Just the facts:
Overall: 3 Stars
Addiction Level: I read it every waking moment.
Believe-ability: It was believable.
Dystopia Factor: Eh. It’s “normal” life.
~~~~~
Like I said in our Best Books of 2013 post, Rebecca and I
actually did read our share of books last year. I wasn’t the most consistent
with posting, but I would like to share my reviews for some of the books I
finished, especially those that I’ve reviewed previous books in the series.
(Need to catch up on this
series? Check out our reviews for Hourglass or Rebecca’s review for Timepiece.)
I
had been anticipating this book and the conclusion of the Hourglass series for
a long time. I also had been not so secretly hoping that McEntire would return
to Emerson as narrator. However, it was not meant to be. Infinityglass is
actually narrated by Dune and a new character Hallie. (Insert sad face here.) This
was an instant dilemma for me. I didn’t care for Timepiece as much as Hourglass
because of the change in view point and Infinityglass started off on that path
as well. This brings me to my main point.
I
think YA readers have come to expect a certain framework in their novels. An
integral part of this framework is that we expect to be given the “starting lineup”
of characters that will be telling the story. Once those characters are
established we tend to be comfortable and happy to keep it that way. McEntire,
however, has purposefully chosen to upset the contentment of her readers by
giving us a series that does not follow this convention. What, then, is a
reader to do?
This
equates to my problem with the series (note: not McEntire’s problem). I
absolutely fell in love with Emerson in Hourglass. I loved her snark and was
looking forward to living in her world for a while longer. Then, along came
Kaleb and my biggest feeling from Timepiece was disappointment. I know that
some would argue that Timepiece suffers from Second Book Syndrome, but I would
disagree. I think that it is easier to get hung up on what I wanted from
Timepiece and Infinityglass than to appreciate the stories for what they are. Just
because we as readers expect our narrators to stay consistent does not mean
that they actually have to. It’s our job to read the books, not write them.
I
do think that Infinityglass has some things going for it. I loved that the
overall story encompassed so many people. Typically YA novels rely on one or
two characters to solve the dilemma of the story (see above: elements of YA
framework) but McEntire creates an entire team of characters that have to work
together to fix the problem. It really is a great reminder that no one person
has it all together. There is no fantastic hero/heroine who can do it all on
their own. Plus, McEntire uses all three books in the series to tell the story.
I don’t think that any of the books are redundant or could be removed from the story.
And although we don’t get all the details from the characters I love, we do
learn about other interesting characters. I really enjoyed getting to know Poe
a little bit better. Had I not read Infinityglass, I would never have known
that I actually like Poe.
Lastly,
I will say that upon reading Timepiece for the second time I was better able
to enjoy it. I surely hope that happens when I reread Infinityglass. And
perhaps, I need to remember that I do not control the plot or characters from
my favorite books. I just get to go along for the ride.
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