Sophie CameronRecensioni

More like a 3.5

This one took me a while to get through. A fantasy/contemporary novel about a 16-year-old Scottish boy who is gay, trying to find his place in life. He's introduced too Everland by Nico, a place he believes is the only place he can be himself. Turns out Everland is only an escape from the harsh realities of the real world. The book deals with family dynamics, friendship, first love, poverty, and self-discovery. I flip flopped between 3 and 4 stars. It didn't grab me, may not really stay with me. It's a maybe book for me.

Sweet book but the many typos was maddening for me. The Scottishisms might be a challenge for some students.

I really enjoyed this book! It's about these "Beings" (angels) falling from the sky and crashing to Earth. Everyone that comes down dies instantly from the crash. Jaya's dad is obsessed with finding a Being and so is a lot of the rest of the world. They want to ask it questions, experiment on them, sell them to the highest bidder, whatever. Jaya is totally against this and thinks they should be treated like people and not exploited. Next thing you know, a Being comes crashing down right in front of Jaya and she is the only one around to see it and this one doesn't die! Jaya decides that the best thing to do is to try and hide the being and care for it while it recovers. Hiding this from the world is tricky. She enlisted a few friends to help. There is also a Female/Female romance in this and the Love Interest has Cystic Fibrosis. I definitely recommend reading this one.

There's bravery in surviving this world when your mind can only focus on the bad in it.

This was a lot more ... real than I expected. Like, I felt quite melancholy whilst reading it. Overall I did really like it, but I was holding out for a different ending. :(

Achingly sad, but a realistic look at not feeling like you live up to everyone else around you.

Life's not going so great for Brody: his family is in financial difficulties, the neighborhood mean girls have picked him as their favorite target, and he'll never be as smart or important or appreciated as his genius brother James. One day, when the mean girls have kidnapped his beloved cat, he's unexpectedly rescued by a boy with enormous blue papier-mâché wings, Nico, who invites Brody to come to a specific place at a very specific time. Intrigued, Brody shows up, half expecting that he's been the butt of yet another unkind joke -- but then Nico and his friends arrive, and together they step through a door into another world. Everland is a place of pure wish-fulfillment, where nobody can get hurt and everybody can be whoever they want to be. However, as time goes on, Brody learns that the doors that lead to Everland from different parts of their world are disappearing. Before their door disappears, Brody and Nico must make a choice. Nico is determined to stay in Everland, but can Brody leave behind his family and real-world friends?

I loved this gritty, bittersweet fantasy. In general, I'm a fan of books that play with the tropes of portal fantasy, as this one does. Brody's hardships felt legitimate, and it was hard to guess what decision he would make in the end (or whether the choice would be taken out of his hands by the disappearance of the door -- I was anxious that he would convince Nico to return, but that they would not be able to do so because the door disappeared while they were still in Everland). If you enjoy this sort of fantasy, this one is highly recommended.½

Achingly sad, but a realistic look at not feeling like you live up to everyone else around you.

Achingly sad, but a realistic look at not feeling like you live up to everyone else around you.

An ok first-person mostly present tense novella asking how the objects of such attention may feel, and underlining the importance of humanizing all beings with feelings. Excellent theme. Impressive working in also of a very short cult-group and child-abuse subplot.

This is the sort of book I wish I'd had when I was a teenager.

It's beautiful and sad and so lovingly written. The characters are real and their pain is real and their reactions and decisions and choices are so heartbreakingly real and you root for them because you know they're trying so hard to live in a world that's broken them over and over again.

Jaya is a wonderful MC. She's mourning her mother, dealing with her distant father and little sister, and the sudden disappearance of her on-again, off-again sort-of girlfriend all while mysterious, angelic Beings are falling from the sky. Jaya is comfortable with her sexuality--which is wonderful, really, and far too uncommon to read about. As a questioning teen I would have LOVED to read about Jaya, about how her sexuality isn't at the center of her problems, how, really, it's the LEAST of her problems. She struggles with guilt, and anger, and confusion and her world has changed in so many irrevocable ways. Her relationship with her father and younger sister are both poignant and frustrating and difficult and I loved how her family was written. I loved how lived-in the characters felt, how they seemed real and not just constructed.

The romance is understated and sweet. Allie, the love interest, is tough and smart and kind and stubborn and I loved her so much. She is disabled and her disability is discussed by the characters at length. While I am not disabled in the same way and thus feel unequipped to comment on whether Allie's relationship to her disability is positively or negatively represented, I do suffer from chronic illness and I totally get the unfairness of it and I appreciated seeing a character like Allie in a book like this.

The plot is quiet and gentle and thoughtful. Although ostensibly focused on the Beings, the plot is really about how guilt and grief change you, how the world can end and yet you're still left to keep going, how to live with the person you've become. I wish I'd had this book as a teen...it's focus on healing and change, on forgiveness and standing up for what's right and doing what you can to help those who need it, even if it feels like nothing at all is masterfully and lovingly done. A really wonderful story and one I'm so glad exists

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Good
Grades: 9-12
Recommended

Not long after Jaya’s mum died, mysterious angel-like Beings began falling from the sky. Eight months later, eighty-six Beings have fallen in locations throughout the world. None have survived. This unexplained phenomenon has become an obsession for Jaya’s dad, and like other “Wingdings,” he has become consumed with watching the videos of the falls and sharing theories about the origin of the Beings online. The Beings have also inspired cults such as The Standing Fallen, who believe this is proof of God’s wrath towards humanity. Convinced that they next fall will happen Edinburgh, Jaya’s dad decides to take a trip there in hopes of devising a scheme to catch a Being alive. Jaya’s sister Rani is happy to go along, but Jaya thinks he’s delusional. She is still grieving her mother’s death and worried about her (kind of) girlfriend Leah, who left town with her mother but seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, not answering any of Jaya’s calls or messages. The one bright spot in all of this is Allie, a girl who feels the same way Jaya does about the Beings. When Jaya accidentally stumbles upon a Being who managed to reach the ground injured but alive, she must decide whether to tell her father or try to help her return to her home.

If you are looking for a paranormal fantasy about fallen angels, this is not the book for you. Though Teacup (the name they give the Being) is an important part of the plot, the book is really about Jaya’s journey to come to terms with her mum’s death and the relationships that she develops or rebuilds throughout the book. Jaya is a well rounded character who is flawed but likable, and readers who have lost someone close to them will be able to relate. Allie, who has been struggling with health issues for years, is a great character in her own right and doesn’t become a sick teen trope. Though Jaya has no patience for him throughout most of the book, her father is a sympathetic character whose mania for the Beings is rooted in his grief. A subplot involving Leah and the Standing Fallen adds an interesting twist. Though we get a satisfactory conclusion to Jaya’s story, the Beings remain a mystery which will be a disappointment to some readers. Overall, this was a solid debut novel with a unique premise.