I have such mixed feelings about this one. It was a quick read, and entertaining, but at times it felt like it was missing something, or perhaps the friendship-meets-tsunami thing didn't mesh together as well as I would have liked.
The Good:
- Like I said, it was entertaining. I mean, it's about a tsunami and a life raft, so it should (and did!) have an element of excitement. And there were flashbacks to life before, which was good, because I think a whole book about a raft would have been very monotonous. This way, it was broken up well, and we got to learn a lot about the characters then and now.
- The main themes of the book were survival and friendship, and that is a definite win! I love a good survival book, so that was absolutely the best part for me!
- Denver could be really funny at times. Even in the midst of a bad situation, her humor stood out. She also was pretty good at keeping herself and her companions going day after day. And the other characters, while initially not my favorites ever, did start to grow on me.
The Not-So-Good:
- I know that it's a book about teens, but I am pretty sure petty bullshit doesn't stand the test of a tsunami? I might be wrong, I guess we could throw some young enemies out into a storm... no, wait, let's not do that. My point is, sometimes you have to bury the hatchet when you're trying to not die, and it didn't seem terribly realistic that they didn't.
- Really, none of the situation was realistic. I was able to overlook that for the sake of entertainment, but I do think it's worth mentioning.
- Denver was also a bit "holier-than-thou" at times. Were the "cool kids" always nice? Goodness no. But I don't think feeling superior is helping anything either.
- I didn't feel very emotionally connected, even when I should have. I think that the implausibility and the drama probably was the cause, but when I should have felt a lot of things, I didn't.
- The end was just too easy. It seemed really anti-climactic to me, and I felt really underwhelmed.
Bottom Line: Like I said, a mixed bag. Entertaining? Absolutely. But some of the flaws did interfere with my ability to enjoy the story.
*Copy provided by publisher for review