A review by artycat30
Hatch by Kenneth Oppel
3.0
I wrote this three times so this review will sound angry. Thanks, Goodreads. >:(
Anyway to the review~
3 stars
This book was so….meh. Like, everything I didn’t like in Bloom was amplified. All three protagonists had the same character voice, the only defining traits were their badly done stereotypes. The characters had zero personality, to the extent that I would forget Kenneth Oppel’s well-done descriptions of them. The female mcs had even less personality and were as shallow as a kiddy pool. The way one of them reacts to what one might call a ‘drastic and life-changing event’ is laughable. Ever hear of grief? Oppel surely hasn’t, or maybe it was just for this book.
The adults weren’t believable either - it felt like Oppel’s editors thought ‘omg a mg book?! Are there adults in there? Okay, awesome, make them more one dementional than the kids. Obviously. No kid wants to read about adults’ And the kids, even though they are about fifteen at the start of the book, read like nine year olds :/.
I really wanted to see the cryptogens’ (aliens) P.O.V for a section and more behind the made up ‘science’ of the cryptogens’ air craft, etc. More sci-fi, less apocalyptic ‘last kids on Earth’. Or maybe that’s just my subconscious reaction to apocalypses after the pandemic..
Honestly I’ve just spent a lot of words bagging this book, but it actually wasn’t that bad. There were a lot of things I liked about it; the creativity behind the cryptogens, the plot (chef’s kiss), the descriptions, the friendship, I didn’t mind the romance (sweet ig). I think it had the ‘middle book’s curse’.
Anyway the ending was a cliffhanger, so I’m reading Thrive next. It had better be good. :)
Anyway to the review~
3 stars
This book was so….meh. Like, everything I didn’t like in Bloom was amplified. All three protagonists had the same character voice, the only defining traits were their badly done stereotypes. The characters had zero personality, to the extent that I would forget Kenneth Oppel’s well-done descriptions of them. The female mcs had even less personality and were as shallow as a kiddy pool. The way one of them reacts to what one might call a ‘drastic and life-changing event’ is laughable. Ever hear of grief? Oppel surely hasn’t, or maybe it was just for this book.
The adults weren’t believable either - it felt like Oppel’s editors thought ‘omg a mg book?! Are there adults in there? Okay, awesome, make them more one dementional than the kids. Obviously. No kid wants to read about adults’ And the kids, even though they are about fifteen at the start of the book, read like nine year olds :/.
I really wanted to see the cryptogens’ (aliens) P.O.V for a section and more behind the made up ‘science’ of the cryptogens’ air craft, etc. More sci-fi, less apocalyptic ‘last kids on Earth’. Or maybe that’s just my subconscious reaction to apocalypses after the pandemic..
Honestly I’ve just spent a lot of words bagging this book, but it actually wasn’t that bad. There were a lot of things I liked about it; the creativity behind the cryptogens, the plot (chef’s kiss), the descriptions, the friendship, I didn’t mind the romance (sweet ig). I think it had the ‘middle book’s curse’.
Anyway the ending was a cliffhanger, so I’m reading Thrive next. It had better be good. :)