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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Sylo by DJ MacHale is a fast paced, plot-driven dystopian about a high school boy who lives on an island off of Maine, and a drug that is killing people. The CDC and the government get involved to quarantine the island, and residents are not happy about it.
I was surprised that I liked this book as much as I did. When I started it, I struggled that MacHale introduced Olivia in her tiny red bikini. My hackles immediately went up and my brain thought, “Ugh! Another male author writing a misogynistic view of the female body.” I figured I’d see where this was going.I tried to balance that this book was written in 2013, and was written from the perspective of a teenage boy.
Overall, I’m glad I finished Sylo. I’m not sure if I will read the next book in the series or not.
3.5 stars. It took me forever to read this book. Twice I was able to read 100 pages of it in a day, but for a week I read very little. 2 days to read 200 pages, 8 days to read another 200 pages. Very slow story, but the action was good, eventually, and the ending was really cool.
This review originally posted at More Than Just Magic
Are You Afraid of the Dark was a major part of my childhood so when I saw D J MacHale’s name on Sylo I knew I had to read it.
Sylo is a fascinating read. A mysterious virus. A quarantined island. A secret branch of the navy. It would be hard not to get into this story. And of course, with a set up like that, there are going to be some secrets. Sylo has a lot of great twists. You never know quite who to trust. Those who seemed like the “good guys” end up doing something unexpected. Same goes for the “bad guys.” No one is who they appear to be and you have no idea what direction the story is going to go in next.
I also liked that Sylo revolved around a whole cast of characters rather than I single ultra-brave protagonist. It kind of reminded me of Teen Wolf – there may be a main character but every single character is important and you grow attached to all of them in their own special ways. The writing style is very simple and easy to follow. There was nothing flowery or fancy about it. All very straight forward.
I had a few small issues. Nothing major, and nothing that would really keeping me from recommending this book to the right audience. Tucker – our main protagonist – felt a little naive to me. It always seemed to take him a little too catch up with what was going on. To be fair he’s a young boy who’s spent most of time life on an island but still…
Second issue – Cliffhanger! *shakes fist* I am not a fan of the cliffhanger ending. I think even in a series each book should have a self contained arc. Sylo does not. Very few answers are provided by the end of the book, which I personally find frustrating. However, I know others don’t feel this way about cliffhangers. Just a matter of personal preference.
Recommendation: The straight forward writing style and male point-of-view will make this a great read for younger, male teens. Sylo is a fun read that will leave you asking questions and wanting more.
Are You Afraid of the Dark was a major part of my childhood so when I saw D J MacHale’s name on Sylo I knew I had to read it.
Sylo is a fascinating read. A mysterious virus. A quarantined island. A secret branch of the navy. It would be hard not to get into this story. And of course, with a set up like that, there are going to be some secrets. Sylo has a lot of great twists. You never know quite who to trust. Those who seemed like the “good guys” end up doing something unexpected. Same goes for the “bad guys.” No one is who they appear to be and you have no idea what direction the story is going to go in next.
I also liked that Sylo revolved around a whole cast of characters rather than I single ultra-brave protagonist. It kind of reminded me of Teen Wolf – there may be a main character but every single character is important and you grow attached to all of them in their own special ways. The writing style is very simple and easy to follow. There was nothing flowery or fancy about it. All very straight forward.
I had a few small issues. Nothing major, and nothing that would really keeping me from recommending this book to the right audience. Tucker – our main protagonist – felt a little naive to me. It always seemed to take him a little too catch up with what was going on. To be fair he’s a young boy who’s spent most of time life on an island but still…
Second issue – Cliffhanger! *shakes fist* I am not a fan of the cliffhanger ending. I think even in a series each book should have a self contained arc. Sylo does not. Very few answers are provided by the end of the book, which I personally find frustrating. However, I know others don’t feel this way about cliffhangers. Just a matter of personal preference.
Recommendation: The straight forward writing style and male point-of-view will make this a great read for younger, male teens. Sylo is a fun read that will leave you asking questions and wanting more.
Plot was ok, writing was a little repetitive and in-your-face. But it looks like there may be some deeper threads going into the next book; I'm just not sure I want to bother to find out.
In the beginning, I thought it was going to be an alien invasion type of cliche book. I was surprised that it wasn't or I would have returned it in a heartbeat. My only complaint is that there are too many question that are unanswered and I easily predicted Quinn's death. The witty humor was refreshing and I'm glad there was no instalove or any stupidly fast romance trash in this book that caused the main character to make foolish decisions
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was having trouble putting it down, trying to figure out what happened. However, the ending lowered it from 5 stars to 4. I felt that the writing became a little less mature and started to sound fake. I also did not like the ending. Yes, it was a cliffhanger and I was frustrated but I also felt like it truly didn't end one part of the story and lead to another part of the story. NOTHING was answered by the end... I may be able to reevaluate it once I finish Storm but for now I was left as an unsatisfied reader.
SLJ review:
High-school freshman Tucker Pierce lives on isolated Pemberwick Island, just off the coast of Maine. He has the requisite wiseacre best friend, Quinn, and is crushing on two unobtainable girls, Tori and Olivia. But when a series of sudden and mysterious deaths, including one of Tucker's classmates, throws everything he knows into turmoil, it leaves him with no idea where to turn or who to trust. Tucker's conversational, first-person point-of-view draws the reader in as SYLO, a military operation endorsed by the president, takes over the island. It quickly becomes apparent that SYLO forces will stop at nothing to see that everyone stays put. But then Tucker witnesses several cold-blooded killings, and he and his friends are determined to escape to the mainland. Once there, they find more questions than answers, and the story ends with a wide-open cliff-hanger and no resolution whatsoever. With this extremely high-octane story that's the equivalent to a summer movie blockbuster (enough explosions and firepower to put Michael Bay to shame), MacHale kicks off an apocalyptic trilogy sure to leave readers demanding the next installment. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: MacHale is the author of the bestsetting Pendragon series so, clearly, there are more than a few middle-grade kiddos who'll be snapping up this one.--Osborne, Charli -
High-school freshman Tucker Pierce lives on isolated Pemberwick Island, just off the coast of Maine. He has the requisite wiseacre best friend, Quinn, and is crushing on two unobtainable girls, Tori and Olivia. But when a series of sudden and mysterious deaths, including one of Tucker's classmates, throws everything he knows into turmoil, it leaves him with no idea where to turn or who to trust. Tucker's conversational, first-person point-of-view draws the reader in as SYLO, a military operation endorsed by the president, takes over the island. It quickly becomes apparent that SYLO forces will stop at nothing to see that everyone stays put. But then Tucker witnesses several cold-blooded killings, and he and his friends are determined to escape to the mainland. Once there, they find more questions than answers, and the story ends with a wide-open cliff-hanger and no resolution whatsoever. With this extremely high-octane story that's the equivalent to a summer movie blockbuster (enough explosions and firepower to put Michael Bay to shame), MacHale kicks off an apocalyptic trilogy sure to leave readers demanding the next installment. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: MacHale is the author of the bestsetting Pendragon series so, clearly, there are more than a few middle-grade kiddos who'll be snapping up this one.--Osborne, Charli -
A really fun binge read. The entire book take place over a really short period of time, which makes a quick read feel like the right speed! My big complaint is that you can very easily feel the impact of the author being male. The way female characters are written is often painful. With the female characters either being matronly, vapid, or a “not like other girls” girl. With more dimensional female characters this could have been a 5 star read, because the plot is fun to follow.