Author: Maureen Doyle McQuerry
Publication: May 1st, 2012
Add: GoodReads | Amazon
Description: This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroine, will captivate fans of steampunk, fantasy, and romance.
On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar.
On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena’s father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears.
Via GoodReads.
My Review:
The moment that I saw The Peculiars' beautiful cover, I knew I would have to read it regardless of my general aversion to steam punk and a few reviews I saw that were far from raving. Well, guess what, the cover has virtually nothing to do with the book. That lovely character with the wings? Pretty sure that's the daughter of the maid of the man that the main character ends up working for.
Just.. what? So right off the bat The Peculiars lost my trust. It never redeemed itself.
I'll be honest, I didn't finish this book. I tried, I really really did. Normally it takes me an average of three days to read a book, but I've been reading this one for two weeks and I had to throw in the towel at 75%. Why, you ask? Three simple reasons.
Why I Had to Stop Reading
1. The Main Character. Lena Mattacascar: TSTL (Too Stupid To Live, if you haven't heard the term before). Please, for the sake of all that's holy, think before you act. And if you do decide to act, please do somthing worthwhile. Thanks. That message should be sent priority to many YA heroines, but Lena was just...
The only thing that I did like about Lena was her Peculiarism. She is supposedly part goblin, which resulted in her freakishly long fingers and feet. She even describes her hands as spider-like. Not totally sure why, but I found that very cool.
2. All of the other characters too. The characters completely failed at making me care about a single one of them. Like many YA, The Peculiars has two different love interests. These characters are supposed to make us drool, sigh, and feel bad about our own love lives. Again, The Peculiars fails. Jimson Quiggley is quirky, annoying, talks too much, and oh yeah, he's already engaged. The other, the marshal Thomas Saltre, hates Peculiars with a passion (which Lena is) and has a freaking handlebar mustache. Not attractive.
The one and only character that I genuinely liked in The Peculiars was the cat, Mrs. Mumbles.
3. It was soo slowww. You know how in the description it says that they must escape to Scree in an aerocopter and Lena will confront her deepest fears? Well, they didn't even begin their escape until about 60% through the book. SIXTY percent folks. Everything leading up to that was extremelly drawn out and dry. And even after that, while some things did start to happen, it still couldn't grab my interest.
It should also be mentioned that, on the few occasions that something interesting was going to happen, the excitement and suprise of the event was sapped from the story becuase of the chapter titles. In The Peculiars, the chapter titles act as that one annoying friend that tells you the ending of the book before you've read it. Example: "Bounty Hunters". Hmm... I wonder who they might encounter in this chapter? *Gasp* Lena runs into bounty hunters?! Who'd have guessed it..
Definitely played a part in making me lose all interest in this book.
So, in a nutshell, this book is excruciatingly slow, full of characters I don't like whatsoever, and ended up being a DNF for me at 75%. With that being said, I think someone could like this book. Someone who enjoys steampunk more than I and finds the everyday goings of cleaning a library interesting (since that's a majority of what happens in the first portion of the book).
Thank you NetGallery for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summed Up:
The only things that I liked about this book were the premise of the story and the cat, Mrs. Mumbles. I did not like the main character (or any of the other characters either) and how very slow the story was.
About the Author
Linny is the 18 year old girl and self-proclaimed mastermind behind Linny's Literature. She enjoys reading, designing, and spending time with her family. Learn more about her on the Meet Linny page.
Follow Linny on: GoodReads | Facebook | Twitter
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Stalk Me
Giveaways
Current Read
Rating System
Grab My Button
Blog Tours
21 comments:
Oh my God, your review made me laugh my butt off! But...
STUPID, STINKY MC. She's TSTL? Okay, definitely not reading this anymore. And I hate slow-moving books. Whenever I read one, I just stop. No point going on. :/
Anyway, this review was awesome! Thanks for sharing!
I saw you tweeting about this one!!
I thought the cover was pretty too, but I'm sad to hear you didn't like it, I doubt I will either though, most slow moving books are agreed upon.
I loved the photos used by the way, very funny!!! Especially the potato one!
''Slowww'' is the perfect way to describe this one! I liked some of the ideas in it but man, it was never ending and dragged so much. I honestly wish I'd just marked it as DNF too. I don't think steampunk is my kind of thing.
Great review!
You have an interesting review style. I like. Happy to stay and read more. I followed you here from Goodreads YA blogs. Please visit me at:
http://todayinshenaya.blogspot.com
Thanks
Gwynneth
LMAO!! This is too funny XD Anyhow it looks like I'm making a good decision by skipping this one, it seems to have all the ingredients required to make it a flop.
Awesome review! =D
Yeah, this book was pretty meh and I completely agree with your review. I also gave it two stars and I wish I had quit early like you did. But no...I read the WHOLE thing. Be glad you didn't. It doesn't get better.
@Meg
I'm glad you thought it was funny! And yes, she was definitely TSTL, haha. That topped with the slowness of the book drove me nuts.
@Shan
Yeah, I was really hoping to like this one so it was a real bummer. I'm glad you thought the pictures were funny, the potato one is my favorite too! :D
@Nicola
Thank you! And same here. It had a great idea to the story but honestly everything that happened probably should have been made into the first 20% of the book or so, not the whole thing..
I've found that I'm not a huge fan of steampunk either. It's just too "quirky", if that makes sense. Example: they always fall for skinny librarians and inventors instead of badasses with guns or the powerful paranormal guy (the guys that should be fallen for ;) ). Lots pf oddball stuff like that. But that's just my opinion.
@Gwynneth White
I'm happy to know you like it! And I visited your blog and followed back. :)
@Kara Malinczak
Sorry to hear that. :( That would really stink. Too bad it didn't turn out getter any better, I was wondering if it might've.
@Natasa
Yay, glad to hear you thinks it's funny! I was following your advice of using more "meme #2". And yeah, I wouldn't advice wasting any reading time on this one.
LOL TSTL! What a let down, the story didn't live up to the story.
Talk Supe
@Braine
TSTL. Don't you just love that term? I heard it and was like YES this describes way too many main characters I know. And I'm disappointed it didn't live up to it too.. :(
I love the cover!Shame about the story.
http://lottielovesreading.blogspot.co.uk/
I'm removing this from my wishlist. *wanders to Goodreads*
ComaCalm's Corner =^.^=
@Lottie
Yes the cover is just beautiful. I guess I should've known better, what with the whole "don't judge a book by it's cover" and all. I never learn though. ;)
@Vickie
Ha! A good choice, in my opinion. Why waste reading time a flop when you could be reading something amazing.
i was never interested in this book
awesome and fun review linny
Well, you were smart not to! And thank you Roro, I'm glad you liked it! :)
Gah, sad to hear it wasn't that good! Now I'm glad I didn't request it on NG... I think I've never read any steampunk-themed book. But, yeah, if you're more than halfway through and the book still hasn't pulled you in, it's hard to finish it. I sometimes push myself to read them, though.
Little character development, characterization and practically-useless main characters ruin a book for me, too. And your favorite character was a cat! *headdesk*
Hm... I don't think I'll be reading it in the future! :( PS: Following you here as well~ <3
I initially wanted to read this one because of its beautiful cover. Glad that I read your review first!!
It's sad that such a wonderful cover had nothing to do with the plot and that the book itself wasn't as great -__-
Thanks for the review!
Ashlee
taleswithtea.com
@Sophie
I usually push myself to finish them too. I even finished Fallen front to back! (Not sure how you feel on that one, but I despised it). But I just have so many books literally on my shelf waiting for me to read I just couldn't waste another minute on this one, haha!
In my opinion, I think it's a wise choice to skip this one. And thanks for following! I'm already following you on your blog of course. ;)
@Ashlee
I know, I was so disappointed! LOVE that cover. It's really a waste, especailly since I know some books with less than awesome covers that are really great stories. A real shame.
Post a Comment