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A review by julshakespeare
The Explosionist by Jenny Davidson
5.0
5/5
I am truly appalled by the mixed reviews on this book because I really enjoyed it. I had never seen nor heard of The Explosionist, but I saw it at my public library, liked the cover, thought the blurb sounded interesting, and picked it up completely on a whim. Never did I expect to be so enraptured by it! Where to begin... firstly, I was very intrigued by the setting. I love historical fiction but I don't recall reading many alternate historical settings (i.e. in this novel, Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo). Because of this, 1930s Scotland (and the rest of the world) are quite different from how one might think, and I was afraid getting into this book that I wasn't enough of a history buff to follow along. Needless to say, I found the history talk was very digestible and not at all confusing. I also found the combination of science and the supernatural in this novel to be very compelling. We hear as much talk about chemistry and explosives as we do seances and ghosts, all of which linked so beautifully to the mysteries and dark secrets that are at the heart of the plot.
Beyond all of this I ADORED Sophie, our protagonist. She was written just as a fifteen-year-old girl should be (something that is painfully lacking in many teen and YA books). She wants to be taken seriously and be seen for her mind, not whatever may be holding her back (such as her age or gender- both of which, as she regularly reminds people, are not hindrances to her potential). Sophie is generally quite likable throughout the novel- I found her reactions to different situations and people quite reasonable and realistic, which is so refreshing in a YA book. I loved her friends- Mikael, as well as her roommates (though I wonder if the second book addresses Jean being in love with Priscilla because.... don't try to convince me otherwise)- and even the relationships she had built with her teachers.
I think my few complaints would be that the ending so clearly is there to set up a sequel (so much so that the last page is mostly just a series of questions that sounds like the ending of an old fashioned cartoon serial, I half expected the story to end with "find out next time!"), and that the second book has a title and cover that seem virtually unrelated to this book. And not even for the better. This cover is lovely, and the second looks so generic. But I will 100% be trying to get my hands on it and then likely devouring that one the way I did the first.
So overall I would say: if you think there's something intriguing about this book but you're wary because of some bad reviews, DON'T LISTEN. Please pick it up yourself and give it a try.
I am truly appalled by the mixed reviews on this book because I really enjoyed it. I had never seen nor heard of The Explosionist, but I saw it at my public library, liked the cover, thought the blurb sounded interesting, and picked it up completely on a whim. Never did I expect to be so enraptured by it! Where to begin... firstly, I was very intrigued by the setting. I love historical fiction but I don't recall reading many alternate historical settings (i.e. in this novel, Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo). Because of this, 1930s Scotland (and the rest of the world) are quite different from how one might think, and I was afraid getting into this book that I wasn't enough of a history buff to follow along. Needless to say, I found the history talk was very digestible and not at all confusing. I also found the combination of science and the supernatural in this novel to be very compelling. We hear as much talk about chemistry and explosives as we do seances and ghosts, all of which linked so beautifully to the mysteries and dark secrets that are at the heart of the plot.
Beyond all of this I ADORED Sophie, our protagonist. She was written just as a fifteen-year-old girl should be (something that is painfully lacking in many teen and YA books). She wants to be taken seriously and be seen for her mind, not whatever may be holding her back (such as her age or gender- both of which, as she regularly reminds people, are not hindrances to her potential). Sophie is generally quite likable throughout the novel-
Spoiler
the only thing she did to annoy me was choosing to respect Sheena's "wishes" by not telling her friends the truth about IRYLNS. Girl.. PLEASE SAVE YOUR FRIENDS.Spoiler
And I thought that it was a brilliantly inclusive stroke of genius on the author's part not to mention Sophie's limp until 350-odd pages into the book. Too many YA books use disabilities as crutches for character development, but disabilities are NOT character traits. I loved getting to know and love Sophie for who she was before learning this one thing about her.I think my few complaints would be that the ending so clearly is there to set up a sequel (so much so that the last page is mostly just a series of questions that sounds like the ending of an old fashioned cartoon serial, I half expected the story to end with "find out next time!"), and that the second book has a title and cover that seem virtually unrelated to this book. And not even for the better. This cover is lovely, and the second looks so generic. But I will 100% be trying to get my hands on it and then likely devouring that one the way I did the first.
So overall I would say: if you think there's something intriguing about this book but you're wary because of some bad reviews, DON'T LISTEN. Please pick it up yourself and give it a try.