Originally posted to www.katiealexandrablog.wordpress.com
I received a copy of The Island from Readers First in exchange for an honest review, so thanks to Hot Key Books for the opportunity to win this book!
My initial thoughts going into this book were centered around how much I loved STAGS (I literally, genuinely sat for a while after finishing it with my mouth just wide open) and so was desperate to get my hands on The Island.
Not released until today, I jumped on the chance to read an excerpt from the Readers First website, and boy oh boy did it whet my appetite.
'Link is a fish out of water. Newly arrived from America, he is finding it hard to settle into the venerable and prestigious Osney School. Who knew there could be so many strange traditions to understand? And what kind of school ranks its students by how fast they can run round the school quad - however ancient that quad may be? When Link runs the slowest time in years, he immediately becomes the butt of every school joke. And some students are determined to make his life more miserable than others . . .
When a school summer trip is offered, Link can think of nothing worse than spending voluntary time with his worst tormentors. But when his parents say he can only leave Osney School - forever - if he goes on the trip, Link decides to endure it for the ultimate prize. But this particular trip will require a very special sort of endurance. The saying goes 'No man is an island' - but what if on that island is a group of teenagers, none of whom particularly like each other? When oppressive heat, hunger and thirst start to bite, everyone's true colours will be revealed. Let the battle commence . . .'
This review will contain spoilers.
The start of the book was slow to me. I know it was important back story, but I didn't really care for the stuff that happened in school - I was just desperate to get to the island. So that was a slight downer for me, but I kept going because I knew I wasn't going to be disappointed.
However, once we got to the island, I could tell something was up as soon as they revealed that none of them had their shoe laces. And when Link had his tooth removed, and the seat number malarkey, it was all starting to fit together. But, I hadn't even thought it was going to be his parents involved, I did not see that twist coming.
My favourite snippets were the LOST references, because I absolutely adore that show and to me - side note, I'm currently writing a YA book focusing around a plane crash - to me, when I think of plane crashes, especially in fiction, whether that's TV or literature, I think of LOST. And I think that's the same for a lot of people, whether they've watched it or not, it's such an iconic and unique show and concept that a lot of comparisons will be made. Which is what I'm conscious of when writing my own work, and so am careful to reference LOST but make it different and it's own story. But I loved how the airlines was Oceanic Airways. It all made sense when you find out Link's parents have been researching this for years.
What I found most compelling though was Link's character, and his change of behaviour. So often in literature, especially YA, there are limits to how unlikeable a character becomes. And while Link wasn't running around murdering, raping, pillaging, etc, his attitude was very different to the boy we were introduced to at the beginning of the book. I'm talking mainly about his interactions with the girls, and the scenes with them 'serving' him in the Amazing Skirt. It made my skin crawl to read to liken those pages with much darker, sinister scenes of TV, movies and other books, but also real life where it's such a little thing - wear this skirt - but it has much deeper, more malicious intentions. And Link was portrayed as this nice kid, bullied, naive - essentially the Good Guy, who was granted a little bit of power and used it for bad. I found his character and behaviour so interesting to read about, and so thought provoking - it's the classic desert island conundrum isn't it? When will society descend?
In terms of the other characters, I wasn't too sold on the idea that there was 'one of each' kid, i.e. nerd, jock, popular girl. I found it too simplified that the only characters you heard of from the school were those that ended up on the island. It was almost suspicious right from the very beginning that there was a reason you didn't hear about anyone else. However, they were all well rounded, and three dimensional characters, even if they were quite stereotypical of the clique they came from.
As I said before, the pacing started slow, but once they'd crashed I ploughed through the rest of it, needing to read the ending.
I want to talk about the epilogue though. I'm not sure how I feel about Link becoming president at the end of it. We were shown how easily a flip in situation turned him into a creep, a nasty boy with ulterior motives to humiliate and manipulate, and yes, I did say boy - he might have grown up into someone who can handle responsibility and power better. But he also might not be the person you want running the country if that's a side of him that comes out in the worst of times. Then again, I feel Bennett was making a remark on the state of those in power.
Overall, a thrilling read, with some important but fascinating themes throughout. I gave this a 4/5 stars, not quite as high as I gave STAGS, but still enough that I'll be sitting on tenterhooks for M.A. Bennett's next book.
I received a copy of The Island from Readers First in exchange for an honest review, so thanks to Hot Key Books for the opportunity to win this book!
My initial thoughts going into this book were centered around how much I loved STAGS (I literally, genuinely sat for a while after finishing it with my mouth just wide open) and so was desperate to get my hands on The Island.
Not released until today, I jumped on the chance to read an excerpt from the Readers First website, and boy oh boy did it whet my appetite.
'Link is a fish out of water. Newly arrived from America, he is finding it hard to settle into the venerable and prestigious Osney School. Who knew there could be so many strange traditions to understand? And what kind of school ranks its students by how fast they can run round the school quad - however ancient that quad may be? When Link runs the slowest time in years, he immediately becomes the butt of every school joke. And some students are determined to make his life more miserable than others . . .
When a school summer trip is offered, Link can think of nothing worse than spending voluntary time with his worst tormentors. But when his parents say he can only leave Osney School - forever - if he goes on the trip, Link decides to endure it for the ultimate prize. But this particular trip will require a very special sort of endurance. The saying goes 'No man is an island' - but what if on that island is a group of teenagers, none of whom particularly like each other? When oppressive heat, hunger and thirst start to bite, everyone's true colours will be revealed. Let the battle commence . . .'
This review will contain spoilers.
The start of the book was slow to me. I know it was important back story, but I didn't really care for the stuff that happened in school - I was just desperate to get to the island. So that was a slight downer for me, but I kept going because I knew I wasn't going to be disappointed.
However, once we got to the island, I could tell something was up as soon as they revealed that none of them had their shoe laces. And when Link had his tooth removed, and the seat number malarkey, it was all starting to fit together. But, I hadn't even thought it was going to be his parents involved, I did not see that twist coming.
My favourite snippets were the LOST references, because I absolutely adore that show and to me - side note, I'm currently writing a YA book focusing around a plane crash - to me, when I think of plane crashes, especially in fiction, whether that's TV or literature, I think of LOST. And I think that's the same for a lot of people, whether they've watched it or not, it's such an iconic and unique show and concept that a lot of comparisons will be made. Which is what I'm conscious of when writing my own work, and so am careful to reference LOST but make it different and it's own story. But I loved how the airlines was Oceanic Airways. It all made sense when you find out Link's parents have been researching this for years.
What I found most compelling though was Link's character, and his change of behaviour. So often in literature, especially YA, there are limits to how unlikeable a character becomes. And while Link wasn't running around murdering, raping, pillaging, etc, his attitude was very different to the boy we were introduced to at the beginning of the book. I'm talking mainly about his interactions with the girls, and the scenes with them 'serving' him in the Amazing Skirt. It made my skin crawl to read to liken those pages with much darker, sinister scenes of TV, movies and other books, but also real life where it's such a little thing - wear this skirt - but it has much deeper, more malicious intentions. And Link was portrayed as this nice kid, bullied, naive - essentially the Good Guy, who was granted a little bit of power and used it for bad. I found his character and behaviour so interesting to read about, and so thought provoking - it's the classic desert island conundrum isn't it? When will society descend?
In terms of the other characters, I wasn't too sold on the idea that there was 'one of each' kid, i.e. nerd, jock, popular girl. I found it too simplified that the only characters you heard of from the school were those that ended up on the island. It was almost suspicious right from the very beginning that there was a reason you didn't hear about anyone else. However, they were all well rounded, and three dimensional characters, even if they were quite stereotypical of the clique they came from.
As I said before, the pacing started slow, but once they'd crashed I ploughed through the rest of it, needing to read the ending.
I want to talk about the epilogue though. I'm not sure how I feel about Link becoming president at the end of it. We were shown how easily a flip in situation turned him into a creep, a nasty boy with ulterior motives to humiliate and manipulate, and yes, I did say boy - he might have grown up into someone who can handle responsibility and power better. But he also might not be the person you want running the country if that's a side of him that comes out in the worst of times. Then again, I feel Bennett was making a remark on the state of those in power.
Overall, a thrilling read, with some important but fascinating themes throughout. I gave this a 4/5 stars, not quite as high as I gave STAGS, but still enough that I'll be sitting on tenterhooks for M.A. Bennett's next book.