomes a log of what's going on on the island.
It was interesting that the Canadian authorities' response to the problem is to quarantine the island, allowing no one on or off. Predictably there's a Lord of the Flies group of boys that start to take/steal the food and supplies, and just as predictably there's a group that tries to keep things running smoothly. Kaelyn's family is affected, in that her mother dies of the virus, her brother disappears to the mainland, her father is the doctor trying to help and she herself gets sick. While most of her reactions to what's going on seem real, I did expect a little more fear and anger, particularly at the government's decision to virtually abandon the island.
That this is the start to a series is problematic for me (I know, that's my Big Bugaboo), because without it this could be a great read for science and ethics classes.
ARC provided by publisher.
Kaelyn is a typical teen, except that she's living on a small island (one of the Summer People/Year-Rounders type of island). Her peers aren't quite sure what to make of her, as she's recently returned from several years in Toronto, but that's good because she can be a "new Kaelyn". Something has happened to her friendship with Leo and she starts an epistolary journal to try to mend that rift, but when the virus strikes it becomes a log of what's going on on the island.
It was interesting that the Canadian authorities' response to the problem is to quarantine the island, allowing no one on or off. Predictably there's a Lord of the Flies group of boys that start to take/steal the food and supplies, and just as predictably there's a group that tries to keep things running smoothly. Kaelyn's family is affected, in that her mother dies of the virus, her brother disappears to the mainland, her father is the doctor trying to help and she herself gets sick. While most of her reactions to what's going on seem real, I did expect a little more fear and anger, particularly at the government's decision to virtually abandon the island.
That this is the start to a series is problematic for me (I know, that's my Big Bugaboo), because without it this could be a great read for science and ethics classes.
ARC provided by publisher.
siobhan27's review against another edition
4.0
I am a huge fan of dystopian novels, I think you can tell from the amount of that genre I actually read, But The Way We Fall was different and very surprising. I did not expect to open this book and watch as the world she created fell apart in front of my eyes. I am so used to reading about a collapsed world that already exists and hear the back-story about how it actually happened. But Megan chose to go a different route and show how everything happened, from beginning to end.
The book is written in journal form, which I found very interesting, especially since it was written as a long letter to her former friend Leo who moved away before everything happened. It made everything that much more personal, and made for a very interesting way of telling a story, because since we are seeing everything through Kaelyn's eyes, we tend to miss things along the way. And this actually helps with the mystery of the whole thing.
I loved that the story was so dark and bleak, because that is the way Kaelyn was feeling most of the time, and I loved Kaelyn as a character. She was so loyal and good. She wanted nothing more than to have her family and friends around her, but that all changed when she moved away with her family and then came back a year before the plague hit. Kaelyn is the kind of character you can get behind as a reader, especially when you take into account of all the things that happen to her throughout the book.
I found it very interesting the amount of information we learn about Leo and his role in Kealyn's life just from her writing to him. I loved that part, and I have a feeling he will be a big part of the next book, which makes for a very interesting scenario considering the love interest that Kealyn acquired in The Way We Fall. Gav was a great secondary character because he showed us a different side of Kaelyn that we didn't see through her writing and it was with him that she became the girl she always told Leo she would be. And I loved that.
This is a great dystopian novel that will have you guessing from the very beginning. Your heart will race and your heart will break after everything is over, but I will tel you this, it is worth it. This novel takes a concept that has been done over and over again and gives it facelift. An amazing book.
The book is written in journal form, which I found very interesting, especially since it was written as a long letter to her former friend Leo who moved away before everything happened. It made everything that much more personal, and made for a very interesting way of telling a story, because since we are seeing everything through Kaelyn's eyes, we tend to miss things along the way. And this actually helps with the mystery of the whole thing.
I loved that the story was so dark and bleak, because that is the way Kaelyn was feeling most of the time, and I loved Kaelyn as a character. She was so loyal and good. She wanted nothing more than to have her family and friends around her, but that all changed when she moved away with her family and then came back a year before the plague hit. Kaelyn is the kind of character you can get behind as a reader, especially when you take into account of all the things that happen to her throughout the book.
I found it very interesting the amount of information we learn about Leo and his role in Kealyn's life just from her writing to him. I loved that part, and I have a feeling he will be a big part of the next book, which makes for a very interesting scenario considering the love interest that Kealyn acquired in The Way We Fall. Gav was a great secondary character because he showed us a different side of Kaelyn that we didn't see through her writing and it was with him that she became the girl she always told Leo she would be. And I loved that.
This is a great dystopian novel that will have you guessing from the very beginning. Your heart will race and your heart will break after everything is over, but I will tel you this, it is worth it. This novel takes a concept that has been done over and over again and gives it facelift. An amazing book.
ashwilson's review against another edition
5.0
This book had me jumping every time I heard someone clearing their throat or saw them scratching an itch! Such a good read! I can't wait to read the next in the series.
emlizzy's review against another edition
4.0
My rating is actually more like a solid 3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book. I first read it about a year ago - I was drawn in by the premise of an outbreak on an island, told from the perspective of a teenage girl through her diary/letters to her former best friend/crush. I just got done reading it again - I wanted to refresh my memory before jumping into the second book, The Lives We Lost.
The first third or so of the book was a little slow for me. I think it was meant to build tension, but it also didn't really fully engage me or pull me in either. However, once some of the central characters started getting sick, it picked up for me... And by the end of the book I found myself looking forward to diving into the second book (which I'll be starting as soon as I'm done with this review).
My one key complaint was that some of the character development felt a little thin. I like having rich physical descriptions so that I can picture the characters. Although there was certainly some description embedded throughout the story, I still felt like I couldn't really get a clear vision - I'm not totally sure why that was. The development of some of the friendships and love-interests also seemed a little thin. However, I reminded myself that it was written in a diary/letter perspective, and perhaps that limited the author in how much detail she could realistically provide.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and look forward to reading the next in the series! Like much of the YA fiction I read these days, I wish more books like this had been available when I was a teenager :)
The first third or so of the book was a little slow for me. I think it was meant to build tension, but it also didn't really fully engage me or pull me in either. However, once some of the central characters started getting sick, it picked up for me... And by the end of the book I found myself looking forward to diving into the second book (which I'll be starting as soon as I'm done with this review).
My one key complaint was that some of the character development felt a little thin. I like having rich physical descriptions so that I can picture the characters. Although there was certainly some description embedded throughout the story, I still felt like I couldn't really get a clear vision - I'm not totally sure why that was. The development of some of the friendships and love-interests also seemed a little thin. However, I reminded myself that it was written in a diary/letter perspective, and perhaps that limited the author in how much detail she could realistically provide.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and look forward to reading the next in the series! Like much of the YA fiction I read these days, I wish more books like this had been available when I was a teenager :)