(4 / 5)
Absolutely an enjoyable read. Yes I know I know, I was going to get away from Young Adult for a while… But seriously everything is Young adult right now. There is no escaping it!
Minnow escapes from a cult and is put into juvenile detention. She knows something about what happened to the cult leader, and about who set their community on fire. During her stay she is interviewed by an FBI officer who attempts to get the truth out of her. But she is not willing to share all the details. She has secrets to keep about the cult, even though she had her hands hacked off her wrists by them as a punishment. So she has to deal with life in juvie, the friendships, the enemies… All while dealing with the fact she doesn’t have hands anymore. And over time her story is relayed, about her childhood within the community, and her love for an outside boy.
What a debut by the author!! Can’t believe this is her first book! Exceptionally written, excellent characters, fantastic plot! Thoroughly engrossing!
The description of the cult and the members was eerie. Unbelievable how people could live like that and do things like that to each other. That these sorts of cults actually exist is a scary prospect.
The main character didn’t annoy me like may main characters in recent young adult books have. Yes she was only 17, but she was extremely naïve and likeable. Yet she seemed more mature from the beginning. While other main characters in recent YA books make stupid decisions and are so focused on the life or death of love, Minnow is focused on actual life or death, and the realisation that her life has been a lie, she has to learn everything again!
One of my favourite parts of the book is when she is delving into science and she begins to grasp how big the universe is. That what she was always told was tiny and finite was larger than she could even comprehend. I can relate to that AHAAAA moment.
I loved her outlook, loved her realism. Definitely one of the better YA main characters I have read about in recent times. I will absolutely be looking forward to this authors next book next year.
Although it was wonderful, I can’t give it more than 4 stars. The mystery was a bit of an anticlimax and I just didn’t feel that the book overall deserved to be on the elite 5 star list… However don’t let that discourage you from reading it! I would definitely recommend it!
4 Stars! ****
“Jude taught me what love was: to be willing to hold on to another person’s pain. That’s it.”
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