shidoburrito's Reviews (1.54k)

Boy do I love Stephen King. Did you like the Mr Mercedes series (which I SUPER loved)? Then you will also love this. I seriously enjoy his current writing more than the old stuff. Sure, the old stuff are classics, but nowadays we don't get every character's mother's backstory before getting on with the plot. You can just read, fall in love with the cast of characters (or hate the bad guys and be terrified of the monsters) and it's always a wonderful adventure.

Also... "straws for eyes?" I didn't think imagery like that would terrify me so much!

What a sweet character, which makes for a sweet little book. Don't get me wrong, he is a teen that has to deal with his best friend's recent rape and a father who committed suicide, but his way of thinking and outlook on life and stream-of-consciousness makes for a much-needed fresh narrative.

Gah, I hate being caught up on manga because I can never remember what happened in the last issue that came out more than a year ago! I get so confused!

I was generally lost a lot when reading this book, and I don't know if I was lost because it took me so long to finish, or it took me a long time to finish because I was so often lost. Who is saying what? What was with that sentence structure? What are they trying to say here? Huh? Who are they referring to? Who's that character again??

Spoiler

Then at the very end, did anyone else feel like Carson came out of nowhere being all like, "What? Maggi is seeing another man? But I'm totally in love with her!" Uh, since when? Y'all shared a nice time talking on a school roof and she helped you swap a turkey, but NOWHERE during this book (unless it was lost on me in my constant confusion) did you express anything more than friendship towards her. Instead Carson spent the book just being a manipulative little shit towards all his friends and hardly interacted with Maggi at all. That really got on my nerves when I finally FINALLY was close to finishing this book.

It's nice to have a teen author besides the disgraced Sherman Alexie writing on behalf of Native American teens, but I don't know how many teens will be able to relate with this setting of a reservation in Niagara County, New York in 1980. Heck, how many of them even KNOW who John Lennon is??? I feel this book was written more for adults than teens, and even then, it caters to a very small audience.

I guess I loved the originality and twists of the first book that this one just didn't live up to it. Don't get me wrong, it's cute, with the author writing as himself and the way this book came to be, but I wasn't as drawn in as I was with Magpie. I guess I was still craving more of that good, old-fashioned, British mystery/detective style!

Review to come...

Do you like Hatchet? You'll like this book as much as I did then. It's basically Hatchet. Just add a dash of revenge to the end of it and a female main character and boom: you get this book.

If this book doesn't make you want to ration your water usage and create a bug-out shelter of your own, then I don't know what will!