The Dead of Night by John Marsden
My rating: 4/5 cats
boof—reading these quick books to cleanse the brain-palate before diving into proust4 means i get awful far behind in my reviewing!
i am really liking this series, which is fortunate because i have once again done the thing i do, which is to buy all seven before reading the first one. dumbass. (untruth: book six is in the mail on its way to me—somehow out of print and hardish to get. but i got.)
dunno—i like where this series is going, and from what i gather about twilight and some other teen books i have seen panned on this site recently, it offers up an alternative to wispy helpless female lead characters. this girl isn’t superhero-badass, just believably resourceful and intelligent enough to figure out what needs to be done, and doing it without wondering what the boyfriend will think, or what will happen if her hair gets mussed. and she isn’t particularly likable, which is refreshing—she does all sorts of unheroic things and thinks petty thoughts—and i think that is a good thing—too many books for youngsters have this unrealistic golden-child character—it is totally off-putting.
all of the characters are well-drawn, and i enjoy the range of skills and behaviors they exhibit; they are very realistic teens responding to a horrifying situation. there are several good plot progressions here—a couple of things i did not see coming, and the way they are becoming acclimated to their new reality is wonderful—a nice slow burn thing happening here.
sex, death, and slaughtering lambs.
australia can definitely take care of itself.
this is the most boring review i have ever written. sorry if you are now asleep.
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