Stephenie Meyer recommended this book also, so of course I had to read it.
This book is about a girl, named Piper, who grows up in a small farm born with the strange ability to float. Alarmed, her mother and father keep her sheltered in their home. One day, she discovers that she could fly. However, after a stunt at a baseball game, everyone finds her out. She is then swept to an institution for talented kids. (Spoiler ahead!) After finding out that this institution is a farce and its actual mission is to force them to be normal, Piper and her new friends figure out a way to break out.
Sorry for making the book sound so interesting. Haha, actually I didn't like it that much. I think I was expecting too much. All the main characters are around 9 years old, so it was a little corny. It reminded me most of Tara's favorite movie,
Sky High. It has the same amount of corniness.
Now, don't get me started on the writing. It was pretty bad..
1. She used excessive amounts of exclamation marks, question marks, and capitalization to add unneeded drama to an exclamation. For example: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" or "WHAT?!?!?"
It was so annoying. Jesus, what are you doing? IMing?
2. She had terrible character development. I felt no attachment to any of them, not even the main character.
3. She made bad calls as to which characters should have died. Piper meets a cute little cricket who cares about her, but he dies for no reason. Frustrating! I'm a big fan of little companions!
4. She told the story terribly. During the "climax" I wanted to yawn. It was unbearably corny.
5. She writes almost as bad as C.S. Lewis. (Okay, fine. I exaggerated. No one can write as bad a C.S. Lewis.) They have the same bad habit of adding unnecessary tidbits about the future that is intrusive to the story and add no real substance. I don't feel like looking for an example in the book, so I'll make one up. "Ben was driving his car to the supermarket, and as he drove he saw a cat in a bush. That cat would later die of disease. Ben continued on his way to the market." Well, that was a little exaggerated, but you get the point. She does that a few times in the book.
6. Some characters or events in the story are not explained what so ever and simply happen. In the book, there is an invisible man named J. who wants to break Piper out, because it is his mission. After Piper refuses his help, because she won't leave her friends behind, J. disappears to reappear at the end of the book. J. is the most unnecessary character I have ever seen. He does nothing. He effects nothing. He only makes a little sense if there is a sequel to the book. In that case, J. needs to be more developed.
In the end, I couldn't help but think, "What a waste of a potentially good story!" Basically, Victoria Forester sucks. This book is like a long children's picture book. I think she should choose which. It should either be shortened to a children's book, or properly developed into a young adult novel and have some of the ultra corniness taken out.
I give it 2 stars.
