ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell 144 pp. Penguin Group. £8.99. (Ages 13 and up) ISBN 9780141182704 Rating: ? Stars This book is set in a future when animals are much cleverer than now. And because of their cleverness, the pigs started a revolution against the humans. Pigs could speak fluently in English unlike the other animals, and that gave them the power to be leaders. But, the story that follows only happened a few years after that... Their first leader, Old Major, was kind and fair who knew animals should be equal. But when Napoleon became the leader it was very unpleasant. He made a rule that allowed the pigs to have better food and that forced all of the other animals to work crazily hard every day and night. That wasn’t enough, Napoleon wanted more power. He decided to kill his brother, Snowball, so that he would be the only leader. Snowball was admired because he came up with a clever idea to build windmill. Sn...
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 356
From Goodreads: "On Internment, the floating island in the clouds where 16-year-old Morgan Stockhour lives, getting too close to the edge can lead to madness. Even though Morgan's older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. She tries her best not to mind that her life is orderly and boring, and if she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in best friend Pen and her betrothed, Basil.
Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially when she meets Judas. He is the boy being blamed for the murder — betrothed to the victim — but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find — or who she will lose."
While I only consider myself to be a mild fan of Lauren's "Chemical Garden" series (liked "Wither", hated "Fever", LOVED "Sever"), I was beyond excited for this. Why? Because Lauren's way with prose is like no other (I do, in fact, measure all other prose against hers) and because she is able to create worlds never seen before. That being said, that excitement did admittedly begin to wane the further and further I got into this novel.
I think that this book's biggest pitfalls were it's pacing, it's overall world building, and it's main character. It took me near a week and a half to get through this book (something that is almost unheard of before me, typically able to finish one or two books a day). Why? Because I found the plot to be so drawn out, almost coming to a complete standstill at times. I found that the book only really started to pick up towards the last 3/4 (if not 5/6). Additionally, I thought that the world created in this novel was a tad too similar to her "Chemical Garden" series for myself. I would LOVE to see Lauren branch out from dystopian, truly stretching herself as an author/ putting her talents to work- perhaps a hardcore science fiction or fantasy (or *gasp* a contemporary)? My largest complaint with the main character, Morgan, was that I found that she had little to no personality and, at times, leaned too much on others around her.
That being said, I LOVED the character of Basil. He is, without a doubt, my most favourite of Lauren's characters to date (out of both male and female characters). He was just so gosh darn good and you couldn't help but be swept off your feet by him. Furthermore, I did really like Morgan's brother, Lex, and his wife. While their relationship wasn't perfect, it was extremely relateable.
All in all, despite my complaints, I do believe that I will continue on with this series as I'm sure that, like her "Chemical Garden series, each book in this series will get progressively better and better.
Rating: 3/5
I received this book from the publisher to read and honestly review. I was not compensated in any way.
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