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Review #20743 - Dated: 16th of June, 2019
Author: mizim |
I hadn't read anything by Anh Do yet, but given that I wasn't too interested in the other advance copies available at my bookshop, I thought I would give this one a try. The book dives right into the action, with Gwen being woken in the middle of the night by her mother, the family needs to evacuate and it is soon clear that homes are being bombed. Beyond that, we know nothing of the conflict happening. Soon enough Gwen is on her own and that's where the book becomes a bit more dubious in its believability. Gwen begins trying to find her family but soon enough just begins to try to survive, staying in the abandoned cars and learning how to hunt (disclaimer: don't give this to your child if they would be uncomfortable with the killing of various animals for food).
The books moves along at a good pace however it doesn't feel consistent with the amount of time the author says passes (the picture doesn't really match and she's far to clean to be a child surviving alone) and she and the hodgepodge of dogs mesh together far too quickly. The book is instead focusing on Gwen being the leader of the pack and living alone for four years. When she finally does meet another human it's all rather rushed, it does leave the book on a cliffhanger. Gwen has to grow up quickly, so that was believable enough and whilst the animal relationships seemed a bit quick it was a nice aspect to the book.
As an adult, there are too many little things here for me to nitpick at, which took away from enjoying it and it was a quick read. That being said... I can see my ten year old enjoying this when she gets her reading groove on.
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