Review || Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey ★★★☆☆

Lenzi hears voices and has visions - gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she's a reincarnated Speaker - someone who can talk to and help lost souls - and that he has been her Protector for centuries.

Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon.

3 stars is absolutely too generous for this book, objectively.

The writing, plot and characters are nothing special or memorable. It does not do anything unexpected. It has a huge number of extremely problematic moments.

Objectively.

Subjectively, I gobbled this book up. Light, fluffy and mostly mindless, it was not only exactly what I was in the mood for at the time, but features one of my favourite tropes of all time.

If your blurb goes anything like this, "Character A sworn to protect Character B, but Character B can't remember their past lives together." I am 110% down for your book.

It's an affliction.

I'm trash.

And this book is kind of trashy too. But whatever. I'm under no illusions about it. It's ridiculous, I'm ridiculous, and I had a good few hours reading it.

The end!

Review || To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han ★★★☆☆

Lara Jean keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her.

They aren't love letters that anyone else wrote for her, these are ones she's written. One for every boy she's ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she can pour out her heart and soul and say all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

This book is pretty much what it says on the tin: a cute contemporary read.

It doesn't do anything unexpected and it isn't really a novel with much depth. The romantic angle the book takes isn't exactly what you're anticipating at the start, but from there it becomes fairly conventional.

One of the highlights is Lara Jean's relationship with her family members. There's a strong bond of sisterhood--and the novel spends time looking at how distance changes that relationship. Lara Jean's father is also fairly present and involved in the goings on of his daughters, which is nice to see.

I also appreciated Han's intentional choice to make Lara Jean Korean American. I'm a huge supporter of more diversity in books.

I didn't mind the "open" ending here as I know some people did. Though, I've heard this is going to be a duology and I'm not sure how I feel about that. While the ending here didn't necessarily offer any definite conclusions, I liked how things were sort of left up to the reader. We'll see how book 2 goes, I suppose.

That said, I would've liked to have had more complexity overall in the book. I expected Lara Jean's letters to be longer, and for more time to be devoted to reading them and understanding why she'd written them. There were also a number of common high school drama themes the story touched on, but never really did much about in the end.

Still. If you need a feel good book that doesn't require effort to read, I'd pick this up. It was cute, fluffy and perfect for my mood at the time.

Review || Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo ★★★☆☆

The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed with this book.

Not that it wasn't a great read--because it was. I absolutely devoured it. Bardugo did a superb job leaving you hanging at the end of the chapter, desperate to keep reading. There were a few times when I told myself I'd put the book down after I finished the chapter I was reading... but by the end I just couldn't! I had to keep reading.

There was also a fabulous twist with respect to the search for the third amplifier that I did not see coming. It actually floored me. (Its resolution was a little lacklustre, though, but that's only because I like it when the stakes stay high and consequences are sometimes dreadful.)

Still. All that said. There was just something missing here. Something about this conclusion that did not meet my expectations. In general, it was the resolution to a number of plot threads that ended up being too convenient.

It's not that I didn't like the ending. That I wasn't pleased with how it all turned out. But more that feeling of "we could've had it all". And it just did not deliver. Maybe my expectations were too high.

Still, it is absolutely one for the bookshelves. And a series, overall, that I thoroughly enjoyed and would absolutely recommend.

Review || Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1) by Morgan Rhodes ★★★☆☆

AURANOS - Privileged Princess Cleo is forced to confront violence for the first time in her life when a shocking murder sets her kingdom on a path to collapse.

LIMEROS - The king’s son, Magnus, must plan each footstep with shrewd, sharp guile if he is to earn his powerful father’s trust, while his sister, Lucia, discovers a terrifying secret about her heritage that will change everything.

PAELSIA - Rebellious Jonas lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country cruelly impoverished—and finds himself the leader of a people’s revolution centuries in the making.

Witches, if found, are put to death, and Watchers, immortal beings who take the shape of hawks to visit the human world, have been almost entirely forgotten. A vicious power struggle quickly escalates to war, and these four young people collide against each other and the rise of elementia, the magic that can topple kingdoms and crown a ruler in the same day.

I don't know if it was the hype or that my expectations were too high, but this fell short for me.

Not that short, as you'll notice from the 3 star rating. But this book was just average for me. I liked it well enough but it never was amazing.

Maybe I'm comparing it harshly to its adult fantasy counterparts, but this felt overly simplistic to me. Things were very easy and convenient. I don't mean that as though the characters had it easy, because oh boy, that's the opposite of true. But for a book that set the stage to have a broad scope the whole thing felt very narrowly focused. Does that make any sense?

There were hints of the sweeping grandeur that you'd expect from fantasy, but it was never fully realized. Now, that said, this is the first of a planned series. It is very clearly the set up book for something more. And I don't mind that. I knew that going in.

And I liked this book well enough to want to know where this all goes. But I still had issues with it.

There were some really predictable plot points and deaths. On the flip side there were a few deaths that were very shocking. I'll be honest, the body count in this book is way higher than I expected! Which is something I really enjoyed (and also makes me sound like a psychopath).

The characters seem to lack depth. They're very reactionary. The plot happens to them instead of having them drive the plot. Now, you can argue that means there's room for growth, which I'm totally in for. And also that they're kids in the world of kings. Which is also true. But holy man, is every adult leader in this book super messed up or is that just me? I just found myself baffled by some of the choices made here.

There's also this weird pseudo-incest plot that I'm struggling with the necessity of. I mean, I get that A Song of Ice and Fire did it. But that never made any allusions that it was anything other than super messed up. Here it's sort of played of as (SPOILER) "She's not really your sister so.... that's okay."

Wait. What.

I just didn't find it necessary? (Though, admittedly, Magnus is not much as as a character if you take that away. Back to the lack of depth thing.)

And the ladies in this book. Ugh. Just. Why. I need Lucia to become a character in her own right. With her own complex motives. Right now, she's a walking plot device that occasionally talks. It's frustrating because I think she has so much potential. And Cleo... well, I understand her, but I don't particularly like her. I think given all the strife she's gone through at the end of this book, the set up is there for her to become very interesting. But for the most part she just wasn't doing it for me.

The other problem is that Rhodes has obviously tried to make everyone flawed and blur the lines between good and bad, it makes most of the main group of 4 hard to like. The girls suffer from being walking plot devices most of the time. I want to like Jonas but he keeps being stupid. And I have no idea why everyone has their knickers in a twist for Magnus.

I'm the most interested in Alexius, to be honest. For all the screen time he doesn't have. The whole Watchers thing is immensely intriguing.

Anyway. A decent enough start that I'll be reading book 2. I've heard it gets better and I'm hoping that holds true. We'll see.

Review || It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini ★★★☆☆

Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed at life--which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job--Craig studies night and day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That's when things start to get crazy.

At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn't brilliant compared to the other kids; he's just average, and maybe not even that. He starts earning mediocre grades and sees his once-perfect future crumbling away. The stress becomes unbearable and Craig stops eating and sleeping--until, one night, he nearly kills himself.

Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new roommate is an Egyptian schoolteacher who refuses to get out of bed. His neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, isolated from the crushing pressures of school and friends, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.

General spoilers for the book in this review. 

Read at your own risk!

I liked this book.

But that's about as far as it goes. Just "like". 3 stars.

What starts off as a raw and honest look at depression gets a little derailed by romantic entanglements by the end.

Craig is relateable. Overwhelmed by academic pressures and spiraling into suicidal thoughts. I understand the pressures he is experiencing, because I too was concerned about my grades--though not nearly to the same extent. I saw a bit of myself in Craig, and at times it made my gut churn.

The book offers a relatively realistic look at therapy and hospitalization. (I say this given my limited experience with both, but having seen some of the process because my mother deals with both anxiety and depression.) However, despite Craig's understanding that this is only the beginning upon his discharge, five days seemed like an unrealistic turn around time. Though, I did appreciate the open endedness.

Craig's family is another one of the high points for me in this book. Wonderfully supportive and doing the best they can to help. It was nice to see.

Still, the book is not without flaws. The treatment of a trans* character in this book was deplorable and made me very uncomfortable. What's worse was that it didn't really seem to do anything to further the story. It was just a throwaway moment for... what? Comedy? Supremely unfunny.

And I think the whole thing would've been stronger without any of the romance. Sure, including Craig getting over Nia is an important step in his recovery, but I don't think he needed to make out with her in the hospital.

Noelle seemed to be a last minute love interest thrown in for the sake of Craig having some prize to obtain at the end of his struggle. She shows a lot of potential during her few short appearances, but is generally done a disservice by the narrative.

So. 3 stars. I liked it. I'd encourage others to give it a try and see for themselves.

Series Review || Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix

Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix ★★★☆☆

Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him. She soon finds companion in Mogget, a cat whose aloof manner barely conceals its malevolent spirit, and Touchstone, a young Charter Mage long imprisoned by magic, now free in body but still trapped by painful memories. As the three travel deep into the Old Kingdom, threats mount on all sides. And every step brings them closer to a battle that will pit them against the true forces of life and death—and bring Sabriel face-to-face with her own destiny.

This marks the third time I've marathoned a series, and I have to admit it was harder than the other times.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this series overall, but I found it sort of lacking at times.

The writing is good, if simplistic at times, and the magic system and worldbuilding is very intriguing. But the pacing sometimes felt off--sometimes the action was nonstop and others it was slow going. However, despite the epic set up, things tend to be resolved a little too conveniently at the end. Some of the defeats of the big bads throughout the series were disappointing.

I kept a record of my thoughts on each of the three books, so I'm going to break it down from there.

Sabriel
This was my favourite of the three, and my rating reflects that being higher than the rest at 3.5 stars. The mystery and worldbuilding here were well done. You're discovering, along with Sabriel, exactly how dangerous the Old Kingdom is. The book was fun, engaging and the magic system really shines throughout.

However, the romance between Sabriel and Touchstone (and god, don't even get me started on this name because ugh) was so out of left field for me. There was this great dynamic going on throughout the book and then suddenly there were love confessions? It just seemed like there was no build up or transition. Sure, Sabriel had mentioned she found him attractive, but that's very different from "I love you."

Regardless, an enjoyable read. I really liked Sabriel as a character as well. She hit all the right notes for me as a character and I was excited to see where her journey would go.

Lirael
But, as you'll know if you've read this series, I was about to be disappointed. Lirael jumps ahead 14 years at the start of the book from the ending of Sabriel.

Which, okay, there's a different story to tell here. Fine. I get it. And I did really come to like Lirael as a character as well. The book itself starts off strong and is very provocative. I was interested to see where this was all going.

But in truth, I hadn't expected the series to go down this way. I was thinking the trilogy would be about Sabriel and Touchstone coming into their own. Sabriel struggling with the Abhorsen mantle and Touchstone struggling to regain his kingdom. I wanted to see their trials, their romance, their awkward young adulthood trying to rule. Instead, we skip ahead and these characters become secondary to their children and the other players.

(I was also hoping Touchstone would take on a name that didn't drive me crazy, but alas.)

As the book progressed, I found myself enjoying it more, though. And to be fair to the book, the week in which I was reading it was terrible for me on a personal level, so I have no doubt that contributed to my lacklustre opinion of it.

It also was sort of tainted for me because I really did not care about Sameth at all for a really long time. It was really only towards the end of this book (and into book 3) that I really had any investment in him as a character at all.

As things came together at the ending, though, I was eager for the conclusion.

Abhorsen
If Lirael was the slower set up, Abhorsen is the sprint to the finish. This book takes off from page 1 and doesn't stop. The plot, as it developed, was compelling and pulled a lot of threads together in a satisfying way.

Though, if I thought the climax of Sabriel was fast and convenient, it pales in comparison to the conclusion here. Yes, the stakes were high. And yes, I was a little concerned about the body count. But I was never really that worried our heroes would fail. And the defeat of our great evil was not that difficult.

Yes, there were sacrifices made, but in the end it all fell into place. You could maybe argue for a little deus ex machina here as well. It was fine, but it was definitely convenient.

Still, overall, a worthwhile series. One I'm glad to have read, even if it did fall short of my expectations.

Series Review || Under the Never Sky Trilogy by Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky Trilogy by Veronica Rossi ★★★☆☆

Aria has lived her whole life in the protected dome of Reverie. Her entire world confined to its spaces, she's never thought to dream of what lies beyond its doors. So when her mother goes missing, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland long enough to find her are slim.

Then Aria meets an outsider named Perry. He's searching for someone too. He's also wild - a savage - but might be her best hope at staying alive.

If they can survive, they are each other's best hope for finding answers.

When I decided on a whim to try marathoning another series, I'm glad I picked this one. It was quick, fun and action-packed.

I made an impromptu library run with my sister during the Bout of Books 10.0 readathon and saw that book Through the Ever Night and Into the Still Blue were in. With book 1 sitting at home on my shelf, I decided to stray from my TBR and do another trilogy marathon.

It ended up being a good choice. Under the Never Sky suffers a bit from being book 1 in a tentative trilogy. And by that I mean, some of the super important resolution stuff near the end felt like I was going through it with the remote on fast-forward. Like Rossi was trying to cram in a bunch of resolution and denouement into as few pages a possible, to tease at a sequel but without having to commit to one necessarily.

Book 2 picks right up where book 1 sort of vaguely left you hanging. But by this point, it's clear there's going to be more, because book 2 is all about the set up. Not that important things don't happen here, but it's obvious there's a larger goal, a larger scope to the conflict here.

Book 3 then takes you through that conflict. And though I felt parts of Into the Still Blue were not quite as smooth narratively as they could've been, it was still a darned good conclusion to the trilogy.

All right. But at 4 stars, I did enjoy the series, but I never really loved it. I never got quite as invested in the characters and the world as I did in marathoning another series. I felt a lot of the time that I was sitting above everything, skimming the surface, instead of being as fully immersed as I could've been.

Part of this, I think, is that I didn't actually really like Perry that much. And with dual perspectives, half of the trilogy is in his voice. I've had a hard time pinning down exactly what it was I didn't like about him. And I will admit, that as the trilogy progresses, he grew on me. But he was never a swoon worthy love interest for me. All the more power to you, Aria, you go get him...

I'll just be over here with Roar.

I almost think that's the problem there. You can either be a Perry-person or a Roar-person. And I am definitely Team Roar. Now, I don't want to imply that there's a love triangle here, because that is the furthest thing from the truth with this series (thank god). Aria and Roar's friendship was one of the highlights of the series for me. But there was something about Roar as a character that I clicked with better than with Perry.

Regardless, I did truly enjoy Aria as a character, though. She was interesting, flawed, strong and stubborn. She was smart and very capable as the series progressed. She was a solid female lead and I appreciated her as a character.

The series also does a great job at portraying complex friendships and relationships. There were a lot of varied dynamics between the many characters. And spread out over the course of a whole trilogy, it was very interesting to see how those characters and their relationships changed.

The worldbuilding here is also interesting. It's a different mix. Aria's world is highly technological. Perry's world is not. The contrast was striking. That combined with the ever-present threat of the Aether meant there was bit of mental adjusting that needed to go on to get used to all the terms and realities of this complex world. That said, there was still some stuff that I think only barely scratched the surface. There were parts of the world and mythos and culture that was hinted at in places, but never fully explored. And things that were brought up when convenient to the plot and then dropped when not.

Lastly, despite all the build up and then desperate desire to find the Still Blue, I never really felt that the stakes were high. Or, at least, certainly not as high as they should've been.

People die in this trilogy, don't get me wrong, but those who do aren't really main characters. They are side characters that you've grown attached to, but the emotional impact of their deaths wasn't really there. It was a weak spot in the narrative, I think. There could have been more major casualties.

But even as I was racing through the second half of Into the Still Blue, I never really expected to get anything other than a happy ending. Even as Perry was lost and Sable was inflicting his brutality, I still knew it would all get nicely and neatly tied up with a bow by the end. And I wasn't wrong.

But that expectation, set by the narrative, sort of weakened some of the final dramatic moments of the trilogy. Because it didn't do anything to surprise me. Not really.

Regardless, it was still immensely fun and completely worth it. I'm really glad to have read the series. I'd definitely recommend giving it a go, especially if you like your dystopians fast-paced.

Review || Eon by Alison Goodman

Eon (Eon #1) by Alison Goodman ★★★☆☆

Twelve-year-old Eon has been in training for years. His intensive study of Dragon Magic, based on East Asian astrology, involves two kinds of skills: sword-work and magical aptitude. He and his master hope that he will be chosen as a Dragoneye--an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune.

But Eon has a dangerous secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been masquerading as a boy for the chance to become a Dragoneye. Females are forbidden to use Dragon Magic; if anyone discovers she has been hiding in plain sight, her death is assured.

When Eon's secret threatens to come to light, she and her allies are plunged into grave danger and a deadly struggle for the Imperial throne. Eon must find the strength and inner power to battle those who want to take her magic...and her life.

If you're craving some good fantasy with unique worldbuilding, than do yourself a favour and pick this up immediately.

After having been on my tbr for some time, I picked Eon up on a whim the other night and found myself having to pace myself so I could enjoy it for longer. The world is rich and complex, full of interesting characters and problems. Seasoned fantasy readers will not be put off by the "info dumping" at the beginning--I found it was well balanced with the plot and kept me interested.

Eon(a) is an interesting character. Weighed down by the pressures and expectations of those around her, she struggles to maintain her boyish facade. She has to form alliances and make decisions with very little experience. And she doesn't always choose correctly.

While none of the major plot points or twists were terribly unpredictable, the narrative still held my interest. Court politics and intrigue are something that I'm very much into, and Eon delivered in that regard--especially with the threats simmering just below the surface.

Eon is also host to some refreshingly different characters. Eon's friend Chart is severely physically disabled--and though many of the supporting cast look down upon him or treat him with contempt, Eon considers him a close friend and does much to support him and his mother later in the book. Eon herself has been crippled and pushes herself through obstacle after obstacle to compete on equal standing next to her able bodied peers. (Though, I will admit it was not as much of a barrier as I would've liked. Eon's disability sort of gets lost in all the other plot related shenanigans and then sort of gets deus ex machina-ed away at the end. Which is disappointing.)

Eon's inner circle consists of a eunuch guard and a transwoman advisor. Both characters are compelling in their own right, especially as you learn more about them. There are a lot of gender politics at play here, not surprisingly, considering one of the main conflicts of the book is Eon's identity. I've seen some reviews that take issues with some of Goodman's more heavy handed approach to some of this, and while I don't disagree with some of the criticisms, I still find it refreshing to see a story in which the main character must embrace her femininity in order to succeed.

All in all, a great read. Though, be warned, this is definitely just the set up. Eon is not a book that stands on its own, and if you enjoy it, you'll want to have the sequel Eona close at hand.

Review || Champion by Marie Lu

Champion (Legend #3) by Marie Lu ★★★☆☆

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence.

But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them: just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything.

I. Huh. I really wanted to like this series a lot more than I did.

Now, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the series as a whole, but it always left me wanting. It never quite delivered, never quite grabbed me. I suppose the combination of the hype and the "inspired by Les Mis" stuff probably set my expectations too high.

As I read, I realized that I could never actually predict the actions of the characters. Despite the fact that we're in both June and Day's heads. Things would happen and part of me would wonder if that was an in character or out of character reaction... only to find I couldn't quite decide. I think the fatal flaw here was despite the dual narratives, they never really felt totally distinct, and Lu relied more on telling rather than showing.

The world building overall fell flat for me. I just never got the sense of scale that I should with a full realized and complex world. This one felt more like just the scratching of the surface--a shallow approximation of a real vibrant world. Now, I know that some of this is probably intentional. After all, the Republic has kept to itself intentionally for propaganda reasons. Which makes sense. But after a glimpse of the Colonies in Prodigy, a trip to Antarctica in this book and references to Africa... it still all felt shallow and incomplete.

Don't get me wrong, the Antarctica thing was super interesting. And I really loved the idea. And the Colonies stance on things continues to be terrifyingly familiar. But these tidbits felt more like throwaway moments to add to the illusion of depth to the world, rather than actually conveying that depth.

(I think about The Lunar Chronicles in contrast. Where there is this sheer sense of scale to the world. It's built and developed and deep and complex. And all that was lacking here.)

Everything also just felt too convenient. The book zooms along at a great pace, but for every new obstacle, the solution seems to come just in time. Yes, there's a sense of urgency and you can understand the desperation of some of the characters--but the stakes never felt high. Despite the fact that they were obviously meant to be. Something about the tone of the book failed to convince me that this was going to turn out as anything other than okay.

Still. I did shed a few tears. There are a few things that always get me, regardless, and I always count crying over a book as a positive thing. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to let me get past the other shortcomings. Champion never really surprised me; and I am always harsher on twists I've guessed in advance when I'm not really loving the book to begin with.

I have conflicted feelings about the epilogue as well. Again, the whole "too convenient" argument bubbles up. I don't know. It had it's positives and negatives.

Overall, a series I liked but never loved. A series I'm glad I read, but not one I'd go out of my way to purchase. Entertaining, but at the end of it, disappointing.

Review || Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother has given his as a present--and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart ever since his parents' divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self-pity, or despair--it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive.

So, the first time I read this book was in grade 6. Which would've made it 1997/1998 or something like that. And it was a book that stayed with me, has stayed with me this whole time. I remember telling my aunt over the phone that this was my favourite book. I lost the ability to articulate exactly why as time passed, but for a time as a middle school-er it was the book.

I found a gently used copy of Hatchet at the library discard book sale this winter and scooped it up for about $1. I read the whole thing in a little over an hour last night for the first time since the sixth grade.

It's interesting, isn't it? Going back to old classics, old favourites. Trying to puzzle out why they meant so much to you. Why you connected with them so deeply. So viscerally.

Maybe it was a little bit of the fear. I have been a terrible hypochondriac for pretty much as long as I can remember. And for some reason I remember being 11 and having phantom chest pains while reading about the pilot having a heart attack. I also hate flying, so the idea of being in a Cessna, let alone crashing in one still actually terrifies me.

Maybe it was the survival bit. The fascination with Brian being able to keep himself alive. At 11, I would have liked to think I would've been smart enough to pull it off. Objectively. But realistically, I was repulsed enough at the thought of eating turtle eggs and butchering grouse. Still am, to be honest. I am not quite as picky of an eater as I was at 11, but I am not cut out for Survivor by any means. Hell, I can barely handle the thought of camping.

At 11, I probably would've given this 5 out of 5. And truthfully, it's more like a 3.5. It's a solid middle grade read, even if the ending is a little abrupt. But it captured my imagination and attention as a child, and for that I will be forever grateful.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (3.5 out of 5 stars)