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A review by pixiebix
Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike
5.0
This book started in the most fantastic, suspensive way: teenage girl in plane accident and is the only survivor, and she has nobody but her best friend Benson and her step- aunt and uncle left. I was captivated by Tavia's personality. Her logic, her clever ways, how she dealt with her traumatised brain. I was beginning to think that this book was going to be amazing, but I found myself disappointed as the story progressed.
Let me just say that at this point I was reading other people's reviews on Goodreads to get a general idea as to whether the story picked up nearer the end. Whilst reading some reviews, I found that some people were getting 'annoyed at Tavia losing her logic'. Of course, that's their opinion, but how could you expect anyone to stay sane, never mind stay smart, if they're going through all those things? Sorry, rant over. Just didn't get it?
Throughout the middle of the story, I was, to put it bluntly, extremely bored. The story was beginning to get predictable, the characters losing their personalities, and the story generally became unenjoyable to read by losing it's power and effect it had on my emotions. Another problem was that I was getting confused as the book started getting too busy, as there were too many things going on. Therefore I had to reread an awful lot to get the facts straight in my head and I frequently thought that the author was trying to cram in too many ideas. I found this a shame as the ideas were unique, exotic, romantic, suspensive–the whole package, basically–but they just didn't fit with the storyline. Whilst on that note I must mention that the general plot seemed all over the place because, as mentioned above, the ideas just didn't fit. By this point I was even considering giving up the book entirely.
Aren't I glad I didn't! During roughly the last 50 pages, I found what I had experienced at the beginning and more: shock-horrors, anticipation, and overall excitement as the true story unfurled.
This book was hard to rate as I had experienced a fantastic novel at both the beginning and end of the book, but a stupid, confusing fantasy throughout. I gave it 5/5 as I felt the magical twist and the general feel to the story deserved it, despite my hard feelings towards it nearer the middle. One thing in particular I liked which I mustn't forget to mention is how well-written it is: the description and overall language is flawless, which strangely is a reason why I didn't give it up in the stages of it I didn't like.
Overall, a good read. I'd say the genre is romance, slightly fantasy and a bit of a mixture between horror and adventure. Average age group 12+. Includes graphic descriptions that may not be suitable to a younger age group.
Let me just say that at this point I was reading other people's reviews on Goodreads to get a general idea as to whether the story picked up nearer the end. Whilst reading some reviews, I found that some people were getting 'annoyed at Tavia losing her logic'. Of course, that's their opinion, but how could you expect anyone to stay sane, never mind stay smart, if they're going through all those things? Sorry, rant over. Just didn't get it?
Throughout the middle of the story, I was, to put it bluntly, extremely bored. The story was beginning to get predictable, the characters losing their personalities, and the story generally became unenjoyable to read by losing it's power and effect it had on my emotions. Another problem was that I was getting confused as the book started getting too busy, as there were too many things going on. Therefore I had to reread an awful lot to get the facts straight in my head and I frequently thought that the author was trying to cram in too many ideas. I found this a shame as the ideas were unique, exotic, romantic, suspensive–the whole package, basically–but they just didn't fit with the storyline. Whilst on that note I must mention that the general plot seemed all over the place because, as mentioned above, the ideas just didn't fit. By this point I was even considering giving up the book entirely.
Aren't I glad I didn't! During roughly the last 50 pages, I found what I had experienced at the beginning and more: shock-horrors, anticipation, and overall excitement as the true story unfurled.
This book was hard to rate as I had experienced a fantastic novel at both the beginning and end of the book, but a stupid, confusing fantasy throughout. I gave it 5/5 as I felt the magical twist and the general feel to the story deserved it, despite my hard feelings towards it nearer the middle. One thing in particular I liked which I mustn't forget to mention is how well-written it is: the description and overall language is flawless, which strangely is a reason why I didn't give it up in the stages of it I didn't like.
Overall, a good read. I'd say the genre is romance, slightly fantasy and a bit of a mixture between horror and adventure. Average age group 12+. Includes graphic descriptions that may not be suitable to a younger age group.