Summer is (kind of) approaching and I found myself digging around for a good series to be able to throw in my beach bag. I thought I had found my "beginning of summer series" when I found Switched the first book in the Trylle Trilogy by Amanda Hocking. Switched has all the workings to be an escapist's dream in which young, beautiful but misunderstood teen protagonist (Wendy) finds herself in a strange world and much to her astonishment *cue: gasp* finds herself the princess of this world!
Could Switched be a good guilty pleasure/mindless read? Let's consult the checklist:
cheesy love story-check
strange new world-check
rebellious star-check
riches and wonder-check
HOWEVER this story falls short on so many levels. Firstly- Switched is in desperate need of editing! I'm okay with being told how to feel or what to think as I'm reading through a book I purposely picked because I didn't want to think much. That being said; there is a fine line between clarifying how a protagonist feels and making a reader feel like an idiot for constantly reiterating emotions and circumstances that most everyone should have caught on to pages (if not chapters) ago. The book became much more enjoyable when I began skipping entire paragraphs as soon as the main character started self-analyzing.
Aside from the constant reiteration and unnecessary self-reflection the story never really peaks to anything. The climatic scene has elements of excitement and hysteria, yet all I feel is bored. The reader is left wanting that intangible "something more".
Perhaps it is because I haven't satiated my desire for that "something more" that I can't stop reading these books! My mind keeps wondering what might happen next to Wendy and where the story will lead us (although so far it hasn't brought us anywhere interesting). I suppose the only thing left to do is keep reading- on to book two of the trilogy Torn and my full report soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment