A review by queenb13
Limbo - O poder dos cinco by Anthony Horowitz

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, which surprised me because I started this series in middle school and I'm now in 12th grade, so the writing style and maturity aren't really matching my age anymore. The subject matter was very mature, however. Throughout the book, you encounter drug trafficking, slave trade, and torture. Even though they're horrible things to consider happening to people, it was smart of Horowitz to acknowledge the terrible things humans inflict on each other and incorporate them into the story; it made it much more real.

As far a plot itself went, I really enjoyed it. Obviously the concept is amazing, although I did find many of the plot twists predictable. I mainly read it for the characters; I loved all of them

Spoiler

even Scott - he had such a horrible life and he came through in the end, even though he knew it would kill him

especially Matt and Richard. Maybe it's because we've been with them since book one, but those two remained my favorite. I can't say I liked Lohan as a person, but as a character, I found him very compelling, and I thought it was smart of Horowitz to have at least one "good" character who wasn't doing good things simply for the sake of doing good. The ending, even though I expected it, broke my heart.

Spoiler

I can't say I saw the five going to live in the dream world though; that one caught me by surprise, and was arguably one of the saddest aspects, since Richard was left alone to remember everything he had seen and done.

Not that this has much to do with the actual story, but I loved how there was zero romance in this series! It made it so much more real in my opinion; the four boys barely knew Scarlet, so it would make no sense for one of them to randomly be like "I like you!", and it allowed more focus on each character's individual struggle and growth. The story wasn't about teenage love; it was about war, nobility, and sacrifice, and those subjects are brushed aside so often by authors trying to convey their characters "true love" for each other. The five kids are trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world and battle ancient monsters - they don't have time for romance. All in all, I really enjoyed this book, despite it being a bit predictable. The story was dark and gritty, I loved the characters, the action scenes were well written, and the antagonists - Old Ones and humans - were appropriately chilling.