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A review by stephxsu
Luminous by Dawn Metcalf
3.0
LUMINOUS was…interesting. Okay, “interesting” might be a tad generous. LUMINOUS is ambitious, and beautifully written, but at times it was a confusing and emotionally distant read for me.
Dawn Metcalf’s writing is astounding, an awe-inspiring combination between the rhythmic hypnotism of freestyle poetry and deliciousness of rich and unusual prose. This is something I feel like I don’t see much of in current YA, that I wouldn’t mind seeing more of, these creative risks with writing style.
The concept of the Flow is very intriguing, and certainly unlike anything I’ve read. True to the whimsy of the writing style, the Flow is never fully explained, or at least is not explained in a way that solidifies its presence and purpose for me. Thus, my head was spinning for a great portion of the book, because I had never fully grasped the concept.
The same goes for the characters. LUMINOUS shifts between multiple characters’ points of view rather arbitrarily, making it so that the identity of the murderer is not long a secret. I would be alright with this, except that I felt like the murderer’s justification for his cold-blooded actions was only partially explored, and existed mostly in circular monologues declaiming his self-importance or the righteousness of his motives. Consuela did not feel as developed as she could’ve been, either. So she has this astounding new talent, and wants very much to return home to her family, but beyond that she did not seem to have much else to make her really “fill out” as a three-dimensional character. My lack of connection to the characters, along with the book’s uneven pacing—I was intrigued at the beginning, and then felt like things were dragging on and on—left me feeling a little “on the outside” of the story.
Still, LUMINOUS packs some powerful and thought-provoking themes, and may be extremely rewarding for the patient reader who likes the supernatural challenge. Check it out if it seems up your alley or if you want something different.
Dawn Metcalf’s writing is astounding, an awe-inspiring combination between the rhythmic hypnotism of freestyle poetry and deliciousness of rich and unusual prose. This is something I feel like I don’t see much of in current YA, that I wouldn’t mind seeing more of, these creative risks with writing style.
The concept of the Flow is very intriguing, and certainly unlike anything I’ve read. True to the whimsy of the writing style, the Flow is never fully explained, or at least is not explained in a way that solidifies its presence and purpose for me. Thus, my head was spinning for a great portion of the book, because I had never fully grasped the concept.
The same goes for the characters. LUMINOUS shifts between multiple characters’ points of view rather arbitrarily, making it so that the identity of the murderer is not long a secret. I would be alright with this, except that I felt like the murderer’s justification for his cold-blooded actions was only partially explored, and existed mostly in circular monologues declaiming his self-importance or the righteousness of his motives. Consuela did not feel as developed as she could’ve been, either. So she has this astounding new talent, and wants very much to return home to her family, but beyond that she did not seem to have much else to make her really “fill out” as a three-dimensional character. My lack of connection to the characters, along with the book’s uneven pacing—I was intrigued at the beginning, and then felt like things were dragging on and on—left me feeling a little “on the outside” of the story.
Still, LUMINOUS packs some powerful and thought-provoking themes, and may be extremely rewarding for the patient reader who likes the supernatural challenge. Check it out if it seems up your alley or if you want something different.