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A review by booksandlemonsquash
The Island by M.A. Bennett
3.0
I received this book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed the middle part of this book, where they were beginning to sort things out and before it started getting weird. But I have issues with the start and the end.
The start, mostly because I didn’t feel that Lincoln’s parents would send him to that school in the first place! They’ve done no sports with him at all and send him to a sports centric school? I get that there’s a deal with the university but just didn’t seem right at all. Other than that though, while it was a little long winded, I really liked how well it showed the impact of the bullying.
The end is more complicated. I’ll talk about the middle first - I loved the start on the island. I liked how Lincoln took charge, and I even liked how he was pushing to keep it and how he dealt with every thing initially. I liked how the team pulled together (mostly!) and settled into island life.
I’m not going to spoil anything, but it’s hard to talk about the end without doing so! I saw part of the twist. I didn’t see the main bit, though wasn’t that surprised by it. But I sort of liked how far things all went, even if I was busy being creeped out by it all. The main issue I had was with basically everything post twist. I would NOT have been okay with that reveal.
Also the epilogue was definitely ott for me. Unnecessary!
The other thing I want to mention is that, for a British author, there were definitely some moments that weren’t. Not just cause of link either - one of the others says High School at some point which threw me. Oh and also, in year 9, when Link would have started, Seb was already toppers? Ahead of all the other people in the entire school? Seemed unrealistic even if he is the only quarters man in the school. And I know private schools are odd, but the whole system being based on one race time, down to what unrelated clubs you could join? Ugh.
This is a lot of rant for a book I didn’t hate, and I think that’s because I really wanted there to be more to it.
I really enjoyed the middle part of this book, where they were beginning to sort things out and before it started getting weird. But I have issues with the start and the end.
The start, mostly because I didn’t feel that Lincoln’s parents would send him to that school in the first place! They’ve done no sports with him at all and send him to a sports centric school? I get that there’s a deal with the university but just didn’t seem right at all. Other than that though, while it was a little long winded, I really liked how well it showed the impact of the bullying.
The end is more complicated. I’ll talk about the middle first - I loved the start on the island. I liked how Lincoln took charge, and I even liked how he was pushing to keep it and how he dealt with every thing initially. I liked how the team pulled together (mostly!) and settled into island life.
I’m not going to spoil anything, but it’s hard to talk about the end without doing so! I saw part of the twist. I didn’t see the main bit, though wasn’t that surprised by it. But I sort of liked how far things all went, even if I was busy being creeped out by it all. The main issue I had was with basically everything post twist. I would NOT have been okay with that reveal.
Also the epilogue was definitely ott for me. Unnecessary!
The other thing I want to mention is that, for a British author, there were definitely some moments that weren’t. Not just cause of link either - one of the others says High School at some point which threw me. Oh and also, in year 9, when Link would have started, Seb was already toppers? Ahead of all the other people in the entire school? Seemed unrealistic even if he is the only quarters man in the school. And I know private schools are odd, but the whole system being based on one race time, down to what unrelated clubs you could join? Ugh.
This is a lot of rant for a book I didn’t hate, and I think that’s because I really wanted there to be more to it.