Review of The Wellington Alternate
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Review of The Wellington Alternate
The Wellington Alternate by Oliver Dace is a magical realism book set in New Zealand. It follows the story of a group of four women caught in the magical world of surreal entities. The main character is Marinette Dace Nadean, an 18-year-old lady trying against all odds to chart her destiny. She tries to avoid her fate after being eaten by an egg. This occurs during an expedition of Fiction hunting, her family's century-old tradition of preserving numerous fantastical beings known as Fiction. Instead, she longs to use her passion for books as a different means to support her family in realizing their goals. Her aunt Mandy is always on her case, trying to convince her to use her talents as a Fiction hunter. Will Marinette stay true to her instincts, or will she bow to her aunt's pressure?
This novel brings together a number of themes. There is the theme of friendship, family ties, loyalty, and a little bit of romance. It also gives a strong presence of strong independent women who have extraordinary powers. The four women, Marinette, Josefina, Mandy, and Arissa, help to bring out the different aspects of the human character. Merinette represents stubbornness and the courage to challenge the norm, while Mandy is the ever-pushy personality trying to get people to do what she wants. Arissa represents hard work and determination, while Josefina represents a free spirit. All these characters helped to bring the book to life.
The only thing I liked about this book is that it displayed four strong female characters. They are all independent and play their parts in making their presence felt and appreciated. I especially loved Arissa's resolve to become a collector despite not being born as one. She worked hard to prove her worth.
There are several things that I didn't like about this book. I understand that it is magical realism, but I had a difficult time connecting to the flow of the book. For almost half the book, I felt lost in understanding what was happening. The author should have taken the time to narrate why Fiction hunting was vital and what they were to help bring the book to a good start. This aspect made the book feel off. Another issue I had was the weird description of events about body contortions. At one point, I felt my skin crawl imagining the spirals on bodies. This was heightened due to my issue of trypophobia. Overall, the author does have an interesting story, but the delivery is lacking. If the author explained the idea of what "eating Fiction" and "catching Fiction" is, this would have been a great book.
The book has several grammatical errors. It was not professionally edited. This added to the number of dislikes about this book.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I cannot give it a higher rating due to its absurdity and difficulty in understanding the premise. I cannot give it a lower rating because the author had an idea, but he was unable to bring it out clearly. I believe this can be corrected via a simple chapter explaining what everything means.
I recommend this book to people with wild imaginations and those who don't mind seeing beyond the ordinary. Lovers of magical realism will also love this book. It is most suitable for young adults and above.
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The Wellington Alternate
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Yea. Errors can be so distracting. Correcting the highlighted issues will make it an interesting book. Thank you for commenting.
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Merinette, as stubborn as she is, refuses, eager to prove that she is more than the talents she was born with. She wants to turn her love for books into an alternative way to help her family rather than confronting the surreal head-on. And, when an opportunity arises in a dingy car park, Merinette will do anything to achieve her goal
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