Monday, March 5, 2012

Struck


StruckStruck by Jennifer Bosworth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My name is Mia Price, and I'm a human lightning rod.

After an incredibly promising start and a lot of excitement on my part, the second half of Struck really fell flat and completely failed to impress me.

On the surface, Struck is pretty original: a girl who gets hit by lightning over and over again is doing her best to keep her family alive and sane after a huge natural disaster, while being pulled in two different directions by religious fanatics and their opposers. Both groups are convinced that the Armageddon is coming in just a few days and that they desperately need Mia’s special abilities, therefore they’re ready to do just about anything to force Mia to join their side. To make matters worse, her family is also divided: her mother has been completely brainwashed by the powerful televangelist, Prophet, while her brother wants nothing more than to join the other group, Seekers. Sounds very interesting, right? And it is, for the most part, just be aware that you’ll find the same story we’ve seen a million times before if you look just a little deeper beneath the surface.

I felt that the thing that drew me to this novel initially, Mia’s ability to attract lightening, wasn’t explored nearly enough. That’s what I wanted to read about the most. After the delicious statement at the beginning of the book (“My name is Mia Price and I’m a lightning addict.”), I was expecting the author to take this much, much farther than she actually did. Instead she chose to go down a well-worn path: Mia running blindly into danger to save her mother or her brother, the beautiful, mysterious boy that simply refuses to tell her what his deal is, Mia being stupid, Mia being stupid, Mia being incredibly stupid… well, you get the picture.

For me, there comes a point in the book where I get so irritated by the main character’s choices that I stop caring for the plot altogether. I think what bothered me the most was that a lot of Mia’s problems could have been avoided with one or two serious conversations. She kept making stupid choices to keep her brother out of trouble, when all she really had to do was sit down and explain a few things to him. Same goes for Jeremy: he insisted on being vague while warning Mia to stay away from the Waste and the Seekers, when the whole truth would have been much more effective.

Still, I suppose if you’re in the mood for paranormal YA, you could do much, much worse than Struck. I have no objections whatsoever to Bosworth’s writing style, the beginning is very compelling, it pulls you right in so you don’t have to go through that torturous period of getting into the story. I just wish she maintained the same level of originality till the very end, instead of hiding behind tropes and clichés.


And since I'm writing this on a very special day, I need to include just one more thing: Happy birthday to my most wonderful co-blogger and the best friend a girl could ever hope for. 



15 comments:

  1. Oh no! Mia actually DOES do not-so-smart things? *smacks forehead* That's exactly what we didn't want her to do! x) LOL I was drawn to the story by its originality too, so it's too bad that it didn't stick to that like you'd hoped. But I'm still really intrigued by the division of her family. I don't think I ever got that from reading the synopsis! :)

    Thanks so much for the awesome honest review, Maja! It's always good to hear that it actually has a compelling hook too, instead of a dragging introduction!

    P.S. Happy Birthday, Lisa!! I hope you have an awesome day! :) <3

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    1. I was afraid this was going to happen. :( It was almost like her IQ dropped with every page I turned. So depressing.
      I still think it's worth your time, though. :)

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  2. Awe! Best friends are awesome!

    Happy Birthday Lisa!!! I hope you have a good one.

    So, Mia=stupid. Got it. Bum deal that the lighting thing wasn't explored more. I would have thought that would have been a big part of the story. Thanks for sharing your honest thoughts, Maja. Despite the mysterious boy, this one probably isn't for me, but I'm glad to know more about it.

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  3. Maja, I love your reviews. Even when you don't particularly like the books, you just put a huge smile in my face!

    The beginning did sound good, and the cover was oh so promising, but... "Mia being stupid, Mia being stupid" and "beautiful, mysterious boy that simply refuses to tell her what his deal is" are definitely deal-breakers. Not that the book is wrong per se, just that I've read it before and I don't really have the time to go out of my way, buy it, and read it all again.

    Thanks for your honest words!

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  4. I'm looking forward to starting this soon. It's a shame the book isn't great the whole way through but I'm still pretty intrigued by the premise. It definitely sounds like it could be an original story. Hopefully I will enjoy it just slightly more! :) Great review, Maja.

    And happy birthday to Lisa! :)

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  5. You are right Maja, the enitre concept sounds exciting and different, but that is so sad that it falters. I hate when authors come up with an orginal idea but then head down that well worn path, I was expecting you to say there was a love triangle as well. Just alot of Mia being stupid...sigh oh well. Happy Birthday to the lovely Lisa! Have a great week ladies!

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  6. Thanks for the wishes girls!! Maja has made my birthday public but I will NEVER reveal my age!! mwahahahha
    *go to my GR profile if you want to know*

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  7. The concept sounded really great. To bad that the book itself wasn't as good :| Great review, hun!

    Happy birthday Lisa, don't forget to make a wish (or more)!

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  8. Hah! Thanks, Lucy. You know I won't be able to resist a hot guy with superpowers.

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  9. Aaah! Not the beautiful mysterious boy again! I swear, he's popping up in everything I read these days. I know literary trends are trends for a reason, but what happened to doing something new? Grr...Lol. Rant over. For now. :)

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  10. Happy Birthday, Lisa!

    Maja - I enjoyed this review and had a laugh at "Mia being stupid, Mia being stupid, Mia being incredibly stupid…" I swear it's like a formula that so many authors follow!

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  11. Ah darn I've been so curious about the lightning thing it's too bad it's not really complex and awesomely developed. And stupid decisions, bleh. I'll still be reading it since I got it for review but I'll lower my expectations a tad.

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  12. Oh, it's too bad that you weren't exactly blown away by this book, Maja! It must be very disappointing that the main character keeps doing dumb things. I hate it when they do reckless things and do not think at all. Makes me want to shout some senses to them LOL! :D

    Awesome review, Maja! I love it that you put so many details in your review! And happy birthday, Lisa! <3

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  13. I'm sorry it wasn't quite for you. It's always difficult to have a heroine like that... You're right it sounded very promising, it's true like that we expect a lot from the story and finally it must be upseting. Thanks for the review.

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  14. Oh, darn! I'm sorry this one didn't quite reach your expectations, Maja. I was so excited for this one, too... I hope I'll like it. I totally know what you mean when you say that some characters need to stop making such rash and unnecessary decisions! It drives me bananas. Wonderful and honest review, Maja! <3

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