Book Reviews

review; imagine

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Imagine
by Jenna Greene

A fierce wind and a blast of green light during a strange storm causes everything to change for Katharine Bowers and Becky Thatcher. The girls wake up in Oren, an entirely different realm than their earthly city. They meet Enalie, a fading magical presence who sets an incredible destiny before them… then simply disappears. Left alone to fend off creatures that hunt them in the night, they must relay a magical heritage that doesn’t make sense, and – if possible – save a world that they know nothing about.

Review:

I received this copy in exchange for an honest review from Champagne Book Group. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you Champagne Book Group!

I was very tempted to DNF this book. Despite what seemed like an interesting concept, I just could not get into it. The writing came across as rushed and amateurish, and I could not place what the age group this was written for. Was it for younger kids or was it young adults? I still cannot say.

Kat as a character did not mesh with me. She seemed far too stubborn and a little bit inconsistently written. First she was unwilling to believe Enalia’s words, then she wakes up in Areth and instead of coming up with a ‘logical’ explanation for the happenings, she is willing to go along with everything? But she’s also somewhat in charge and listened to despite clearly knowing very little and having no experience? Her treatment of the other characters just felt very entitled to me. The only time I really felt for her was in the epilogue, which was also the only time I ever really felt an interest in the story as a whole.

Ino was another character that seemed inconsistently written. For a captain of his standing to be so stubborn when he started off as a reasonable character was a stretch. And then the bit where he got drunk on the job? Unrealistic with what we knew of the character.

In my opinion, Becky was a far better written character, even if she did initially start off a little bit whiny. But as a ten-year-old, that is a believable character trait. Her chapters were much more interesting to me, and I would have prefered more of them. But even that would not have saved the novel for me.

The plot as a whole had a lot of action, but I felt no tension build. Things moved so quickly there was barely any emotional resonance.

I’m Ara, a Southeast Asian writer who someday hopes to have published a novel, and who is currently losing herself in the worlds created by others. I love books and food and television and blogging and I get distracted and sidetracked easily.

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