I love this book. I can’t say anything about it, though, because it’s all a spoiler! All of it! But I must make it sound enticing so people will read it. I can always spend a few paragraphs telling people why a book is lousy and shouldn’t probably be avoided and/or SET AFLAME, but it’s much harder to articulate why books work so well for me. Here it how the story unfolded, how ultimately creepy the premise and revelation was, how there was so much blame to go around but the tail just wouldn’t go on the donkey in the end. The ultimate question of what it means to live and what it means to die is not really explored; Pearson just sits it out there for readers to consider.

Actually, this book gave me the same overall “What is humanity?” vibe that Paolo Bacigalupi’s short story, “The People of Sand and Slag” did (this story can be read here). The similarities in theme are there, but Pearson’s story is way more hopeful.

The thing about the spoiler of this book is that it’s absolutely not meant to be kept a secret from the reader (in my humble opinion). You open the book and you meet Jenna Fox and her parents and grandmother and start getting hints and clues and an idea will start to tickle. I guessed the the wrong idea but it was pretty close; what can I say, I’m not a genius. The point is that the reader figures it out first and then watches Jenna figure it out, come to terms, grow up. That’s what made this book punch me in the heart.

There was a lot of love in the book for me. Memory and identity, female characters that felt real and flawed and imperfect. I wondered when I finished what Pearson was trying to say about parents. Jenna’s story interested me but in a big way I found how her parents handled everything to be more interesting just because of the real-world implications. How far is too far? How beloved is too beloved? Were does parental authority begin and end?

I wouldn’t be me without complaints, and I have them! I think the day I can start once more finding books I think have no flaws will be a beautiful one, indeed. Two points in this book made me pause: one of the side characters, who is built up and built up and then never expanded frustrated me. I could infer a lot about what Pearson could have been saying but the more I thought about it the more that character just felt like a tool instead of a character, a catalyst, a caricature of a threat we never see. I admit I might just be missing the point; but he just rang hollow for me in a book of very varied, real characters. Maybe that’s the answer, then, the reason for why I was so displeased, but again, possibly not.

Secondly, the romance! I admit I am pretty picky with my romance! I love this book but I felt like the romance was awful! It felt forced and unnatural and after the epilogue I was kind of in the position where I could have rolled my eyes across the room. Teen girl, teen guy, both with questionable pasts; hello, it was a perfect set up except in how it didn’t feel romantic at all. It was kind of shoe-horned in for the well-rounded teenage protagonist, so the epilogue would be pretty and romantic, but there was none of the romance it seemed to promise. I let it go with all the other awesome things going on, but I was pretty disappointed in that aspect.

Regardless of my concerns, I think this is an awesome science fiction novel! Everyone who likes science fiction should read it and then come discuss the parents with me! Not that I’m demanding or anything. >.>

My advice about this book is this: read the book because it’s awesome but take a page out of millions of Harry Potter fan handbooks and skip the ideological epilogue. However, you might like epilogues full of the author’s id leaking all over the page and in that case, full speed ahead.

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