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A review by jenabrownwrites
No Plain Rebel by M.C. Frank
3.0
“I only recently discovered that what we have here is no more peace than death. Silence is not peace.”
No Plain Rebel picks up right where No Ordinary Star left off. Felix and Astra in the cabin at the North Pole, trying to unravel the mystery the Clockmaster left in their hands.
We get more information in the second installment, answering questions of both Felix and Astra’s past. They uncover diaries and letters left to Felix from the Clockmaster, that he prepared in the event of his death. These letters help guide Felix and he learns the real purpose of the Clock leading up to the year 2525. Let’s just say, it isn’t good.
“People get dangerous ideas from books, ideas about how to fight and how to be cleverer than their enemies.”
We also get more information about the years leading up to the present. What happened to cause this society to diverge so far from the utopia it was trying to be? Finally getting some answers felt enormously satisfying and rather than feeling satiated by the knowledge, you simply want to know more of what happens next. As with any good dystopian, the more you know, the worse things seem to get.
“Chaos haste ceased to exist. It still existed all this time, he was just isolated from it. And along with the chaos, he was kept away from life.”
I am also happy to start seeing more of the world outside of the shack. While I adore the shack, (and the gorgeous library in the basement), we need to start seeing some action in the outside world. We don’t see as much action in this installment, but the plot is set at the end for an explosive ending filled with action. Or so I hope.
This book is definitely focused more on Felix than Astra. She is really only heard in her voice in a handful of chapters. I understand that Felix is the one who is tasked with fixing the Clock and the one who the letters are directed to, but I do feel like Frank could have balanced between the two a bit more. In a society where women are brushed away as second class (or worse) citizens, it felt symbolic to want Astra more involved in her own story, using her own voice.
I also think it’s important, as Astra is the one who can really give us the sense of what is hanging in the balance. Women like her being propped in laboratories against their will, being powerless and voiceless. Even as a solider, Felix never lived a life like that, so to diminish her voice diminishes that harsh reality as well. This book is focused more an bigger picture world, but we need to remember the details. It’s Astra that gives the book heart, so I wish there had been more of her.
Christmas again is a heavy theme in this book, and it does turn a bit slanted towards the religious. Some may argue that Christmas is religious, but in my opinion, that’s debatable. Here it becomes less about the holiday and more about the religious undertones, and the religious history of the holiday.
Book two does have an info-dump feel to it, even though the author attempts to break up the monologues with thoughts and ideas as they read. But, still, there is a lot of the Clockmaster talking and only snippets of actionable plot happening. I’m hoping that now that we have that out of the way, the third book is action packed. I would have loved to have gotten to know several characters introduced in this book much better, and hope we get the chance in the next installment.
There is quite a lot to enjoy from a political standpoint in the book. Philosophy and how good ideas can turn bad are presented towards the end. We have already seen the results of these ideas, so it was interesting to read how they came about.
“Power will always pollute things. The world’s entropy will always increase and man carries the source of the pollution within himself. He carries the seed of redemption as well, but it’s not as simple as you’f think to find it. It’s certainly not as simple to redeem as it seems to be be to destroy.”
The Greek philosophers are mentioned quite a bit by the Clockmaster. It would have been a bit well-rounded to have included other philosophies, especially given how he had three hundred years and isolation to build his education, it feels a bit narrow to only focus on one set of philosophy.
Again, this is a short book, leaning towards a novella, so it’s a fast read. The third book comes out at the end of the year.
Thank you to the author for sending me a copy to read and review.
No Plain Rebel picks up right where No Ordinary Star left off. Felix and Astra in the cabin at the North Pole, trying to unravel the mystery the Clockmaster left in their hands.
We get more information in the second installment, answering questions of both Felix and Astra’s past. They uncover diaries and letters left to Felix from the Clockmaster, that he prepared in the event of his death. These letters help guide Felix and he learns the real purpose of the Clock leading up to the year 2525. Let’s just say, it isn’t good.
“People get dangerous ideas from books, ideas about how to fight and how to be cleverer than their enemies.”
We also get more information about the years leading up to the present. What happened to cause this society to diverge so far from the utopia it was trying to be? Finally getting some answers felt enormously satisfying and rather than feeling satiated by the knowledge, you simply want to know more of what happens next. As with any good dystopian, the more you know, the worse things seem to get.
“Chaos haste ceased to exist. It still existed all this time, he was just isolated from it. And along with the chaos, he was kept away from life.”
I am also happy to start seeing more of the world outside of the shack. While I adore the shack, (and the gorgeous library in the basement), we need to start seeing some action in the outside world. We don’t see as much action in this installment, but the plot is set at the end for an explosive ending filled with action. Or so I hope.
This book is definitely focused more on Felix than Astra. She is really only heard in her voice in a handful of chapters. I understand that Felix is the one who is tasked with fixing the Clock and the one who the letters are directed to, but I do feel like Frank could have balanced between the two a bit more. In a society where women are brushed away as second class (or worse) citizens, it felt symbolic to want Astra more involved in her own story, using her own voice.
I also think it’s important, as Astra is the one who can really give us the sense of what is hanging in the balance. Women like her being propped in laboratories against their will, being powerless and voiceless. Even as a solider, Felix never lived a life like that, so to diminish her voice diminishes that harsh reality as well. This book is focused more an bigger picture world, but we need to remember the details. It’s Astra that gives the book heart, so I wish there had been more of her.
Christmas again is a heavy theme in this book, and it does turn a bit slanted towards the religious. Some may argue that Christmas is religious, but in my opinion, that’s debatable. Here it becomes less about the holiday and more about the religious undertones, and the religious history of the holiday.
Book two does have an info-dump feel to it, even though the author attempts to break up the monologues with thoughts and ideas as they read. But, still, there is a lot of the Clockmaster talking and only snippets of actionable plot happening. I’m hoping that now that we have that out of the way, the third book is action packed. I would have loved to have gotten to know several characters introduced in this book much better, and hope we get the chance in the next installment.
There is quite a lot to enjoy from a political standpoint in the book. Philosophy and how good ideas can turn bad are presented towards the end. We have already seen the results of these ideas, so it was interesting to read how they came about.
“Power will always pollute things. The world’s entropy will always increase and man carries the source of the pollution within himself. He carries the seed of redemption as well, but it’s not as simple as you’f think to find it. It’s certainly not as simple to redeem as it seems to be be to destroy.”
The Greek philosophers are mentioned quite a bit by the Clockmaster. It would have been a bit well-rounded to have included other philosophies, especially given how he had three hundred years and isolation to build his education, it feels a bit narrow to only focus on one set of philosophy.
Again, this is a short book, leaning towards a novella, so it’s a fast read. The third book comes out at the end of the year.
Thank you to the author for sending me a copy to read and review.