A review by srharris
Strange Creatures by Phoebe North
3.0
This is going to be a hard one for me to review.
First if this is categorized as YA, this is not a YA book. Second, this is not a fantasy book, while it has some fantasy elements, it is also not a fantasy book, it is a contemporary book and a dark one at that.
This book is told from three different perspectives, Annie, James/Jamie and Vidya.
Jamie and Annie are brother and sister born exactly one year apart. Jamie is not like typical boys, he likes to write fantasy stories, poetry and read, he is not into sports and things like that and Annie is not a typical girl, she does not dressing up and tea parties, she likes to play in the mud and follow her brother. Because they don't fit in, they make up a fantasy world in the woods behind their house called Gumlea, they have their rules and they spend their days having fun.
When Jamie turns 11, he starts to change, he is moody, he doesn't want to play in Gumlea anymore, he is friends with the popular kids, he is into sports and he has a girlfriend. For two years, the two of them drift apart and one day when Jamie is 13, Annie sees him step backwards into the woods behind their house and even though he hasn't believed in Gumlea in a long time, Annie is slightly happy that he is going there, and then Jamie disappears.....
Two years later we have Vidya (Jamie's girlfriend before he disappeared) telling the story and we see how she and Annie become close and eventually start a relationship. I didn't have a problem with the two of them being together, in grief we see stuff like this all the time. During this time, I felt for Annie because she was obsessed with getting Jamie back, she was convinced he was in Gumlea and that because Jamie had shared it with Vidya that she could help her get him back.
Then we have Jamie's point of view. This is the part of the story that I struggled with. I am not doubting that Jamie was at one point a victim, he was betrayed and manipulated by someone he trusted and held captive, but..... I didn't buy Jamie's reason for staying, maybe because when we finally gets his point of view he doesn't seem like a captive. I understand that this is supposed to be a YA book so we don't know what he went through during those first six months and for me that took away from the story. Also, I never got the impression that his father would have an issue with him being bisexual, maybe that should have been fleshed out more considering that one was of the main reasons his captive was able to keep him subdued in the beginning. I will always wonder if Jamie left because He brought that other boy home, and if he left because he knew what was going to happen to that boy and he wanted to help him or if it was another reason altogether.
I was happy that Annie was finally able to let all that shit go and move on and have some semblance of happiness.
This was a good book but I struggled with believing Jamie and as creepy as it would have been, I would have liked it better if he said he stayed because just for a while he wanted to be free and do shit he didn't think his father would approve of.
First if this is categorized as YA, this is not a YA book. Second, this is not a fantasy book, while it has some fantasy elements, it is also not a fantasy book, it is a contemporary book and a dark one at that.
This book is told from three different perspectives, Annie, James/Jamie and Vidya.
Jamie and Annie are brother and sister born exactly one year apart. Jamie is not like typical boys, he likes to write fantasy stories, poetry and read, he is not into sports and things like that and Annie is not a typical girl, she does not dressing up and tea parties, she likes to play in the mud and follow her brother. Because they don't fit in, they make up a fantasy world in the woods behind their house called Gumlea, they have their rules and they spend their days having fun.
When Jamie turns 11, he starts to change, he is moody, he doesn't want to play in Gumlea anymore, he is friends with the popular kids, he is into sports and he has a girlfriend. For two years, the two of them drift apart and one day when Jamie is 13, Annie sees him step backwards into the woods behind their house and even though he hasn't believed in Gumlea in a long time, Annie is slightly happy that he is going there, and then Jamie disappears.....
Two years later we have Vidya (Jamie's girlfriend before he disappeared) telling the story and we see how she and Annie become close and eventually start a relationship. I didn't have a problem with the two of them being together, in grief we see stuff like this all the time. During this time, I felt for Annie because she was obsessed with getting Jamie back, she was convinced he was in Gumlea and that because Jamie had shared it with Vidya that she could help her get him back.
Then we have Jamie's point of view. This is the part of the story that I struggled with. I am not doubting that Jamie was at one point a victim, he was betrayed and manipulated by someone he trusted and held captive, but..... I didn't buy Jamie's reason for staying, maybe because when we finally gets his point of view he doesn't seem like a captive. I understand that this is supposed to be a YA book so we don't know what he went through during those first six months and for me that took away from the story. Also, I never got the impression that his father would have an issue with him being bisexual, maybe that should have been fleshed out more considering that one was of the main reasons his captive was able to keep him subdued in the beginning. I will always wonder if Jamie left because He brought that other boy home, and if he left because he knew what was going to happen to that boy and he wanted to help him or if it was another reason altogether.
I was happy that Annie was finally able to let all that shit go and move on and have some semblance of happiness.
This was a good book but I struggled with believing Jamie and as creepy as it would have been, I would have liked it better if he said he stayed because just for a while he wanted to be free and do shit he didn't think his father would approve of.