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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Not everyone has to be the chosen one
The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death.
What if you were Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.
And what if there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life? Even if your best friend might be the God of mountain lions …
18-year-old Mikey is a pretty ordinary teenager who lives in Washington State. His mum’s a state senator, his dad’s an alcoholic embezzler, his youngest sister is into a lame boy band called Bolts of Fire and his older sister’s an anorexic who almost died. The problem is that he lives in a town where Things Happen. A group of kids in his school (known as the Indies) attract strange occurrences – such as vampires, prophecies and end of the world scenarios – and the high school’s already blown up once because of it. Mikey just wants to graduate and go to the prom with Henna (who he’s had a crush on for years) but something’s clearly going on with the Indies who are dying like flies and then there’s his best friend Jared, who happens to be the god of mountain lions …
Patrick Ness’s stand alone YA novel lifts an arch eyebrow at YA paranormal romance/urban fantasy and combines it with an ‘issues’ story that marries anorexia with OCD, first love and the importance of prom. It’s a lot of ground to cover and to be honest, I’m not sure that Ness – fine writer though he is – pulls it off. The book works best when it casts a snook at YA paranormal romance style books and I especially liked the short précis at the start of each chapter recounting what’s been going on with Indie kid Satchel and the current end of the world scenario, which Ness does well to pull together with Mikey’s storyline. In contrast, Mikey’s storyline seems very flat and much as he tries, Ness doesn’t really bring much depth or much that’s new to it. Sure, Mikey’s struggle against OCD is well depicted and is believable but I was left feeling ‘so what?’ Ditto his struggle to come to terms with his feelings for Henna and the strained relationship with his politically ambitious mother who wants to put her career first. I actually wanted to know more about his gay best friend Jared, who’s supernatural abilities with regard to cats and mountain lions and family history was really interesting. Ultimately, although this is a perfectly okay read it suffers when you compare it with Ness’s other incredible books because it simply doesn’t have that emotional punch you expect from his work (even though it’s good to see him do something different).
The Verdict:
Patrick Ness’s stand alone YA novel lifts an arch eyebrow at YA paranormal romance/urban fantasy and combines it with an ‘issues’ story that marries anorexia with OCD, first love and the importance of prom. It’s a lot of ground to cover and to be honest, I’m not sure that Ness – fine writer though he is – pulls it off. The book works best when it casts a snook at YA paranormal romance style books and I especially liked the short précis at the start of each chapter recounting what’s been going on with Indie kid Satchel and the current end of the world scenario, which Ness does well to pull together with Mikey’s storyline. In contrast, Mikey’s storyline seems very flat and much as he tries, Ness doesn’t really bring much depth or much that’s new to it. Sure, Mikey’s struggle against OCD is well depicted and is believable but I was left feeling ‘so what?’ Ditto his struggle to come to terms with his feelings for Henna and the strained relationship with his politically ambitious mother who wants to put her career first. I actually wanted to know more about his gay best friend Jared, who’s supernatural abilities with regard to cats and mountain lions and family history was really interesting. Ultimately, although this is a perfectly okay read it suffers when you compare it with Ness’s other incredible books because it simply doesn’t have that emotional punch you expect from his work (even though it’s good to see him do something different).
THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE will be released in the United Kingdom on 27th August 2015. Thanks to Walker Books for the ARC of this book.
The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death.
What if you were Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.
And what if there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life? Even if your best friend might be the God of mountain lions …
18-year-old Mikey is a pretty ordinary teenager who lives in Washington State. His mum’s a state senator, his dad’s an alcoholic embezzler, his youngest sister is into a lame boy band called Bolts of Fire and his older sister’s an anorexic who almost died. The problem is that he lives in a town where Things Happen. A group of kids in his school (known as the Indies) attract strange occurrences – such as vampires, prophecies and end of the world scenarios – and the high school’s already blown up once because of it. Mikey just wants to graduate and go to the prom with Henna (who he’s had a crush on for years) but something’s clearly going on with the Indies who are dying like flies and then there’s his best friend Jared, who happens to be the god of mountain lions …
Patrick Ness’s stand alone YA novel lifts an arch eyebrow at YA paranormal romance/urban fantasy and combines it with an ‘issues’ story that marries anorexia with OCD, first love and the importance of prom. It’s a lot of ground to cover and to be honest, I’m not sure that Ness – fine writer though he is – pulls it off. The book works best when it casts a snook at YA paranormal romance style books and I especially liked the short précis at the start of each chapter recounting what’s been going on with Indie kid Satchel and the current end of the world scenario, which Ness does well to pull together with Mikey’s storyline. In contrast, Mikey’s storyline seems very flat and much as he tries, Ness doesn’t really bring much depth or much that’s new to it. Sure, Mikey’s struggle against OCD is well depicted and is believable but I was left feeling ‘so what?’ Ditto his struggle to come to terms with his feelings for Henna and the strained relationship with his politically ambitious mother who wants to put her career first. I actually wanted to know more about his gay best friend Jared, who’s supernatural abilities with regard to cats and mountain lions and family history was really interesting. Ultimately, although this is a perfectly okay read it suffers when you compare it with Ness’s other incredible books because it simply doesn’t have that emotional punch you expect from his work (even though it’s good to see him do something different).
The Verdict:
Patrick Ness’s stand alone YA novel lifts an arch eyebrow at YA paranormal romance/urban fantasy and combines it with an ‘issues’ story that marries anorexia with OCD, first love and the importance of prom. It’s a lot of ground to cover and to be honest, I’m not sure that Ness – fine writer though he is – pulls it off. The book works best when it casts a snook at YA paranormal romance style books and I especially liked the short précis at the start of each chapter recounting what’s been going on with Indie kid Satchel and the current end of the world scenario, which Ness does well to pull together with Mikey’s storyline. In contrast, Mikey’s storyline seems very flat and much as he tries, Ness doesn’t really bring much depth or much that’s new to it. Sure, Mikey’s struggle against OCD is well depicted and is believable but I was left feeling ‘so what?’ Ditto his struggle to come to terms with his feelings for Henna and the strained relationship with his politically ambitious mother who wants to put her career first. I actually wanted to know more about his gay best friend Jared, who’s supernatural abilities with regard to cats and mountain lions and family history was really interesting. Ultimately, although this is a perfectly okay read it suffers when you compare it with Ness’s other incredible books because it simply doesn’t have that emotional punch you expect from his work (even though it’s good to see him do something different).
THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE will be released in the United Kingdom on 27th August 2015. Thanks to Walker Books for the ARC of this book.
