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A review by chasecassandra
Rebel Genius by Michael Dante DiMartino
2.0
I believe, like the majority of people who reviewed this book already, the first thing that caught my eye about Rebel Genius was that it was written by one of the creators of Avatar The Last Airbender. That show rocked my world as a child almost as much as the Harry Potter series and I knew I had to give DiMartino's book a chance.
After reading the inside cover of Rebel Genius, I was further encouraged to read the book as there were some elements that were reminiscent of my beloved ATLA series: children with special powers banding together, a corrupt government, a journey, unusual people/creatures to name a few. I checked the book out from my library and enjoyed the writing style. Being a children's book, it was nothing spectacular but certainly enough to keep my attention. The main troupe of children I encountered in the first few chapters of the book were charming as well and different enough from the cast of ATLA to make me think that DiMartino had come up with something relatively unique from his name-making series.
From there though, I quickly flatlined into a comfortable daze that somehow carried me to the final page of the book. I lost interest in the children early on and was dismayed at the description of the avian familiars that wore silly crowns on their heads to project lights in which to do their 'art magic'. A lot of the book was cheesy, which is to be expected of a children's book in some aspects, which I felt could have been avoided if DiMartino had written the series for a teenage audience. Being able to be a bit grittier in the dialogue and descriptions while deterring from gimmicks that felt like cheap ploys to entice the basic fancies of children would have made it a much better story.
There is one unforgivable part of the book though that made me want to both laugh and cry for it's stupidity (sorry DiMartino).
The main character is asked in his training to draw a two-sided shape without drawing a line(?) - I honestly can't remember exactly how this went down or what exactly he was asked verbatim. He correctly guesses a line as what he is meant to draw but doesn't know how to fulfill the request.
SOMEHOW the answer to this question is to draw a Venn diagram and draw a line down the center of the intersecting parts and maybe turn something on it's side(?).
Forgive my art ignorance here but that made zero sense to me and I expect a child to not understand this either. I read this part aloud to my brother to make sure that I had not simply misinterpreted the situation but he was equally confused and amused by the text.
I tried to overlook this part the rest of the book but it was honestly too much for me and haunted me the rest of the journey with Giacomo and his friends.
Ten year old boys with an interest in art will likely enjoy this book and there was a glimmer of hope in the 'big bad' empress (which is basically Fire Lord Ozai in a lot of ways) but I will not be continuing if there is a sequel.
However, I do hope for DiMartino's future success and continue to worship him for what he helped give me with ATLA. I am interested to see where his career takes him from here!
After reading the inside cover of Rebel Genius, I was further encouraged to read the book as there were some elements that were reminiscent of my beloved ATLA series: children with special powers banding together, a corrupt government, a journey, unusual people/creatures to name a few. I checked the book out from my library and enjoyed the writing style. Being a children's book, it was nothing spectacular but certainly enough to keep my attention. The main troupe of children I encountered in the first few chapters of the book were charming as well and different enough from the cast of ATLA to make me think that DiMartino had come up with something relatively unique from his name-making series.
From there though, I quickly flatlined into a comfortable daze that somehow carried me to the final page of the book. I lost interest in the children early on and was dismayed at the description of the avian familiars that wore silly crowns on their heads to project lights in which to do their 'art magic'. A lot of the book was cheesy, which is to be expected of a children's book in some aspects, which I felt could have been avoided if DiMartino had written the series for a teenage audience. Being able to be a bit grittier in the dialogue and descriptions while deterring from gimmicks that felt like cheap ploys to entice the basic fancies of children would have made it a much better story.
There is one unforgivable part of the book though that made me want to both laugh and cry for it's stupidity (sorry DiMartino).
The main character is asked in his training to draw a two-sided shape without drawing a line(?) - I honestly can't remember exactly how this went down or what exactly he was asked verbatim. He correctly guesses a line as what he is meant to draw but doesn't know how to fulfill the request.
SOMEHOW the answer to this question is to draw a Venn diagram and draw a line down the center of the intersecting parts and maybe turn something on it's side(?).
Forgive my art ignorance here but that made zero sense to me and I expect a child to not understand this either. I read this part aloud to my brother to make sure that I had not simply misinterpreted the situation but he was equally confused and amused by the text.
I tried to overlook this part the rest of the book but it was honestly too much for me and haunted me the rest of the journey with Giacomo and his friends.
Ten year old boys with an interest in art will likely enjoy this book and there was a glimmer of hope in the 'big bad' empress (which is basically Fire Lord Ozai in a lot of ways) but I will not be continuing if there is a sequel.
However, I do hope for DiMartino's future success and continue to worship him for what he helped give me with ATLA. I am interested to see where his career takes him from here!