Review: A 2.5 - I wanted to like it more than I did
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 17, 2012
I want to start by saying I didn't dislike this story - there were a several interesting bits, which I will point out in a bit - but there were some major issues I had with it that really impacted my reading experience:-the formatting on my ereader caused me some problems - a lot of apostrophes turned into question marks, and while I could see the original pagination from the author, the pages in the epub didn't match at all. There were some interesting forays into italics that didn't seem to make sense, and when changing narration from one character to another, it wasn't always obvious, and I had to go back a page or two to see who was speaking now.-the prologue was interesting, but then when we jumped to the main bit of the story, it seemed completely out of place. I understand that the high school bit is important, I do, but it takes up the vast majority of the story, and doesn't fit the prologue, or the summary, for that matter.-when switching narration between one person and another in the same scene, the author would rehash what just happened, but from a new point of view. New point of view = interesting. Rereading what I just read = slower plot and story movement.-there were times I felt the author was trying to hard - the flow of the story was interrupted by phrases or scenes where I was jolted out of the plot and could only think 'there is no way I would have said/thought/done/whatever this as a 15/16 year old' - phrases like 'I let 3 or 4 tears fall down my cheek' describe what is happening (kinda) but in a stilted, uncomfortable sort of way.And now for the things that I enjoyed!-the prologue and the set up were really interesting. I want to know more about what a Sign is, and how her abilities work. What her abilities are. I wish the author had been able to go into more detail here. I want to know more about what Zac is as well, and how he fits into this whole thing. I want to know what is going on!-the moving narration was neat - I like how each of the major characters get some screen time, and we get a peek inside of their heads. While it slowed down the story in some places, I still liked being able to see more of the different characters.-the drama was pretty much spot on. Teenage angst plus love hexagons plus crazy person plus prom night = perfect insanity. I liked how everything came together pretty much perfectly.-The characters. I really liked the characters. Even the crazy one. Even the kinda annoying one. The slut. The shy one. All of them. They seemed real, like I could be having an actual conversation with any one of them at any moment. They were pretty idealized and stereotyped, but in a fun sort of way. It worked.Overall, I'd give this story a 2.5 - I wanted to like it more than I actually did. I am looking forward to reading the sequel, though, and hope I get to find out more about this whole Sign business.