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A review by kelforrest
The Doldrums by Nicholas Gannon
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
It's a nice book and the illustrations are AMAZING. The interesting formatting of the book, along with sections with letters and audio tapes and such were really cool additions and are what pushes the book up by a lot.
However, the story itself was pretty bland. Some stuff, like the mishearing of "library" as "Thai ferry" because of a French accent, felt forced in and a bit dumb. The whole book was essentially hyping us up for a journey that just didn't happen - I get it, they're kids, the whole point is they have wild imaginations, but I wish there was just a bit more adventure. I loved the bits in the school, and the characters were cute and fun, but it felt like I was constantly being hyped up for something that just didn't happen.
While Adélaïde was fun and her wooden leg was pretty good disability rep, being shown in a very positive light and Adélaïde not being othered by the author, some other stuff like 99% of the women being really mean and stubborn for no apparent reason and the use of masculine/stereotypically ugly traits on a woman to make her seem mean and scary just felt a bit pointless.
It also just got a bit boring at points. Especially when I started realising that they weren't going to go to Antarctica, I was like "well what's the point" because sometimes it just felt like stuff was happening for no reason really, and because the characters didn't get a whole lot of development or a moment where they realised they were wrong, it all just felt like nothing.
Theoretically this book could've been awesome, and it was really unique in some aspects. I'm definitely willing to read the next one at some point, but this one was sadly a bit disappointing.
However, the story itself was pretty bland. Some stuff, like the mishearing of "library" as "Thai ferry" because of a French accent, felt forced in and a bit dumb. The whole book was essentially hyping us up for a journey that just didn't happen - I get it, they're kids, the whole point is they have wild imaginations, but I wish there was just a bit more adventure. I loved the bits in the school, and the characters were cute and fun, but it felt like I was constantly being hyped up for something that just didn't happen.
While Adélaïde was fun and her wooden leg was pretty good disability rep, being shown in a very positive light and Adélaïde not being othered by the author, some other stuff like 99% of the women being really mean and stubborn for no apparent reason and the use of masculine/stereotypically ugly traits on a woman to make her seem mean and scary just felt a bit pointless.
It also just got a bit boring at points. Especially when I started realising that they weren't going to go to Antarctica, I was like "well what's the point" because sometimes it just felt like stuff was happening for no reason really, and because the characters didn't get a whole lot of development or a moment where they realised they were wrong, it all just felt like nothing.
Theoretically this book could've been awesome, and it was really unique in some aspects. I'm definitely willing to read the next one at some point, but this one was sadly a bit disappointing.