Scan barcode
A review by majorisbooks
Troublemakers by Catherine Barter
2.0
Real rating: 2.5
I won this review in a Goodreads giveaway, in return for an honest review.
I feel bad giving this book such a low rating. Everyone else seems to have really enjoyed it, but I found it frustrating.
It was not at all what I expected from the blurb, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it was also severely frustrating. While it was a good coming of age story, but with a non-conventional family and an accurate, teenage MC (read: highly annoying, with no ability to admit she's wrong).
However, the whole book was just frustrating. The characters had holes, and came across as rather flat. The plot left a lot to be desired, and there was little overarching plot other than 'I want to know who my mother is and no one will tell me', paired with 'we all live slightly in fear of whoever is planting the bombs'. Instead, it felt like a series of side plots rolled together to make a story, but with the important absence of a true ending for most of them. Most of the side characters had entire plots that were only touched upon and never complete, despite having a fully built up line of suspense. Perhaps this was all just a metaphor for the fact life isn't wrapped up in tiny little parcels like a plot, but instead is made the whole book seem rather unsatisfying. Yes, okay,the bomber was inevitably going to be someone entirely unconnected, but there was no need for it to be just suddenly mentioned and then brushed over, without really allowing the reader or the characters to take it in .
The ending, at least, seemed to have a little bit of explanation that made the story of Alena's mother finally make sense, but otherwise I just found the whole thing unsatisfying. I can't even explain why, but there is something that it needed, with so many plot holes and flat characters, to make this book more enjoyable.
I won this review in a Goodreads giveaway, in return for an honest review.
I feel bad giving this book such a low rating. Everyone else seems to have really enjoyed it, but I found it frustrating.
It was not at all what I expected from the blurb, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it was also severely frustrating. While it was a good coming of age story, but with a non-conventional family and an accurate, teenage MC (read: highly annoying, with no ability to admit she's wrong).
However, the whole book was just frustrating. The characters had holes, and came across as rather flat. The plot left a lot to be desired, and there was little overarching plot other than 'I want to know who my mother is and no one will tell me', paired with 'we all live slightly in fear of whoever is planting the bombs'. Instead, it felt like a series of side plots rolled together to make a story, but with the important absence of a true ending for most of them. Most of the side characters had entire plots that were only touched upon and never complete, despite having a fully built up line of suspense. Perhaps this was all just a metaphor for the fact life isn't wrapped up in tiny little parcels like a plot, but instead is made the whole book seem rather unsatisfying. Yes, okay,
The ending, at least, seemed to have a little bit of explanation that made the story of Alena's mother finally make sense, but otherwise I just found the whole thing unsatisfying. I can't even explain why, but there is something that it needed, with so many plot holes and flat characters, to make this book more enjoyable.