zmurph16's Reviews (619)

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Italo Calvino

DID NOT FINISH: 20%

DNF
adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
adventurous informative lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
adventurous inspiring fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
lighthearted reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging emotional funny informative medium-paced
adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

I was so so excited for this book, but it just really fell flat for me. The selling point for me on this book is mentioned in the summary on the back of the book. The concept of Leandro's consciousness being placed into a drone was what initially drew me to this book. This idea encompassed maybe 1/3 of the whole book. 

There are topics mentioned here that are extremely important. Higuera frames immigration and racism in a way that young people who may be first encountering this topic will understand. 

I was not emotionally attached to any of the characters and the world was quite dark and depressing and dealt with heavy things like death and banishment which I thought was a bit over confident in emotional readiness for a book meant for tweens. 

2.75 stars