Lost and Found

by Orson Scott Card

Claire Bloom

• ISBN10: 1982613416
• ISBN13: 9781982613419
• Publish Date: 10 September 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Blackstone Publishing
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 281
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Lost and Found is a young adult novel by Orson Scott Card. Released 10th Sept 2019 from Blackstone, it's 281 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.

This is a difficult novel to review. There are elements of mystery thriller, YA themes of isolation, angst, snarky teens vs. the world, magic realism, coming of age novel, etc. On the other hand, there is some -very- dark content here that I'm not entirely comfortable finding in YA (especially teen/tween) writing. These include sexual abuse, kidnapping, murder, torture, pedophilia, bullying, abandonment, etc. On the other other hand, the target audience is exposed to these themes (and worse) every day and I don't think anyone is shielded anymore, despite what we try to do as parents.

Technically, I found some parts of the dialogue format tiring to decipher. There were many (not all) interactions where all of the characters' dialogue was relegated to one continuous paragraph, whimsically interspersed with commas and quotation marks, and lacking attributions. The unrelenting biting sarcasm (including the adults) wore me down. I didn't find many of the characters truly sympathetic or particularly likable.

The pacing was odd, the first half of the novel seemed to drag for me. The dialogue was also oddly paced and aiming for biting sarcasm 80% of the time, seemed to miss a lot. The denouement felt rushed after 250 pages of build-up, and then drug out for another 3 chapters. There were foreshadowings that this was not a standalone novel since there are hints of future reveals and exploration of characters' micropowers.

On the positive side, OSC is a capable and experienced writer and could likely plot and write a novel in his sleep. I just wish this one didn't read as if he had plotted and written it in his sleep. So much of this book felt like a sporadic and half-hearted effort.

Final assessment: good (possibly great) author, readable and entertaining book, weirdly plotted and paced, full of moderately annoying characters, really intriguing premise, broke my suspension of disbelief and yanked me out of the story on multiple occasions. Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Lost and Found through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Orson Scott Card is at it again. Here he’s made a whole new world for us to follow. Or rather, all-new characters and abilities, set on earth (for a change). It’s marketed as a young adult novel, full of teens with powers. But it does have some darker subjects to be aware of (see below).
Ezekiel Blast is a finder. He can find things. Or rather, lost things tend to just find him. That has caused him all sorts of trouble in the past – from being accused of theft to nearly being arrested for trying to return something he found.
But all of that is about to change, as he learns to control his micropower in hopes of finding a little lost girl. And to think, none of it would have happened if a police officer hadn’t given him a chance and tried to make him do something with his gift.

“You know that I’m the school leper. Why would you walk with me?”
“I’m not walking with you. I’m walking inside your shunning bubble.”

Warnings: Lost and Found has some seriously dark elements hidden within. There are kidnappings, mentions of beatings with no consequences, bullying, child pornography, and (spoiler warning here) details about a body decomposing. I’m not going to say much on the latter, because it is a big revelation later on, but things get dangerously dark around that point. Consider yourself warned.

Lost and Found was an interesting concept; a kid with micropowers being forced to learn how to deal with them. Ezekiel Blast hasn’t had an easy life, with having lost things show up around him, only for people to accuse him of theft should he dare return them. That little twist did make his plot a lot more interesting, I’ll give you that.
I loved the concept behind the micropowers. It was fun to see powers used in a significantly smaller scale. My biggest regret is that we didn’t get to see more kids with them – just a handful, and even then we didn’t get to see too much of them.
I will say that I felt like this novel is marketed in an odd way. It’s written for a younger audience – the writing alone made that very clear. But there are some very dark subjects and themes running throughout this book, from the kidnappings and child pornography to Beth’s whole plot. It might be a little much, given the target audience.
I can’t help but notice that Orson Scott Card seems to have a pattern when it comes to his main characters. Ezekial is brilliant, young, underestimated and misunderstood. Sound familiar? It should. This cookie cutter character did break the immersion a bit. But maybe a younger audience (which is the target audience, remember) won’t know as much of his other works yet?
On the whole, I think that Lost and Found actually did have a great premise. It was just the follow-through that ultimately was a letdown.

For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks