The basics: So, here’s the thing about YA: I talk a lot of smack about it, but I secretly love it, and I can think my former life as a 7th grade English teacher for that. I devoured YA as a kid but had assumed in all my snobby adulthood that there just weren’t YA books that were so good that they transcended category. Then I taught The Giver and everything changed. Sadly, this is not one of those books.
I wanted to love this book. I really, really did. But a promising premise (young girl enters a home for kids who have “traveled” to other worlds and are feeling lost now that they’re back in our world) just did not deliver. The backstories were too complicated; in this reader’s opinion, McGuire didn’t sufficiently make that complication accessible or even sensible (see Miss Peregrine for an example of a book that nails this). I’m guessing he’s gearing up to resolve some of this complexity in future books, but I had a very hard time connecting to the premise or caring about future resolution. In addition, interesting characters felt underdeveloped, as did the central action of the plot (a murder mystery that could’ve honored its readers with a less sudden reveal of the murderer).
The one redeeming quality of this book is the central theme of celebrating individualism. Otherwise, this one was truly a miss for me.
Read if you’re into: A Wrinkle in Time; Pretty Little Liars
Avoid if: You’re easily irritated by complicated backstories; fantasy is not your bag.
Favorite excerpt: “You’re nobody’s doorway but your own, and the only one who gets to tell you how your story ends is you.”
If you liked this, try: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children; The Chronicles of Narnia