Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Guest Review: Flip by Martyn Bedford

I'm going to try something new. This review is by my younger brother, Isaac, and I'm hoping that both he and one of my friends will become regular contributers to this blog (which will then require a slight name change). Formal introductions will come as they contribute a bit more.

From the back cover of the ARC: One morning fourteen-year-old Alex wakes up to find himself in the wrong bedroom, in an unfamiliar house, in a different part of the country. Six months have passed overnight. The family at the breakfast table are total strangers. And when he looks in the mirror, another boy’s face stares back. A boy named Flip. Alex may be trapped forever inside a body that belongs to someone else.
            
Isaac's review: I have decided that one of the few problems with this book is that it takes a while to get started (also, there's a certain page that is nothing but fragmented sentences and words strung together, which I assume is for effect to show what is going on inside the character's mind, but it is confusing nonetheless). The back cover is basically a summary of the first two or three chapters, instead of the first chapter as is usually done. Once the book got started, however, I didn’t want to put it down. I started reading it around 10:00 one night, and I didn’t put it down until 1:00, when I had to force myself to go to sleep. I finished it as soon as I woke up the next morning. Bedford ties in problems associated with teenagers (school, relationships, etc.) as he writes a book about a supernatural occurrence. I enjoyed this, as it was a fantasy that takes place on Earth as opposed to many other books I’ve read that take place in fantastical settings. There isn’t much depth to the book, but the storyline makes up for this, allowing the novel to be a great read for teenagers. 

Maturity Factor: Sporadic profanity.

Our ARC of Flip was received through Random House's Random Buzzers program. The book was released April 5, 2011.

1 comment:

  1. Great review, refreshing and honest. I love the premise, waking up somewhere else, 6 months later. How scary is that? I too would probably dislike the disjointed feel of strung together sentences. Thanks for sharing.

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