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A review by paradoxically
Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
4.0
When you first start this book you may be tempted to put it down. The writing seem juvenile, the characters trite. Boo hoo, super special girl and her emotionally distant father with no mother in sight. Where have you seen that before? You get a lot of why the girl, Kali, is special, without really thinking that she is special other than her super powers that, in a twist, only work every other day.
It doesn't seem promising at first. Then you read some more and think, "Well, it's not so bad." Then you read a lot more and say, "Huh. Maybe this is pretty good." And then the book gets rolling and things really start to happen and you find yourself caught up in Kali's world, flipping from one page to the next in eager anticipation. It's almost galling that the beginning of the book was so terrible. Why couldn't it have been great from the start? But I suppose that's a lot better than it happening in reverse.
Once the book starts moving it becomes very good. Kali is a wonderful main character. She's lonely, strong, and kind of emotionally constipated. Hey, it happens to the best of us. She has a hero complex a mile long and pretty much jumps in head first because it's kind of what she does. She's pretty fantastic all around. The side characters are all rather good. Each of them have their distinct personalities and always a little more depth to them (except, perhaps, some of the peripheral characters that don't do much).
The plot was gripping. You have Kali and the rest caught up in a greater conspiracy than she first thinks. Not so original, but the author keeps the entire book entertaining and suspenseful (except for that pesky beginning that was all around unfortunate). It's just done well. The ending was especially strong. It kept you on the edge of your seat. It broke your heart. It made you cheer and it made you want to spit nails. Let's just say that the ending fit and it fit very, very well.
A great book. Once you get past the bumpy beginning (if I rated it by the beginning alone it'd get 1-2 stars) it suddenly smooths out and becomes a blast to read. 4 stars.
It doesn't seem promising at first. Then you read some more and think, "Well, it's not so bad." Then you read a lot more and say, "Huh. Maybe this is pretty good." And then the book gets rolling and things really start to happen and you find yourself caught up in Kali's world, flipping from one page to the next in eager anticipation. It's almost galling that the beginning of the book was so terrible. Why couldn't it have been great from the start? But I suppose that's a lot better than it happening in reverse.
Once the book starts moving it becomes very good. Kali is a wonderful main character. She's lonely, strong, and kind of emotionally constipated. Hey, it happens to the best of us. She has a hero complex a mile long and pretty much jumps in head first because it's kind of what she does. She's pretty fantastic all around. The side characters are all rather good. Each of them have their distinct personalities and always a little more depth to them (except, perhaps, some of the peripheral characters that don't do much).
The plot was gripping. You have Kali and the rest caught up in a greater conspiracy than she first thinks. Not so original, but the author keeps the entire book entertaining and suspenseful (except for that pesky beginning that was all around unfortunate). It's just done well. The ending was especially strong. It kept you on the edge of your seat. It broke your heart. It made you cheer and it made you want to spit nails. Let's just say that the ending fit and it fit very, very well.
A great book. Once you get past the bumpy beginning (if I rated it by the beginning alone it'd get 1-2 stars) it suddenly smooths out and becomes a blast to read. 4 stars.