A review by brennieree33
The Lost City of Faar, by D.J. MacHale
3.0
I did really like this book. Cloral had a really fun atmosphere and this was a world that I liked exploring more than Denduron. Spader is a really fun character, and the things that happened in this book just tugged at your heartstrings. I would have given this book 4 stars if not for a few things in the spoiler section. So let's get to that.
TW: Death, guns, sharks.
-Okay, Press dying really hurt. And I love the dynamic of Spader and Bobby having to reconcile with each other. I just wish we'd gotten a little bit more of that, maybe with a little more time of Bobby being mad before he forgives Spader.
-Okay, so the whole bank idea was really smart, but how did Bobby know that they would get his journals from First Earth before his next journal? With the whole time thing, I don't know whether to call that plan genius or pure stupidity. But it did work for him, so whatever.
-I really hated the intro into the book. Yes, I know that it's a sequel so you have to reintroduce the readers into the world of the Travelers. But it makes no sense in the context of the journals. For all Bobby knows, his friends are getting his journals right after another, so why would he have to remind them of Saint Dane, the star symbol, things that happened on Denduron, etc? It would have made more sense for the book to start with Mark and Courtney getting the journals or talking about what happened in the last book amongst themselves, because their story is written in a more traditional narrated format.
-I've noticed that many authors have specific words they use all the time. Brandon Sanderson's is "maladroit," Natasha Ngan's is "sluiced," and DJ MacHale's is "lavatory." Like, just call it a bathroom haha. It didn't even bother me so much as stick out because I thought it was funny that he wouldn't just call it a bathroom.
-Okay, the whole Mitchell plotline makes no sense. Sure, you want to create tension with the Second Earth plot, because nothing is really happening there. But what the author did to create tension was stupid AF. This whole could have been resolved in two seconds in two entirely different ways. First, just get Courtney involved from the start, as Mitchell is afraid of her. Or, just have Mark tell Mitchell how stupid he would look if he told anyone about it. And then the author tried to trick us at the end with the whole reveal that they'd typed up the journals and given them to the police already, but, as the Second Earth plotline is written in 3rd person omniscient, this doesn't work. Mark specifically thinks that he won't tell Courtney about Mitchell until they get to the police station, but by this point she's already supposed to know. That doesn't in this point of view and it really freaking bothers me when authors do this. I took a whole off of this book for the mental gymnastics of this alone. It's dumb and it doesn't work. This was literally stuck in only to make this part of the plot remotely interesting and he screwed it up. AHHHHHHHHH. I'm just very angry about this for some reason and I don't know why haha.
TW: Death, guns, sharks.
Spoiler
-Okay, Press dying really hurt. And I love the dynamic of Spader and Bobby having to reconcile with each other. I just wish we'd gotten a little bit more of that, maybe with a little more time of Bobby being mad before he forgives Spader.
-Okay, so the whole bank idea was really smart, but how did Bobby know that they would get his journals from First Earth before his next journal? With the whole time thing, I don't know whether to call that plan genius or pure stupidity. But it did work for him, so whatever.
-I really hated the intro into the book. Yes, I know that it's a sequel so you have to reintroduce the readers into the world of the Travelers. But it makes no sense in the context of the journals. For all Bobby knows, his friends are getting his journals right after another, so why would he have to remind them of Saint Dane, the star symbol, things that happened on Denduron, etc? It would have made more sense for the book to start with Mark and Courtney getting the journals or talking about what happened in the last book amongst themselves, because their story is written in a more traditional narrated format.
-I've noticed that many authors have specific words they use all the time. Brandon Sanderson's is "maladroit," Natasha Ngan's is "sluiced," and DJ MacHale's is "lavatory." Like, just call it a bathroom haha. It didn't even bother me so much as stick out because I thought it was funny that he wouldn't just call it a bathroom.
-Okay, the whole Mitchell plotline makes no sense. Sure, you want to create tension with the Second Earth plot, because nothing is really happening there. But what the author did to create tension was stupid AF. This whole could have been resolved in two seconds in two entirely different ways. First, just get Courtney involved from the start, as Mitchell is afraid of her. Or, just have Mark tell Mitchell how stupid he would look if he told anyone about it. And then the author tried to trick us at the end with the whole reveal that they'd typed up the journals and given them to the police already, but, as the Second Earth plotline is written in 3rd person omniscient, this doesn't work. Mark specifically thinks that he won't tell Courtney about Mitchell until they get to the police station, but by this point she's already supposed to know. That doesn't in this point of view and it really freaking bothers me when authors do this. I took a whole off of this book for the mental gymnastics of this alone. It's dumb and it doesn't work. This was literally stuck in only to make this part of the plot remotely interesting and he screwed it up. AHHHHHHHHH. I'm just very angry about this for some reason and I don't know why haha.