Strings

by David Estes

[Chelsea]

What I Loved:

Wow. I was iffy about a Pinocchio retelling because it seemed like it would be a hard fairy tale to redo, but man that was a really good book.

First of all, I loved that the author chose Pinocchio to do a retelling for. It was very different but I loved the concept he created. I also really liked the dystopian/sci fi aspects of this book because most retellings tend to be fantasy. Also props to the author for not making romance a focal point in this story!

I really, really loved how the author incorporated the Pinocchio story into this story. The whole puppet part was VERY well done and I loved Pia's little friend who played the part of a certain little cricket. It had been a while since I've read/watched Pinocchio so I was worried I would forget the important parts but this story made them easy to pick up.

The characters were all very well developed especially considering you didn't get to see them often. I kind of liked how even though we didn't see a ton of characters, we still knew them. Or thought we knew them... There was a lot of mystery surrounding most of the characters which means you don't know who you can trust and I really liked that. It was a mystery book within a dystopia.

What I Didn't Like:

There wasn't much I didn't like in this book. My only complaint would be that some parts were too slow and others rushed by. Some consistency would have been nice but it didn't take away from the story.

Who I'd Recommend To:

This is great for those people who love fairy tale retellings but are getting tired of seeing the same fairy tales get all the attention. It's also great for all dystopia lovers and I would even say it's ok for a slightly younger teen as well. I even think that guys would like this book too since it's not overly girly or has anything to do with princess and true love. It's defensively a well rounded book for a large audience.