Bridget O. (sixteendays) - reviewed on 1/1/2014 + 130 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

I find it hard to put my disappointment with this book into words. Not only was following Jon a bad decision (as he was always the least interesting character), but this book made him a distinctly hate-able person. Although the ending aims for the idea of redemption, the amount of terrible things that Jon has done, attempted, thought, and said aloud is so overwhelming that I don't see how he could ever claim redemption.

The other characters suffer not only from having lost their original voices (both literally and figuratively) but also from direct association with Jon. Sarah, Luke, and Opal all could have been successful independent characters, but from their association with Jon they become shadows of what they might have been. This especially goes for Sarah, who has the potential to be a strong, moralistic, humanitarian but by making her "fall in love" with Jon, she loses all potential.

In the afterward, Pfeffer states she wrote a different 4th book that her publishers hated, and then wrote this one instead. I'd be willing to place a hefty wager that the original 4th was far superior to this awkwardly-written, ill-placed tome.

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