Official Review: DOME by Bryan A Young

[desantismt_17]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "DOME" by Bryan A Young.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Part alien invasion, part superhero story—DOME by Bryan A. Young is packed with action and adventure while five teens just try to survive.

When Tye set off into the dangerous Forgotten Hills, his plan was to get in, take a picture to impress his crush, and get out. His plan absolutely did not include getting stabbed by an alien needle. Soon after, Tye discovers he has superpowers. A few days later, A dome appears over the Angeles National Forest, and Tye feels an inexplicable need to journey under the dome to discover what’s there.

What he finds is an alien world that’s full of beauty and danger. Bioluminescent plants give glory to a landscape stalked by ferocious creatures. Amidst all this, Tye finds four other kids who also mysteriously developed powers. They all just want to go home, but an alien race won’t let them leave until they prove themselves. Tye and his new friends must pass three tests, and if they fail, Earth will die.

I really liked this book’s concept. Five reluctant teens with newfound superpowers suddenly having to save Earth sounded fantastic, if a little like some other stories I’ve read. Still, my love of all things superheroes had me wanting to jump right in. Now that I’ve finished, I still think the concept and world are cool (the world especially). However, there were a lot of things in this book that needed improvement.

First, the pacing felt off. From the description, I thought this would be all about the teens under the dome and their battle for Earth. In Actuality, the book started with Tye and a completely different group of friends, who spend a good chunk of the book’s first portion shooting hoops and just chilling. It took a while for the story to get moving, which was due in large part to Tye’s indecisiveness. When Tye realized he had superpowers, he was briefly amazed, followed by a “well, I’ll just wait and see what happens “attitude. When the dome appeared over the Angeles Forest, Tye waffled about investigating a lot before deciding to go (and he only decided after someone else practically made the decision for him). Once under the dome, there were many more pages of Tye and his new friends kind of just hanging out. It wasn’t until after the halfway mark that the main threat and plot were introduced. As a result, the story had a meandering feel. Instead of Tye being a strong protagonist and driving the story, he hung back and let the story happen to him. While this did keep me in suspense, it wasn’t in a good way.

As for the characters, I found most of them to be likable. Tye, except for a lot of indecision, was a guy worth cheering for. He had good intentions and meant well. I liked his friends at the beginning of the book, but when I got to the dome, I felt like a lot of time had been spent on getting to know people that were no longer in the story. I was suddenly introduced to the other four superpowered teens, which was jarring. It didn’t take long to feel comfortable with them, which was due in part to discussions between them and Tye, as well as a general sense of all the characters sounding the same. There wasn’t a lot of variation in dialogue speech patterns, and I sometimes got confused as to who was speaking.

There was one character I thoroughly disliked—Dallas. He would make stupid choices and then blame anyone else (usually Tye) for his stupidity. I suppose if this aspect of his character had been introduced earlier and then resolved it would have been all right, but Dallas really got on my nerves. This was most prominent during battle scenes. A threat would materialize, and Dallas would ask Tye (the group’s appointed leader) what the plan was. Tye would come up with a plan, and then Dallas would completely ignore the plan, often charging into battle without even listening to Tye. There would be a few minutes of intense chaos while the others scrambled to fix Dallas’s mistake, and then, almost miraculously, the fight would go smoothly for the teens. Despite taking massive amounts of damage, being vastly outnumbered, or taking big risks with low odds of success, they would always emerge victorious with few losses. After a while, I stopped being concerned when things went wrong because I knew everything would be fine in a page or two.

I really wanted to get swept up in this story of action and heroism. DOME offered some great moments, but it ultimately felt unbalanced. Tye would get into lengthy speeches about protecting Earth and doing the right thing, and then he’d get into a similar conversation with someone a few pages later. Some of the battle sequences felt a bit jumbled, and I couldn’t tell who was where doing what. With some revisions to temper the repetition and clear the confusion, this could be a truly awesome work. There were also grammatical errors throughout that a closer edit could have helped. Due to all this, I rate DOME 2 out of 4 stars. The great concept and world keep me from giving it 1, but it needs too much work for 3. I recommend this to hardcore fans of superhero or alien takeover stories. There is some violence (nothing explicit) and a lot of adult language, so this book isn’t fit for young readers, and those who don’t like a lot of philosophizing in their action stories may wish to skip this one.

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DOME
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[Unielain]

This concept sounds really cool and it's a pity if the book itself couldn't claim its promises. The way you describe the book gives the reader a good picture of what kind of book this is, and what are the main issues in it. I enjoyed reading your review and found it helpful. Thank you.

[kandscreeley]

I, like you, love the concept of this story. I wouldn't, though, be able to wade through all the indecision at the beginning. I know I would just quit reading. That's way too much build-up for the story. Thanks for the review, but I'll have to pass.

[Laila Hashem]

The superhero plot, in my opinion, has been overdone. Of course, it could be interesting despite that fact because every author has their own voice. The fact that the story takes a while to move into the rising action would make me lost interest, though. Thank you for the great review!

[Helene_2008]

I would not want the fate of Earth riding on my shoulders! It's frustrating that it took away for the plot to get going. I suggests dislike that when reading a novel.

[kdstrack]

This is an interesting concept. I agree that the meandering at the beginning would make me lost interest and asking where the story is going. Dallas sounds like the typical, rebellious teenager - frustrating, but adding a twist! Great review.

[Nisha Ward]

The concept is fun but the pacing issues are too glaring not to notice them. I'd probably get too frustrated to finish this one.

[Erin Dydek]

I’d really like to see this one with some of the revisions you suggested. The concept had me hooked at the beginning of your review, but I’m not sure I’d want to get invested in a whole group of characters who aren’t relevant to the major plot of the book. The slow pacing at the beginning would most likely make it hard for me to stay interested long enough to get to the good part towards the second half.

[Brandt]

I agree that it sounds like such an interesting concept! Pity that so much of the beginning is caught in so much inaction. I would be interested to see how well it would read if the pacing was improved. Thanks for an awesome review!

[Gathoni1991]

Positive criticism here. The storyline is catchy.