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valentina97 's review for:
The Becoming of Noah Shaw
by Michelle Hodkin
I made a calculated decision when I finished the Mara Dyer Trilogy. I decided that I would not read The Shaw Confessions. I liked where the first trilogy ended and didn’t want to spoil it. But I changed my mind. Because I still had so many questions. And I wanted answers.
I had an idea of where the storyline was going to go because in considering not continuing, I pondered several outcomes.
Put a group of people together and you will create conflict.
Make them teenagers who posses powers which they are still trying to figure out, and you get tension.
Connect them through shared experience and you get betrayal.
It was written in the stars.
Of course there was only ever going to be one outcome: it would get darker.
I think a lot of the negative reviews that I have read for The Becoming Of Noah Shaw are not deserved. This is a great book, a real page turner. And I think that that the nature of the “companion trilogy” might have confused some readers. This is a book which allows the same story to continue being told, in a different way. It’s still true to the characters, it’s still Michelle Hodkin’s voice underneath every other voice. It still feels like the same world. Because it is.
This book has less action - yes. The action it does have rises more steadily, more slowly, but that is no discredit to it at all.
This book is more psychological, more brains than brawn. This is completely justified by the need for answers and explanations - often lengthy explanations - as the plot continues to thicken. It is not boring at all, if anything it is less mindless (that is more mindful) than the other books.
With the psychological aspect comes a lot more dialogue, opening up a whole new plane of possibilities. You can read into what the characters say, the doublespeak, the nuances of their language. More hidden secrets. I really enjoyed the dialogue.
The starkest difference in The Becoming Of Noah Shaw is that it is written from Noah’s perspective. Naturally, the writing comes across as more snarky and sarcastic. Because it’s Noah. Characters like Jamie for instance, are presented differently as they are seen through the eyes of Noah. It wouldn’t make sense for it to be otherwise - for Jamie to be as wisecrackey and droll as Mara experiences him.
Likewise, Mara appears in a different light - not only because she has gone through an evolution by the end of the Mara Dyer Trilogy, but because we are seeing her through someone else’s eyes, no longer from within. Hence, it is not that Mara and the others are paled, it is that Noah is brought into sharper focus - which is a total treat.
We finally get to see what we had only had glimpses of before, under his cool exterior. We get to see what Noah is thinking. That is a reason to read if ever I saw one.
It ventures even darker than the Mara trilogy, and it takes a much more mature turn with the themes it delves into.
There is a trigger warning at the start of this book - essentially a caution that everything which takes place in this book is a potential trigger. That is true, but it is also important not to shy away from the important issues it raises. Issues that are as pertinent to normal everyday teens as they are to the characters in this book. Namely suicide and self-harm. These issues, importantly, are not shied away from but are addressed directly, and continue to be something the characters struggle through.
For a fantasy book, this is disturbingly true to life. The characters are very real and behave like people in the real world. The relationships are all to recognisable.
This book gets to a really dark place - but that was the only way this was ever going to go.
The Becoming Of Noah Shaw did answer all my questions, but it also presented more, as any good author will do to their characters, Michelle Hodkins doesn’t give them a break.
I had an idea of where the storyline was going to go because in considering not continuing, I pondered several outcomes.
Put a group of people together and you will create conflict.
Make them teenagers who posses powers which they are still trying to figure out, and you get tension.
Connect them through shared experience and you get betrayal.
It was written in the stars.
Of course there was only ever going to be one outcome: it would get darker.
I think a lot of the negative reviews that I have read for The Becoming Of Noah Shaw are not deserved. This is a great book, a real page turner. And I think that that the nature of the “companion trilogy” might have confused some readers. This is a book which allows the same story to continue being told, in a different way. It’s still true to the characters, it’s still Michelle Hodkin’s voice underneath every other voice. It still feels like the same world. Because it is.
This book has less action - yes. The action it does have rises more steadily, more slowly, but that is no discredit to it at all.
This book is more psychological, more brains than brawn. This is completely justified by the need for answers and explanations - often lengthy explanations - as the plot continues to thicken. It is not boring at all, if anything it is less mindless (that is more mindful) than the other books.
With the psychological aspect comes a lot more dialogue, opening up a whole new plane of possibilities. You can read into what the characters say, the doublespeak, the nuances of their language. More hidden secrets. I really enjoyed the dialogue.
The starkest difference in The Becoming Of Noah Shaw is that it is written from Noah’s perspective. Naturally, the writing comes across as more snarky and sarcastic. Because it’s Noah. Characters like Jamie for instance, are presented differently as they are seen through the eyes of Noah. It wouldn’t make sense for it to be otherwise - for Jamie to be as wisecrackey and droll as Mara experiences him.
Likewise, Mara appears in a different light - not only because she has gone through an evolution by the end of the Mara Dyer Trilogy, but because we are seeing her through someone else’s eyes, no longer from within. Hence, it is not that Mara and the others are paled, it is that Noah is brought into sharper focus - which is a total treat.
We finally get to see what we had only had glimpses of before, under his cool exterior. We get to see what Noah is thinking. That is a reason to read if ever I saw one.
It ventures even darker than the Mara trilogy, and it takes a much more mature turn with the themes it delves into.
There is a trigger warning at the start of this book - essentially a caution that everything which takes place in this book is a potential trigger. That is true, but it is also important not to shy away from the important issues it raises. Issues that are as pertinent to normal everyday teens as they are to the characters in this book. Namely suicide and self-harm. These issues, importantly, are not shied away from but are addressed directly, and continue to be something the characters struggle through.
For a fantasy book, this is disturbingly true to life. The characters are very real and behave like people in the real world. The relationships are all to recognisable.
This book gets to a really dark place - but that was the only way this was ever going to go.
The Becoming Of Noah Shaw did answer all my questions, but it also presented more, as any good author will do to their characters, Michelle Hodkins doesn’t give them a break.