Review: The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

Tags: middle grade, dystopian, fantasy, magic, creativity

Summary

In the land of Quill, all thirteen-year-olds are sorted into one of three categories: Wanteds, Necessaries, and Unwanteds. Wanteds and Necessaries remain in Quill to keep the land running, and the Unwanteds are disposed to their deaths for their violations of creative expression.

Twins Aaron and Alex get separated when Aaron is chosen as a Wanted and Alex is Unwanted. But “Death” is not at all what Alex and the other Unwanteds expected. Instead, they are transported to the magical world of Artime, run by Mr. Today, who teaches the Unwanteds how to use their creativity in magical battle. For Artime is in danger of being exposed, and the Unwanteds will need all of their creativity and magic to overcome Quill’s armies.

Review

A book being touted as the next Harry Potter certainly has a lot to live up to, and while Lisa McMann’s first middle-grade fantasy THE UNWANTEDS doesn’t quite have the immortal boy with the lightning bolt scar’s charm and uniqueness, it nevertheless will be an enjoyable read for the younger reader.

Reading THE UNWANTEDS felt as if I were carrying out my childhood dreams. When you were little, did you ever daydream of living away from home in a magical mansion where every one of your whimsies was right at the tip of your thoughts? Yeah, that was probably the number one thing I thought about during my free time. In that sense, then, reading THE UNWANTEDS was almost a literal return to my childhood. The youthful delight of having near-complete control over your own life; of having magic at your command; of attending an eternal summer camp…that’s part of what you get, reading THE UNWANTEDS.

But not all of it. THE UNWANTEDS contains distinctly dark themes of creativity versus logic, imagination versus asceticism, that make it darker than your usual magical children’s tale. This is part dystopia, after all. More sophisticated readers might find the literal impending war between creativity and pragmatism in the book a little too literal in terms of the book’s themes, but younger readers will probably get a kick out of the minimalization of gray areas.

My biggest problem with THE UNWANTEDS, the one that made me unable to finish the book, was that I simply didn’t connect with or care for any of the characters. Alex and his Unwanted friends tended to blend indistinguishably into one another, and were being pretty snippy and immature pre-teens for the most part. That’s not the problem—after all, Harry Potter was pretty unbearable for many of his adventures; it was more the fact that I couldn’t bring myself to feel bad for the characters or to care about how they ended up.

It is unfortunate that the power of such a magical premise was diminished by bland and unsympathetic characters. This won’t deter all people from reading and enjoying THE UNWANTEDS, but as far as I’m concerned, my lack of connection to the characters draws me away from this adventure and towards more character-driven fantasies.

Similar Authors
J. K. Rowling
Margaret Peterson Haddix

Cover discussion: Quite cool. It's hand-drawn, but with a hint of computer animation. Will probably appeal to video game lovers.

Aladdin / Aug. 30, 2011 / Hardcover / 400pp. / $16.99

Review copy sent by publisher.

Review: Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Tags: YA, horror, paranormal, small towns, mystery

Summary

Nothing ever happens in the small town of Cryer’s Cross, Montana, population 212—until an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. The girl’s disappearance wracks the whole town, but especially affects Kendall, who has OCD. When Kendall’s best friend Nico disappears next, she is beside herself, yet determined to find out what happened to him.

Jacian, the new boy in town, raises her suspicions, but things change the day Kendall hears voices coming from Nico’s former desk. What secrets does that desk hide about their town? Kendall may find out, but it may cost her her life.

Review

CRYER’S CROSS is a fantastically creepy paranormal horror story from the incredible storyteller Lisa McMann. Whether or not you like horror stories, this is a really engaging quick read that may even be better than her Wake series.

Lisa McMann’s third-person present-tense writing style brings a simultaneous immediacy and calculated distance to the story. Everything that is happening to Kendall feels like it’s happening to her right this very moment, which makes it really easy to get caught up in what’s going on with her. At the same time, the distance makes it easy for us to enjoy CRYER’S CROSS as simply an exhilarating and fast-paced horror novel.

CRYER’S CROSS’ creepiness factor comes less from the actual physical object of horror and more on the way individuals’ suspicions slowly insinuates themselves into the townspeople’s minds. It’s what made Jacian and Kendall’s budding relationship so dear to me: that it could still build in this slow, tortured, believable, and utterly sexy way despite the unusual happenings in town. Yes, I have a tiny crush on Jacian. I have a soft spot for dark, broody, tortured, protective minority sweethearts.

Kendall’s OCD, which purports to have a significant contribution to her fascination with her town’s mystery, felt rather undeveloped for its supposed significance. I’ve read other books featuring OCD characters before, and Kendall’s OCD just never felt completely realized. Despite that, though, I really liked Kendall. She is a star soccer player without the jockish trappings, has a good relationship with her parents, and is good about making friends. Some of her interactions with people felt a little simplistic, like they were simply for the convenience of revealing something about the story. However, it did not detract from my enjoyment of the story.

I don’t like to be scared, but CRYER’S CROSS was a psychological thriller with an appreciable amount of interesting characters to keep me invested. Lisa McMann proves that she is the master of writing horror stories for those who don’t like horror.

Writing: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3.5 out of 5 - I couldn't figure out what it was for the longest time... but now that I've read the story, I think it's utterly appropriate.

Simon & Schuster / Feb. 8, 2011 / Hardcover / 240pp. / $16.99

ARC received from Around the World Tours.

Review: Wake by Lisa McMann

Tags: YA, paranormal, dreams, mystery

Every time someone near her falls asleep, Janie Hannagan gets sucked into their dreams. This is hardly fun at all, as most people’s dreams consist of falling, nudity, or sex, and, while Janie is technically awake through these experiences, she’s blind to the real world. Talk about an uncomfortable lifestyle.

Janie’s troubles only continue to escalate when she starts to fall into the once troubled, now sexy Cabel Strumheller’s dreams…and finds that she appears in them as well, and that he, too, is aware of her presence in his dreams. There may be more to her ability to fall into people’s dreams than Janie realizes, more power than she realizes she has. So begins a new chapter of Janie’s life, one where she learns to control her abilities and use them for good.

What WAKE lacks in good writing and comprehensible characters, it makes up in a stunning story idea. McMann’s writing style is straightforward and succinct in an almost ethereal manner. This, while effective in exposition, does not work as well when the plot really needs to get going, and I felt like I was missing what was going on between Janie and Cabel as their relationship developed.

Cabel, whom I at first thought to be some sort of Marcus Flutie incarnate, is sadly underdeveloped; his character is not clear to me. Janie passes through in a little better shape, as the self-motivated “white trash” girl who learns to rely only on herself, which is why I was upset when she seemed to lose perspective when things with Cabel hit some bumps.

WAKE works fairly well as a stand-alone novel, but thanks to its fascinating premise, I think I am going to pick up the next book in the series, FADE, and see if Janie, Cabel, and the situation they’re in become clearer to me over time.

Similar Authors

Caroline B. Cooney

Lois Lowry

Rating: 3 out of 5

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