novelheartbeat's review against another edition
DNF
I blame the beautiful cover for drawing me in, much like a poor and unsuspecting fly to a venus flytrap.
The main issue I had with this one was that everything was absolutely ridiculous. The interactions didn't make any sense and the writing was just plain awkward.
The guy on the airplane reminded me of Mummy Girl. Like he'd been into arsenic suntan lotion. It was kind of beautiful, I guess. I mean, if you are into expensive-luggage skin or whatever.
Um....you mean like, leathery? Expensive luggage skin. Lolol. She was completely freaked out by the guy for seemingly no reason (unless she just wasn't sure if she should talk to him or stuff him under her seat as a carry on?).
"Hey," Brynn said to me. You could tell she was from the South right away, even hearing that one word. It came out sounding like what horses eat.
Grass? Barley? Ohh, you mean HAY. You couldn't have just said something like, She said 'Hey,' but it came out more like 'Hay,' due to her Southern drawl? Wouldn't that have sounded much less....cumbersome? Then Camden goes around the dorm, peeking into other people's rooms without asking and barging in.
The door was closed. I heard voices inside, so I knocked and opened the door right away. I wasn't into waiting to see if they wanted to talk to me.
Jeez, rude much? Who does that? Did you ever think that maybe it was closed for a reason? Like, I dunno, privacy? Imagine that.
Jessie started laughing. Or crying. Or something.
You know - little giggly sobs and nose sniffles that turned into brays and barks. Like someone rolling the radio knob back and forth between stations.
Nope, sorry, I don't know. I've never heard anyone sound like a mixture between dog and radio static before. And even the scenes that were supposed to be funny, I had absolutely no reaction. Not even a twitch of the lips. Calling someone 'Skinny Butt' and 'snot waffle' and hanging underwear out on the porch - are you 12?
"Skinny Butt?" I asked.
"Jessie doesn't even know his name!" Nora cackled. Someone farted. Jessie turned purple. All fingers zeroed in on her. Tears streamed down her face. Nora fell off the bed with a thump. I howled.
"Skin. Nee. Butt!" Nora wheezed.
Brynn squirted water in her mouth from a bottle, swished it around, and spit it out. I was a little grossed out. She usually seemed so...I dunno. Southern. It was like watching Scarlett O'Hara scratch her armpit.
Just because she's Southern, she has to be a perfect lady? She probably would have had an aneurysm if the Brynn had farted.
He kept walking toward me. It was hard to think with the guy getting so close. Less than three feet now. He slowed down. A foot and a half. Then he was right there. He smelled good. Salty. I know that probably sounds gross, but the way the guy smelled was heaven. And he was so close. I didn't feel like my right self. I had an insane urge to lean over and...I dunno. Lick the sweat off Mark Elliot's neck, right by his collarbone. It was shocking to think that. Shocking and super-uber fantastically unbelievably gross. It wasn't even a kiss, was the thing. It was madness to think of something like that. Insane licking madness. I bit down on my tongue.
From the same girl who freaked because a female spit out water? How the hell does a sweaty dude smell good? Clearly the writer has never actually smelled a sweaty dude. And see what I mean about the writing? It's so choppy and awkward!
What a waste of makeup. What a waste of a secret room where I could go kiss someone. I was going to be a dateless wonder the rest of my life.
Because one boy didn't notice that you wore makeup? Really? She overreacted too much. Then in another scene, she gets called a 'Squealer' (so insulting! Gasp!) and was completely humiliated, wondering how things had gotten messed up so fast. Then when her roommate leaves the room crying (I don't even remember what for, honestly):
Stupid jerk roommate. Stupid Brynn. Stupid school. I hated everything, the whole campus, all of Nueva Vista. Throw in the whole state of California for good measure.
I couldn't bring myself to give a crap about anything that happened to her, or anything she said, because she seriously overreacted about everything. I don't even know what she was upset about!
After 30%, I couldn't stand it anymore. I skipped to the last 20% of the book, which is one big info dump that tells basically the whole story. So I found out the entire point of the book without even reading it all. The sad part is, the idea was actually kind of cool. If the prose hadn't been a train wreck, and the character interactions not so absurd, it may have been a good story.
mathildereip's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
kblincoln's review against another edition
3.0
On the surface, Last Academy has all the ingredients of books I like: budding romance, mysterious lurking figures, strange happenings, girl-girl friendship issues.
However, the plot and writing of this book is just a wee bit overly self-conscious for my taste.
First of all; our heroine Camden on her way to LETHE academy meets a scary dude named Barnabus CHARON. Okay, well now, thanks for the huge signposts for the "twist" at the end where we discover that the school is actually a place for....(if you know your mythology, you know how to end that sentence.)
Since I do know my mythology, I had already guessed why there were mysterious disappearances and strange happenings at the school, so there was no thrill of discovery. The budding romance seemed to start with senior Mark (our jock hero) seeing Camden from afar, watching her trip, talking to her for one second as she blurts out she has to go, and then wham, bam they're in luuurve. Very unsatisfying.
And then after that, he does some really unbelievably weird/awkward things related to the twist at the end that would have, in my opinion, made Camden question alot of things and freak out, but that she seemed to take in stride.
So while the ingredients for a good story were there, the actual execution of the plot, as well as the kind of off-handed reactions of many of the characters, kept me from enjoying it to the fullest.
This Book's Snack Rating: Lay's for the slightly oily, thin crunch of weirdly-motivated characters in a bag of YA Paranormal
However, the plot and writing of this book is just a wee bit overly self-conscious for my taste.
First of all; our heroine Camden on her way to LETHE academy meets a scary dude named Barnabus CHARON. Okay, well now, thanks for the huge signposts for the "twist" at the end where we discover that the school is actually a place for....(if you know your mythology, you know how to end that sentence.)
Since I do know my mythology, I had already guessed why there were mysterious disappearances and strange happenings at the school, so there was no thrill of discovery. The budding romance seemed to start with senior Mark (our jock hero) seeing Camden from afar, watching her trip, talking to her for one second as she blurts out she has to go, and then wham, bam they're in luuurve. Very unsatisfying.
And then after that, he does some really unbelievably weird/awkward things related to the twist at the end that would have, in my opinion, made Camden question alot of things and freak out, but that she seemed to take in stride.
So while the ingredients for a good story were there, the actual execution of the plot, as well as the kind of off-handed reactions of many of the characters, kept me from enjoying it to the fullest.
This Book's Snack Rating: Lay's for the slightly oily, thin crunch of weirdly-motivated characters in a bag of YA Paranormal
meganmreads's review against another edition
2.0
The Last Academy is a difficult book to review because I didn’t really enjoy it the whole time I was reading it, but the ending was awesome and really brought all the elements of the story together. As much as I loved the ending, I feel like it wasn’t enough to warrant a high review or a stellar recommendation. And I can’t really say much about the story because the only things worth mentioning are incredible spoilers. If you read The Last Academy knowing how it ends, it would be a waste of your time. If you don’t know the end, you’ll only feel like it’s wasting your time until the end brings the story together.
Honestly, I don’t know that I can review the book properly or provide a decent synopsis because anything worth highlighting can ruin the story for people who are fairly good at predicting twists.
Camden arrived at boarding school sort of unexpectedly. She basically adjusted to her life there and dealt with the possibility that her parents might not want her around. Most of the kids had some sort of similar feelings, too, which I imagined was common for boarding school students. For most of the story, Camden attempted to fit in, win the affections of a popular boy, and make friends while avoiding making the same kinds of friends she had at home. And all the while, weird things start to happen and Camden unravels the mystery of her new home.
The majority of the book was slow and uninteresting to me. I didn’t care for Camden, I thought her crush on Mark was stupid because it was based on nothing and they had nothing in common. I didn’t like most of Camden’s friends, aside from Nora, but I didn’t feel like Camden was really learning her lesson after the summer incident back home. Until the twist, I was just waiting for the story to end. The twist in the story was brilliant, intelligent, and quite interesting, but I feel like the book was poorly executed overall. I’m not sure how it could have been done differently, but something about the execution missed the mark for me.
I don’t know that I’d recommend the book, although the overall themes were great. I suppose it would just depend on how fast of a reader the person is and how much time they are willing to spend on a book. If you can make it to the end, it’s a book that can be appreciated. It’s probably a great book club book so readers can discuss the ending and the themes.
Review originally published at Love, Literature, Art, and Reason book review blog
Honestly, I don’t know that I can review the book properly or provide a decent synopsis because anything worth highlighting can ruin the story for people who are fairly good at predicting twists.
Camden arrived at boarding school sort of unexpectedly. She basically adjusted to her life there and dealt with the possibility that her parents might not want her around. Most of the kids had some sort of similar feelings, too, which I imagined was common for boarding school students. For most of the story, Camden attempted to fit in, win the affections of a popular boy, and make friends while avoiding making the same kinds of friends she had at home. And all the while, weird things start to happen and Camden unravels the mystery of her new home.
The majority of the book was slow and uninteresting to me. I didn’t care for Camden, I thought her crush on Mark was stupid because it was based on nothing and they had nothing in common. I didn’t like most of Camden’s friends, aside from Nora, but I didn’t feel like Camden was really learning her lesson after the summer incident back home. Until the twist, I was just waiting for the story to end. The twist in the story was brilliant, intelligent, and quite interesting, but I feel like the book was poorly executed overall. I’m not sure how it could have been done differently, but something about the execution missed the mark for me.
I don’t know that I’d recommend the book, although the overall themes were great. I suppose it would just depend on how fast of a reader the person is and how much time they are willing to spend on a book. If you can make it to the end, it’s a book that can be appreciated. It’s probably a great book club book so readers can discuss the ending and the themes.
Review originally published at Love, Literature, Art, and Reason book review blog
melissadelongcox's review against another edition
Picked this up on a whim because it was available at my library and I didn't have anything else to read. Overall: not bad, but if you recognize a few names, you'll spoil yourself at the very beginning of the story.
Spoiler
Lethe set off nothing for me, Charon rang some bells, and then I was so bored around the 45% mark that I came here to see if anyone had fully spoiled the plot. They had, so at that point was when I learned that all the students were dead. It definitely made things feel more interesting, but I ultimately just finished this book to finish it.willispahela's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book the ending came out of nowhere and surprised me!
katereads2much's review against another edition
4.0
This was really interesting and not at all what I expected. It's initially creepy, then scary, then sad and perhaps a little bittersweet.
Camden is having some disturbing visions and an awful time adjusting to her new school when people start to go missing. What's happening and why is no one trying to stop the sinister man so involved with the school? Why has every student's family turned against them?
Does Camden have the strength to solve the mystery and heal from what seem like terrible betrayals to finally understand why she's there and what she must do?
Camden is having some disturbing visions and an awful time adjusting to her new school when people start to go missing. What's happening and why is no one trying to stop the sinister man so involved with the school? Why has every student's family turned against them?
Does Camden have the strength to solve the mystery and heal from what seem like terrible betrayals to finally understand why she's there and what she must do?
readinggrrl's review against another edition
3.0
This is the debut novel from Anne Applegate and its a really great story. There is a bit too much teenage angst but given that this is a YA book geared toward that audience I can let it go. Camden Fisher is the only one of her family to be sent off to boarding school. When she gets there things start to get strange. Kids start disappearing and the teachers seem to be hiding something. There is a creepy old man who is a benefactor of the school whom Camden met on the plane while she was coming to the academy. He seems to have a liking of young girls and there is just something else creepy about him.
This is a well crafted story and while the ending didn't shock me as it did for many people I was pleasantly satisfied. It is a well crafted story of a tale of a creepy legend. Fun quick read.
This is a well crafted story and while the ending didn't shock me as it did for many people I was pleasantly satisfied. It is a well crafted story of a tale of a creepy legend. Fun quick read.
hyms's review against another edition
2.0
The ending was actually great, but the rest of the book sucked. Too bad!