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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Complicated
I read this to my 9 year old who loves books about animals. The preview looked so good, I wish it had been a little more clear that this was set in a dystopian world. We read 2/3rd of the way through until my son asked to stop. It was too stressful for him (every human adult up to that point was a nasty type of villain and the amount of killing of animals was pretty intense). The main characters were not very well developed either.
I found the writing stilted and not fun to read aloud. I finished the book and did feel like the ending wrapped things up somewhat but not enough to change the negative parts of the book. We disliked the unfortunate way fat was used as a negative description so often. The plot was inventive and somewhat interesting, I can imagine liking it as a movie better than this read.
I found the writing stilted and not fun to read aloud. I finished the book and did feel like the ending wrapped things up somewhat but not enough to change the negative parts of the book. We disliked the unfortunate way fat was used as a negative description so often. The plot was inventive and somewhat interesting, I can imagine liking it as a movie better than this read.
"The Last Wild" by Piers Torday drew me in because of the beautiful cover art and the captivating blurb, but as I went on reading it, I got more and more perplexed.
I get it, it's a children's book, I shouldn't expect it to be scientifically accurate, but some major plot points went simply too far.
How can I get excited for a quest that makes no sense at all? This novel revolves around bringing back animal species from the brink of extinction... when you have only one single individual from the species! A male, for heaven's sake! My suspension of disbelief can get on board with talking animals, but not with this, sorry. Am I supposed to believe that when the protagonist saves the life of the last stag on earth, he somehow will have saved deers? There are no does left!
Besides, there are too many nonsensical plotholes: how did the herbivores of the last wild survive, if all the plants have been destroyed? How did the carnivores survive, if all the herbivores but very few have been killed?
Also, how can the animals refer to the plague known to the humans as "Red eye" calling it "Berry eye", if they don't use the word "berry" at all? When Kester asks the animals what do they call a berry, they say they simply call it "food".
And why do the farmers capture the animals and immediately prepare to eat them? This is not just villainous, it's pretty stupid on their part. They're farmers, they should try and breed the animals in captivity in order to have a steady supply of them, rather than kill them all at once, have one big feast and then go back to starving to death.
I get it, it's a children's book, and as such it's entertaining enough, but a bare minimum of credibility and coherence is required, even for kids' fiction.
I get it, it's a children's book, I shouldn't expect it to be scientifically accurate, but some major plot points went simply too far.
How can I get excited for a quest that makes no sense at all? This novel revolves around bringing back animal species from the brink of extinction... when you have only one single individual from the species! A male, for heaven's sake! My suspension of disbelief can get on board with talking animals, but not with this, sorry. Am I supposed to believe that when the protagonist saves the life of the last stag on earth, he somehow will have saved deers? There are no does left!
Besides, there are too many nonsensical plotholes: how did the herbivores of the last wild survive, if all the plants have been destroyed? How did the carnivores survive, if all the herbivores but very few have been killed?
Also, how can the animals refer to the plague known to the humans as "Red eye" calling it "Berry eye", if they don't use the word "berry" at all? When Kester asks the animals what do they call a berry, they say they simply call it "food".
And why do the farmers capture the animals and immediately prepare to eat them? This is not just villainous, it's pretty stupid on their part. They're farmers, they should try and breed the animals in captivity in order to have a steady supply of them, rather than kill them all at once, have one big feast and then go back to starving to death.
I get it, it's a children's book, and as such it's entertaining enough, but a bare minimum of credibility and coherence is required, even for kids' fiction.
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Brilliant book. Like a mix of James and the Giant Peach and Lord of the Rings.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
sad
slow-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
An original, fresh idea. What if a boy who cannot talk to humans can talk to animals. And what if he's the only one who can save them. An interesting mix of fantasy and dystopian lit.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was okay. I liked the talking to animals angle, especially the different personalities of the stag, cockroach, wolf cub & especially the one errant pigeon. It was a pretty good quest/adventure story, but somehow didn't quite push over into the totally awesome & edge-of-your seat kind of read, and the ending fell a little flat for me. Good, but not great.
Holy buckets! What a great book! Now I need the sequel. And a salad.