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A review by watry
Deadly Pink by Vivian Vande Velde
3.0
Why I Picked It Up: I first read User Unfriendly years ago, in elementary school. I loved Heir Apparent, too, so of course I chose to finish the trilogy.
Why I finished it: It was short. I didn't dislike the book, but really, that was the only reason I finished. Details below.
SPOILERS
At first I was happy to see a change in the setup from the first two stories--rather than having to rescue themselves from a malfunctioning game, a teenage girl has to rescue her depressed sister from committing suicide with the game. But the sister's problems are all cured about halfway through the book, with a single conversation, and THEN we get the stuck inside the game factor. The book is much too short to give proper attention to both plots, and both are shorted. Also, depression doesn't work that way.
Related to this is the enormous pacing problem that could have been fixed by choosing one plot or the other.
Now, I know this book is meant for readers much younger than me, and this may have caused the book to seem shorter than it is. On the other hand, I immediately re-read User Unfriendly, and it still seems as long and well-paced as it ever did. I think it's the subplots--which probably would have been a much better way for Deadly Pink to go, too.
Why I finished it: It was short. I didn't dislike the book, but really, that was the only reason I finished. Details below.
SPOILERS
At first I was happy to see a change in the setup from the first two stories--rather than having to rescue themselves from a malfunctioning game, a teenage girl has to rescue her depressed sister from committing suicide with the game. But the sister's problems are all cured about halfway through the book, with a single conversation, and THEN we get the stuck inside the game factor. The book is much too short to give proper attention to both plots, and both are shorted. Also, depression doesn't work that way.
Related to this is the enormous pacing problem that could have been fixed by choosing one plot or the other.
Now, I know this book is meant for readers much younger than me, and this may have caused the book to seem shorter than it is. On the other hand, I immediately re-read User Unfriendly, and it still seems as long and well-paced as it ever did. I think it's the subplots--which probably would have been a much better way for Deadly Pink to go, too.