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A review by amber_hastings
The Storm Keeper's Island by Catherine Doyle
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Firstly this is a beautiful-looking book! The cover and typesetting is stunning.
Secondly I loved the concept, and especially the unique form of time travel — to capture memories in candle wax and revisit them when you burn the candle! There were two great time travel-related twists/surprises, too, which caught me off guard and made me quite emotional.
Thirdly the writing could be quite flowery and far too simile-heavy, but I appreciated that this was an adventure story filled with poetic descriptions.
But overall I felt this book underdelivered on what could have been a much more tense, emotional, thrilling plot. A few things that kept cropping up for me:
- What is a Storm Keeper and why does this island need one? Fionn and Tara are from the mainland, where magic isn't real. I didn't feel like they questioned enough why magic is real here. I also kept wondering why Fionn couldn't probe a bit harder to understand what the Storm Keeper actually does.
- I never got a sense of the island itself apart from that it 'breathes' and has magic running through it.
- What does Fionn want right now? Is it to be a Storm Keeper? For his mum to get over er depression? To learn more about his Dad? To get his Dad back? To find the Sea Cave and wish his mum better? All can be true but I was never quite sure what to place more value on, which meant Fionn's motivations felt murky. Without knowing or believing in his motivations I struggled to care about his journey.
- Fionn was always going to be the Storm Keeper. I don't know if it was intentional to make it so obvious but for me it took away any anticipation that he might not be the chosen one. It would have been more exciting if there was doubt about him being chosen, or if he had rejected it.
- There is equal weight given to the smaller antagonist (the Beasley boy) and the big antagonist (Morrigan) and it's unclear who we should be most afraid of. Again this ties into Fionn not knowing what he wants. It also means the obstacles Beasley puts in Fionn's way feel pretty minor compared to the threat of Morrigan.
- Two-dimensional main character. I feel like Fionn had so much potential for growth and development, but it never really got there for him.
- Two-dimensional grandfather character who was too prone to making poignant statements.
- Overly mature, unrealistic dialogue, especially between the children. It all feels very middle class.
Secondly I loved the concept, and especially the unique form of time travel — to capture memories in candle wax and revisit them when you burn the candle! There were two great time travel-related twists/surprises, too, which caught me off guard and made me quite emotional.
Thirdly the writing could be quite flowery and far too simile-heavy, but I appreciated that this was an adventure story filled with poetic descriptions.
But overall I felt this book underdelivered on what could have been a much more tense, emotional, thrilling plot. A few things that kept cropping up for me:
- What is a Storm Keeper and why does this island need one? Fionn and Tara are from the mainland, where magic isn't real. I didn't feel like they questioned enough why magic is real here. I also kept wondering why Fionn couldn't probe a bit harder to understand what the Storm Keeper actually does.
- I never got a sense of the island itself apart from that it 'breathes' and has magic running through it.
- What does Fionn want right now? Is it to be a Storm Keeper? For his mum to get over er depression? To learn more about his Dad? To get his Dad back? To find the Sea Cave and wish his mum better? All can be true but I was never quite sure what to place more value on, which meant Fionn's motivations felt murky. Without knowing or believing in his motivations I struggled to care about his journey.
- Fionn was always going to be the Storm Keeper. I don't know if it was intentional to make it so obvious but for me it took away any anticipation that he might not be the chosen one. It would have been more exciting if there was doubt about him being chosen, or if he had rejected it.
- There is equal weight given to the smaller antagonist (the Beasley boy) and the big antagonist (Morrigan) and it's unclear who we should be most afraid of. Again this ties into Fionn not knowing what he wants. It also means the obstacles Beasley puts in Fionn's way feel pretty minor compared to the threat of Morrigan.
- Two-dimensional main character. I feel like Fionn had so much potential for growth and development, but it never really got there for him.
- Two-dimensional grandfather character who was too prone to making poignant statements.
- Overly mature, unrealistic dialogue, especially between the children. It all feels very middle class.