Official Review: Thunderstorm by Sophie McNeill

[savilewis]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Thunderstorm" by Sophie McNeill.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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To start, I would rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. This is a story about a girl that is taken into the world of Paun who can manipulate things around them with their minds. As she is there, she learns that she is a descendant of Pauns and of her own incredible talent. She experiences new and exciting things while at the Paun Palace. She finds that she can do things that are unheard of, which also puts her in danger.

I felt the concept and story of the book was believable and also intriguing, but the characters were underdeveloped. While I knew what they looked like and were wearing at all times, I didn’t know them on a personal level. I didn’t know how they were feeling except for the few sentences here and there that would flat out tell me. It seemed more like a list of what she did each day than thoughts and emotions she felt. I wish as much thought went into the characters as the Paun Palace and all of its features.

I also felt the need for more dialogue, both internal and external. When Hale and Robert confess their love for each other, I kept asking myself how they were in love when it felt like they barely talked to each other. You do get some of Hale’s internal thoughts but not enough to feel like I know why she is making the choices she is and who she is as a person.

There are times where she doesn’t seem to have appropriate reactions to things that I would feel would be normal for any human being. She makes many jokes about being kidnapped when he gives her a chance to leave, she chooses not too. She also leaves her family without a second thought because some cute boy tells her to leave to country with him. When Iris says they are fighting, Hale does nothing to fix the friendship and just leaves it as it is.

This book would appeal to teens, as the characters in the book are around sixteen years old.

Overall, it was a quick read but I would probably not read this again. I just felt like I could not connect to the characters and it made it hard for me to read which was disappointing because I found this new world to be exciting and fun.

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Thunderstorm
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[dhaller]

Good review. Although I do wonder why the book was called "Thunderstorm." It's something you never mentioned. Generally, I try to put the amount of stars at the bottom, instead of the top, as a way of summarizing instead of as a thesis. Your call, though.

Keep going!

[GandalfTheFey]

Good review!

I went to check it out on Amazon. Hm. Also interested in why the title is Thunderstorm.

[savilewis]

I believe it is titled Thunderstorm as the main characters last names are Thunder and Storm. Other than that, I'm not sure why it would be titled that.

[Tanaya]

I like your detailed description about the lack of character development. That's a bummer. Nice review!