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pellepanda 's review for:

Mercury by Lloyd Hall
3.5
adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Mercury is a sci-fi YA book following Lucy who's living on the spaceship "Mercury". Her curiosity and adventurous spirit gets her in trouble with the captain of the ship, who is also her mother. During an emergency on the ship, Lucy suddenly finds herself 21 years in the past that opens up some interesting opportunities.

I've seen reviews saying they absolutely loved the writing style of the book, but it was not my cup of tea. It feels very jumbled and unfocused at times, and it can be hard to follow along with jumping to and from thoughts without warning or indication. In the end I think this is personal preference.


The book introduces several characters that feels OK, but they're not really fleshed out. Even Lucy is a bit of a stranger after reading to me, but I think this has to do with the writing style. Both characters and surroundings have varying degrees of description, where it can swing from too little to too much and anything in between. The book does have several strong female characters though.

The illustrations used in the book is a good enough reason to give it a read. The whole book is very aesthetically pleasing, and the illustrations absolutely add to the book. I think Mercury has a strong premise, and the story is engaging. The pacing of the book is great where you don't get down periods where nothing happen. The message about forgiveness and understanding is very clear throughout the book (even if it isn't always for Lucy). In my opinion it is a very strong book for teens/YA, and I think I could have really loved it if I were younger. It adresses several problems that are relevant for that age group, without having the morals spoon fed on every page.


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