Recently I received an Advanced Readers Copy of
The Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn Gray
by
from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, so let's go!The story starts out with Young Gwendolyn Gray who is 12, who does not want to grow up because adult life is oh so boring and Gray. Yes, she lives in a world of sameness and no color. Everyone has hair that is black or washed out blonde and dresses in the same drab dull gray. Her whole world is in shades of black and white and gives off a very dystopian vibe. At school Gwendolyn is bullied because shes different. The red-headed girl was special in her own way and everyone could plainly see how different she was, although they felt like she was a freak. She has no real friends and mainly talks to inanimate objects and her drawings. In class she let's her imagination run away with itself and refuses to use the soul sucking lambents.
One day everything changed when her imagination made things real, so real that Gwendolyn gave her classmate, Missy bunny ears. Not only that but something else weird started to happen, I don't want to spoil it for you, but this is when things start getting real good. She finds herself in a sticky situation as she realizes there is a lot more to her city. There is something secretly going on and she finds herself running from faceless bowler hat wearing guys. She finds some adventure companions along the way, Starling and Sparrow and all their steam punk glory. They’re brother and sister that came from a whole new world. Kaden was delighted when these two arrived out of the blue...or should I say gray. :)
I'm not going to share much more, but I will tell you my opinion. This book was a great read and would be so cool as a movie. The way the Author describes this adventure and all the details is magical. I will be honest and say that there are some bully scenes that made me a little uncomfortable. Maybe it was too close to home with having a special needs child, I don't know. But, I will say I am happy we read it out loud so I could improvise that part. I didn't like the use of words like freak, but, I understand it was used to describe the depth of the situation Gwendolyn was dealing with. I also didn’t like the unnecessary romance! Gwendolyn wasn’t even in her teens yet. It seemed a little forced and unnatural, especially for her character. But all that aside, it ended really well and Kaden and I look forward to more from this Author.
No comments:
Post a Comment