4 stars
| I am rather conflicted about this one. I picked up this audiobook from the library because the cover looked interesting. Once I started listening to it, I was instantly hooked. Nine children growing up on an island and a mysterious green boat that brings a new child in exchange for the oldest one? Fascinating set up. Very well written. All of the dynamics of the island were amazing and creative. The sunrise, the wind gusts, the fruit trees. It all felt so magical. I loved experiencing it all and trying to figure out what was going on. As the book went on, I got kind of tired of Jinny. This isn’t too surprising considering the whole puberty thing going on, but at times I just could not handle her. So whiny and weepy. But I stuck it out because I wanted answers. And then came the end. Without giving anything away, the ending was just frustrating to me. I waited so long for answers and was not satisfied when the end came. I am sure there is some deep reason for ending the book where it did, but gosh darn it I listened to that book for over seven hours and I wanted to know how they got there and what happened next. I suppose the flaw in the book was that who sent them to the island, how the island maintained itself, why they were sent to the island in the first place, how many children came before them, and what the heck was going on in the outside world were far more interesting topics than what was actually happening on the island. Still a good read though The audiobook itself was very good. Kim Mai Guest did a superb job of narrating. In the end, I still liked the book, but I wanted more. The ending just wasn’t satisfying. There were too many questions I wanted answered. I kind of felt cheated by the end. The writing itself was good though and the overall story was very interesting. I do think Snyder handled puberty pretty well and liked the openness and honesty in her representation of it. Goodreads |