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A review by sapphicaffair
One False Note by Gordon Korman
4.0
I admit, I liked the first book a bit more than this one but it was still great. You see, the thing is that everyone has a different writing style, and the problem with reading a book series with more than one writer is that the minute you get used to a certain writing style it changes up on you. Personally I really enjoyed Rick Riordan's writing in the first book; I loved how he described certain things and switched point of views after every chapter to keep it refreshing and new. I guess I just expected it to be the same but this was written by a different writer so this writing style was way different than the first book.
However, the taste of broccoli in no way changes the taste of chocolate. So, for me this book was a 4-star book because it was still intriguing but there was definitely room for improvement. It felt a bit disorganized, with just a lot of random fighting and randomness thrown in together. Variety was an issue for me too, there weren't as many scenes including the other contest members or Nelly as much. The small Ian and Natalie scenes they DID have weren't as great either. Usually Ian is so neutral and in control and Natalie is pretty much a spoiled brat but in this book Ian looses him temper REALLY easily and actually yells whereas before seeing him make the smallest movement was a MAJOR expression. I don't know, they just seemed out of character. I thought the glowing tube from the last book was going to be used here but we don't read anything about it. *spoiler alert* The tracker though, was a great idea, I did like that part so kudos to you. **
The amount of fighting Amy and Dan had in this book irritated me a bit because it seemed a bit out of character. I mean we have these two kids who practically only have each other, a cat and an Au pair; You'd think that would only bring them closer but I admit it was 100% realistic because I mean, it's completely natural for siblings to fight. Their grandma just died and they have so many unresolved emotions going on which they haven't had time to process yet because of the search and stuff. They went though the first 2 stages of grief; Fist denial at the funeral and denial about what the 39 clues are and how they could possibly be involved in such a big part of history. Then they started accepting it, started their search for the clue hunt and that slowly transferred to the 2nd stage which is anger. Anger at Grace for not warning them ahead of time about the clues and anger at each other, more in this book than in the last. Amy is an amazing bad-ass when she wants to be but she does annoy me at times, she treats Dan like he's stupid. Like, he'll be sitting there and ask a genuine question and she'll be like 'Oh you're so dumb' and make him feel bad for not knowing. Although she IS the older sister so that may play a huge part because we all know bigger sisters are the know-it-alls and she does have a right to it because it's a big part of who she is, she doesn't just 'know' these things. She reads and spends time trying to understand them better and she practically DOES know everything.
Anyways, this was a pretty good book, it just wasn't my favorite. No worries though, the second book in any series is almost always my least favorite, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was my least favorite in the series -Yes I know, I'm awful-, Glass Sword in the Red Queen series, Crossed in the Matched series. I just don't have great luck with sequels, hopefully the next book will be better though.
However, the taste of broccoli in no way changes the taste of chocolate. So, for me this book was a 4-star book because it was still intriguing but there was definitely room for improvement. It felt a bit disorganized, with just a lot of random fighting and randomness thrown in together. Variety was an issue for me too, there weren't as many scenes including the other contest members or Nelly as much. The small Ian and Natalie scenes they DID have weren't as great either. Usually Ian is so neutral and in control and Natalie is pretty much a spoiled brat but in this book Ian looses him temper REALLY easily and actually yells whereas before seeing him make the smallest movement was a MAJOR expression. I don't know, they just seemed out of character. I thought the glowing tube from the last book was going to be used here but we don't read anything about it. *spoiler alert* The tracker though, was a great idea, I did like that part so kudos to you. **
The amount of fighting Amy and Dan had in this book irritated me a bit because it seemed a bit out of character. I mean we have these two kids who practically only have each other, a cat and an Au pair; You'd think that would only bring them closer but I admit it was 100% realistic because I mean, it's completely natural for siblings to fight. Their grandma just died and they have so many unresolved emotions going on which they haven't had time to process yet because of the search and stuff. They went though the first 2 stages of grief; Fist denial at the funeral and denial about what the 39 clues are and how they could possibly be involved in such a big part of history. Then they started accepting it, started their search for the clue hunt and that slowly transferred to the 2nd stage which is anger. Anger at Grace for not warning them ahead of time about the clues and anger at each other, more in this book than in the last. Amy is an amazing bad-ass when she wants to be but she does annoy me at times, she treats Dan like he's stupid. Like, he'll be sitting there and ask a genuine question and she'll be like 'Oh you're so dumb' and make him feel bad for not knowing. Although she IS the older sister so that may play a huge part because we all know bigger sisters are the know-it-alls and she does have a right to it because it's a big part of who she is, she doesn't just 'know' these things. She reads and spends time trying to understand them better and she practically DOES know everything.
Anyways, this was a pretty good book, it just wasn't my favorite. No worries though, the second book in any series is almost always my least favorite, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was my least favorite in the series -Yes I know, I'm awful-, Glass Sword in the Red Queen series, Crossed in the Matched series. I just don't have great luck with sequels, hopefully the next book will be better though.