The Unwanteds

The unwanteds ( Book one)Characters: Alex, Sam, Lani, Meghan and a whole assortment of colorful characters. Alex is a creative boy and an artist, Samheed is a bully and an actor so maybe his bullying is all an act? Lani is a fiery feisty story teller/writer, Meghan is a quite fun dancer/singer. The characters are well defined and telling who's who (besides telling Alex and his brother apart) isn't a problem. The nitpick comes when we have to many characters that feel unnecessary and just feel like they were placed for the sake of having a “Draco” role in the story. Just as a way to antagonize the MC's or push the story along unlike the real draco who we know in Harry potter did more then that. And that is what the characters lack they have personality's and relationships but everything either feels rushed or hallow or questionable. While you could feel the characters emotions you couldn't really invest in them which was a pity B-Story: “The hunger games meets harry potter” thats what it says on the cover burbled by Kirkus reviews but is that the truth? Or a dirty trick to get older readers to consider this? The story starts off with Alex being bused with a bunch of other kids to the death farm only to arrive in artime. Well there's more to it then that but no spoilers. From there this story is a whirlwind. Despite being an MG this is a dystopian and a good one at that its fun and fast past and it feel like what it's like to be a kid again. However that doesn't mean this book is flawless. Starting off some things felt like a straight rip off of harry potter such as one teacher being small having to stand on a bunch of books to see the class nevus and stuttering sound like a professor from harry potter we all know? Yeah it does. As well as some other things that felt harry potter esque. On the hunger games side of it... yeah this is nothing like the hunger games sorry more like the giver in some ways. The story it's self is good but it can be confusing and easy to lose who is who what is what and when what happened this story feels rushed and as a first book (yeah this is a first in a series who's surprised?) thats disheartening. Lets compare this to harry potter shall we? In harry potter book one you have your set up of the characters, classes, how the world works AND a mystery/story all on its own that wraps up nicely but leaves enough open for the rest of the books. With the unwanteds however you well we get six short chapters of what the school is like then by chapter seven it's been seven weeks already to sum it up time is disjointed and not in a fun narnia way but in a “wait what? Its been how long?”. At times it was also predicable and at times it feels like some things were just thrown together just to be thrown together. This story is fast and fun but sloppy as a set up and should have taken it's time with introducing a build up instead of giving us a big messy fight that well lets put it this way if what happened in mocking jay instead happened in the last say 20 chapters of the hunger games or the last 20 pages of harry potter book one wouldn't it feel disorganized and jetlaged? In short this book while fun wasn't the best of build ups in a series and if the ending was different could have fared better as a stand alone. B- Cover: There are two covers for this one has the winged beast (which does NOT look like a leopard OR smooth) coming out of the gates with two kids throwing origami dragons at...the viewer coming out of art time which in the back looks stunning. While the other cover Has the two kids in the focus big in front with origami dragons and a better looking beast with wings coming at them. Honestly both covers have their pros and cons but the hard cover American version fails horribly and really says nothing about the story at all and in fact contradicts it in some ways. Also the story is about the children NOT the stone lepored but this cover makes you think that he is the monster bad guy and a big deal.. not really fail DRating: MG 8-12 (says so on the inside cover flap)Company: AladdinMy rating : 4 of 5. This was a fun book but some things (like the ending) made me shake my head some things seemed to childish while others sounded like something I came up with in third grade or so I came up with a story similar to this. While this book has it's faults it IS engaging AND entertain the big big big nit pick here is that you could tell BIG FAT plot hole gaps were left in perpusly for the sole reason that yes this is in fact book one in yet ANOTHER series/trilogy. And while that isn't bad whats bad is the way its done plot points are alluded to but ignored, characters are named but either killed or something and we don't really get to know them, and the two stories of the brothers are big in this but you don't see why nor is it really explained some gambit pieces are thrown in to make it seem like a big deal but really it felt muddled and rushed and left many questions that can't be fixed. Kind of a rule one of a book one if the book can not stand on its own as a story on its own then something is wrong. This is one of those books. This story not only doesn't really give a wonderful set up it also was to rushed to be a story on its own it alluded to more more more but what about the book it's self? Harry potter, Percy jackson, Twilight, Shiver, the hunger games All these books can stand as a story on their own if they needed to you get closer to one story but it's left open enough for sequels. This is a part of a series no question and this is a part of a bigger story the author made it that this is like the first 48 chapters in something bigger NOT a story on its own. Which is sad