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A review by anniemariek
Flame by Amy Kathleen Ryan
4.0
My review of Spark is almost entirely devoted to criticizing Waverly and Kieran for being near-sociopaths. While it's true that I spent most of that book annoyed with them and losing track of their motives, I have since then realized that it isn't so much about likable characters--it's about characters who have human feelings that we can relate to. Characters that make sense. Characters that are, well, like real people.
Then again, we're walking a fine line here. Even if you write an incredibly three-dimensional character who makes bad decisions on a regular basis, you run the risk of turning readers off, so to speak. I think sociopathic characters are often fascinating, and apparently I'm not the only one, because Sherlock exists. Sherlock is an excellent example of someone you wouldn't want to know in real life. He's arrogant, socially clueless, and tactless to the point of being downright cruel on a regular basis. And yet, on screen, we love him. It's a fascinating character study. But if you took it too far, we'd just hate him. If he had no human qualities, if he was too far removed from normal for anyone to relate to him, his character wouldn't work. My problem with Spark was that I was losing track of the humanity of Waverly and Kieran. I started losing the ability to relate.
Flame starts out with a bit of the same problem, but here my frustration was more about the fact that all Waverly does for at least a hundred pages was mope around in her room. The focus is not on moving the story forward--it's about going over, coming to terms with, or otherwise dealing with past events. The first half of the book doesn't go anywhere, and I felt like I was just reading a summary of Spark. Focusing on these past events is important to the book, but I still wanted forward motion.
The second half of the book is so much more engaging than the first. Finally, the story moves on. There's more action, more suspense. Kieran, Waverly, and Seth actually do things. I regained a bit of my lost respect for Waverly and Kieran. Both are put into increasingly impossible and morally ambiguous situations, but they react like real people. They make both good and bad decisions, which makes them feel authentic.
And then there's Seth. He never lost my respect, and in this book, he only gained more of it. His past and his somewhat divided role in the series makes him the most fascinating character of all. He has so much courage, even when his situation is more difficult than that of the other two, combined. His love for Waverly made me feel for him, and I wanted to see him succeed. I want a spinoff series about him.
The second half of the book also upped the intensity a few notches, and I loved it. It's darker, and its ideas of right and wrong become even more muddled. There is no black and white in these books--it's all in shades of gray. This, of course, always makes for the best stories. It makes you think and question your beliefs. The physical action of it becomes darker as well, adding more suspense and tension. If the entire series had riveted me as much as the last several chapters of Flame, I would have given it all five stars.
After Spark, I was reluctant to finish this series. Flame, then, reminded me why I enjoyed Glow so much in the first place. It's an intense sci-fi series full of intensity, realistic characters, and of course, lots of spaceship action. Spark may suffer from being the middle of the trilogy, but Flame ends it with a bang. It's a satisfying end, even though I'm still wishing for more of Seth's story.
Similar Books: It's a YA sci-fi novel that takes place in space or on a spaceship like Across the Universe, Inside Out, A Confusion of Princes, Starglass, and Avalon.
Read more of my reviews at http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com.
Then again, we're walking a fine line here. Even if you write an incredibly three-dimensional character who makes bad decisions on a regular basis, you run the risk of turning readers off, so to speak. I think sociopathic characters are often fascinating, and apparently I'm not the only one, because Sherlock exists. Sherlock is an excellent example of someone you wouldn't want to know in real life. He's arrogant, socially clueless, and tactless to the point of being downright cruel on a regular basis. And yet, on screen, we love him. It's a fascinating character study. But if you took it too far, we'd just hate him. If he had no human qualities, if he was too far removed from normal for anyone to relate to him, his character wouldn't work. My problem with Spark was that I was losing track of the humanity of Waverly and Kieran. I started losing the ability to relate.
Flame starts out with a bit of the same problem, but here my frustration was more about the fact that all Waverly does for at least a hundred pages was mope around in her room. The focus is not on moving the story forward--it's about going over, coming to terms with, or otherwise dealing with past events. The first half of the book doesn't go anywhere, and I felt like I was just reading a summary of Spark. Focusing on these past events is important to the book, but I still wanted forward motion.
The second half of the book is so much more engaging than the first. Finally, the story moves on. There's more action, more suspense. Kieran, Waverly, and Seth actually do things. I regained a bit of my lost respect for Waverly and Kieran. Both are put into increasingly impossible and morally ambiguous situations, but they react like real people. They make both good and bad decisions, which makes them feel authentic.
And then there's Seth. He never lost my respect, and in this book, he only gained more of it. His past and his somewhat divided role in the series makes him the most fascinating character of all. He has so much courage, even when his situation is more difficult than that of the other two, combined. His love for Waverly made me feel for him, and I wanted to see him succeed. I want a spinoff series about him.
The second half of the book also upped the intensity a few notches, and I loved it. It's darker, and its ideas of right and wrong become even more muddled. There is no black and white in these books--it's all in shades of gray. This, of course, always makes for the best stories. It makes you think and question your beliefs. The physical action of it becomes darker as well, adding more suspense and tension. If the entire series had riveted me as much as the last several chapters of Flame, I would have given it all five stars.
After Spark, I was reluctant to finish this series. Flame, then, reminded me why I enjoyed Glow so much in the first place. It's an intense sci-fi series full of intensity, realistic characters, and of course, lots of spaceship action. Spark may suffer from being the middle of the trilogy, but Flame ends it with a bang. It's a satisfying end, even though I'm still wishing for more of Seth's story.
Similar Books: It's a YA sci-fi novel that takes place in space or on a spaceship like Across the Universe, Inside Out, A Confusion of Princes, Starglass, and Avalon.
Read more of my reviews at http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com.