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A review by sreddous
Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
I almost DNF'd this book after reading this quotation on page 232: "Inti Raymi is the most important date in the Inca calendar," the prince explained. "It is the time of the summer solstice when the sun is at its farthest point south of the Equator. June twenty-fourth. Today is June twenty-first."
I would assume that the prince of this culture would know that the sun is at its farthest point NORTH of the Equator in June. I would assume that the PRINCE!!!! would know that the SUMMER solstice in the Southern Hemisphere is actually around the time that I'm writing this review, December 21st, give or take. And I am sitting here writing this now in the Northern Hemisphere, and it is cold outside, because the sun is, right now in DECEMBER, at its farthest point south of the Equator. So it is winter here. and summer in Peru. in DECEMBER. Not June. Inti Raymi is about the SHORTEST day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere, not their SUMMER.
Because the PRINCE of this culture would surely not make this mistake, I have to assume that the Northern-Hemisphere-based author or editor just figured it's always summer in June because that's what they're used to in the Northern Hemisphere. And I think it is reasonable for me as a reader to be very, very annoyed that a book all about travel and multiple cultures coming together to solve a problem would make this kind of research/logistics mistakes.
And like. I know that that's just one error, but this is just one thing about this book that I already was not enjoying. I think I'd be willing to forgive a mistake like that if the characters were likable, but that leads into the next point:
Matt as a protagonist is so annoying. There's "a reluctant hero who is scared about going on the journey," and then there's "a character who sounds like they're complaining about every atom of detail in the entire book," and in my opinion Matt is very close to the latter. His chosen-one-ness I found to be very frustrating. I don't feel like he's doing anything other than being passed off to the next point and saved at the last millisecond by an unlikely plot contrivance for pretty much the entire book until maybe the very end. I'm just.... not cheering for him to succeed. I guess I'm cheering for the adults around him to 'use' him? The stakes are high and the pacing is fast, but that's not really helpful when the main character isn't likable.
The depictions of Peru really frustrated me. I'm not saying that we should just ignore a country's hardships and only paint sunshine-and-rainbows pictures, but, jeez. -Everything- Matt narrates to us about Peru is ...very negative. I myself stayed in various cities in Peru for a month earlier this year, and, yes, I saw financial hardship, but I also saw helpful people and delicious healthy food and gorgeous nature and amazing history. So, frankly, I think Matt's depictions are just shallow and wrong. It made me so uncomfortable to hear this privileged boy talk about how brown and dirty everything is. It's possible to be a "fish out of water" in a new place and to be overwhelmed..... and not to overdo it like this, holy crap.
I think if Matt was a true "reluctant hero" instead of a complaining, annoying pawn in the plot, it'd be easier to be immersed in his experiences, both good and bad. But that's not how this is framed. Matt feels, to me, like some brat dragged against his will into a plot, and the whole time he's being dragged, he's going along pointing out negative things. Makes me not want to be immersed in what he's going through.
So, yeah. This book was a very frustrating experience.
I would assume that the prince of this culture would know that the sun is at its farthest point NORTH of the Equator in June. I would assume that the PRINCE!!!! would know that the SUMMER solstice in the Southern Hemisphere is actually around the time that I'm writing this review, December 21st, give or take. And I am sitting here writing this now in the Northern Hemisphere, and it is cold outside, because the sun is, right now in DECEMBER, at its farthest point south of the Equator. So it is winter here. and summer in Peru. in DECEMBER. Not June. Inti Raymi is about the SHORTEST day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere, not their SUMMER.
Because the PRINCE of this culture would surely not make this mistake, I have to assume that the Northern-Hemisphere-based author or editor just figured it's always summer in June because that's what they're used to in the Northern Hemisphere. And I think it is reasonable for me as a reader to be very, very annoyed that a book all about travel and multiple cultures coming together to solve a problem would make this kind of research/logistics mistakes.
And like. I know that that's just one error, but this is just one thing about this book that I already was not enjoying. I think I'd be willing to forgive a mistake like that if the characters were likable, but that leads into the next point:
Matt as a protagonist is so annoying. There's "a reluctant hero who is scared about going on the journey," and then there's "a character who sounds like they're complaining about every atom of detail in the entire book," and in my opinion Matt is very close to the latter. His chosen-one-ness I found to be very frustrating. I don't feel like he's doing anything other than being passed off to the next point and saved at the last millisecond by an unlikely plot contrivance for pretty much the entire book until maybe the very end. I'm just.... not cheering for him to succeed. I guess I'm cheering for the adults around him to 'use' him? The stakes are high and the pacing is fast, but that's not really helpful when the main character isn't likable.
The depictions of Peru really frustrated me. I'm not saying that we should just ignore a country's hardships and only paint sunshine-and-rainbows pictures, but, jeez. -Everything- Matt narrates to us about Peru is ...very negative. I myself stayed in various cities in Peru for a month earlier this year, and, yes, I saw financial hardship, but I also saw helpful people and delicious healthy food and gorgeous nature and amazing history. So, frankly, I think Matt's depictions are just shallow and wrong. It made me so uncomfortable to hear this privileged boy talk about how brown and dirty everything is. It's possible to be a "fish out of water" in a new place and to be overwhelmed..... and not to overdo it like this, holy crap.
I think if Matt was a true "reluctant hero" instead of a complaining, annoying pawn in the plot, it'd be easier to be immersed in his experiences, both good and bad. But that's not how this is framed. Matt feels, to me, like some brat dragged against his will into a plot, and the whole time he's being dragged, he's going along pointing out negative things. Makes me not want to be immersed in what he's going through.
So, yeah. This book was a very frustrating experience.