tomhill's review
3.0
Basically a thriller with just a hint of science fiction, different in many ways from the L'Engle books I'm familiar with because it's anchored more in the real world, but also similar in its focus on a large, loving, slightly eccentric family and on young people navigating difficult situations thrust upon them by others. I also thought the ending was really good, L'Engle wasn't afraid to end on a melancholy note.
shaekin's review against another edition
2.0
I made it over halfway through this book, and didn't like any of the characters and wasn't invested in the plot. It's full of manipulations, gaslighting, and it just wasn't enjoyable to read for me.
tobyyy's review against another edition
3.0
A decent read but I got annoyed at how often Kali fleeced Adam and Adam let it happen because of how beautiful Kali was. *facepalm* I do love Madeline L’Engle though and I’ve not met a book of hers that I didn’t enjoy.
kairosdreaming's review against another edition
3.0
Madeline L'Engle is a brilliant writer. That being said, this is one of her works that I just don't particularly care for. It's still good, but when you compare it to some of her others, it just isn't as good as those, and that is why I only rate it three stars.
Adam Eddington is a smart guy. He's going to be studying marine biology and is offered the chance to go to the island of Gaea to study with Dr. O'Keefe who has been doing research on regeneration in starfish. But Adam's not the only one who's interested in O'Keefe's work. He finds himself in the middle of a lot of intrigue and mystery and can't really be certain who the good guy is and who the bad guy is. And a beautiful girl just clouds his mind even more.
Adam is a decent character. A little naive but he is unfairly thrown into a whole bunch of turmoil that he just isn't capable of dealing with. I did think it was a little beyond the realm of possibility what his character was asked to do, but this is fiction after all. The O'Keefe's didn't really get to be a big part of this story, at least not to me. Poly did, but she was about the only one we really get a good glimpse at. And at least she was entertaining. For all he is mentioned in the book, I still don't think I know much about Dr. O'Keefe. The bad guys are appropriately menacing and sneaky, and I did appreciate their underhanded ways.
The plot went too quick and too slow in this book for me. All the interesting aspects of the plot seemed to be glossed over and hurried while the stuff I didn't really care about, such as Adam's time spent with Kali seemed to take up a huge amount of the book and was less interesting. It is a young adult book, which could account for the pace, but her other ones just seemed to be so much better. This is part of a series though and I do think it is important to read this book before reading some of the others. You'll lose out on interesting tidbits that could be useful in the coming stories. And as said before, L'Engle is a good writer so this book is much better than some of the other books out in the young adult market right now. It has the building of characters and coming of age themes that seem to be quite popular.
A decent read, and a definite part of the series. I recommend reading if you want to read the rest of the series.
The Arm of the Starfish
Copyright 1965
240 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2012
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
Adam Eddington is a smart guy. He's going to be studying marine biology and is offered the chance to go to the island of Gaea to study with Dr. O'Keefe who has been doing research on regeneration in starfish. But Adam's not the only one who's interested in O'Keefe's work. He finds himself in the middle of a lot of intrigue and mystery and can't really be certain who the good guy is and who the bad guy is. And a beautiful girl just clouds his mind even more.
Adam is a decent character. A little naive but he is unfairly thrown into a whole bunch of turmoil that he just isn't capable of dealing with. I did think it was a little beyond the realm of possibility what his character was asked to do, but this is fiction after all. The O'Keefe's didn't really get to be a big part of this story, at least not to me. Poly did, but she was about the only one we really get a good glimpse at. And at least she was entertaining. For all he is mentioned in the book, I still don't think I know much about Dr. O'Keefe. The bad guys are appropriately menacing and sneaky, and I did appreciate their underhanded ways.
The plot went too quick and too slow in this book for me. All the interesting aspects of the plot seemed to be glossed over and hurried while the stuff I didn't really care about, such as Adam's time spent with Kali seemed to take up a huge amount of the book and was less interesting. It is a young adult book, which could account for the pace, but her other ones just seemed to be so much better. This is part of a series though and I do think it is important to read this book before reading some of the others. You'll lose out on interesting tidbits that could be useful in the coming stories. And as said before, L'Engle is a good writer so this book is much better than some of the other books out in the young adult market right now. It has the building of characters and coming of age themes that seem to be quite popular.
A decent read, and a definite part of the series. I recommend reading if you want to read the rest of the series.
The Arm of the Starfish
Copyright 1965
240 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2012
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
nukie19's review
4.0
In the world of YA, there are so many action-packed, quick-moving stories, it is refreshing to read something like Arm of the Starfish. It's a slow, character driven plot, which wraps up rather quickly like most of L'Engle's stories do. Knowing the O'Keefe family from the Time Quintet, it was fun to see them in a different setting without the time travel element.
princessleia4life's review against another edition
4.0
Not as good as her other books. The ending didn't seem as finished, the characters didn't have as much depth.
bookdragonhoard's review against another edition
1.0
I loved Madeleine L'Engle's chronos quintet. I picked this book up for nostalgia for the Murray/O'Keefe family. So disappointed. The whole thing was disappointing. The characters seem so flat and poorly drawn. The protagonist is a dope, invested in any pretty girl who throws dramatics. The girl he's met twice insists she loves him and will kill herself if he doesn't prove himself? What? Persuasion by unlikeable character hinges on 'Dont you love your country'?. Ugh. I will probably slog through the rest of the quartet for closure but as of book one I'm completely unimpressed. Maybe I've just outgrown contrived dramatics and all things are good or evil dichotomies. Maybe
rachel_abby_reads's review against another edition
4.0
I originally read this as a teen. I reread it for the first time in 15 or 16 years, and I almost wish I was reading it for the first time. I wonder how I would have reacted to Kali's statement "You can't let people matter; that's just sentimental" if I'd read it for the first time with an adult value system in place. I don't think I ever would have trusted her after a comment like that.
Interesting and exciting, and places a 16 year old square into life-changing adventure. Cool.
Interesting and exciting, and places a 16 year old square into life-changing adventure. Cool.
sarahpjs's review against another edition
5.0
Do not judge this book by this cover. Philosophical marine biology teen romance spy thrillers?? Is this a genre I didn’t know existed? There are a few sentences that made me cringe (girl’s body descriptions), but overall this was absolutely magical.