Review Detail

So I have concluded that this book would have been a lot better had I not read reviews/synopsis/blogs prior to reading this book. I'm thinking that the plot line and twists would have been a lot more exciting and impacting had I not already known the basic premise. So instead of taking it all in, I'm listening to this audio and dysecting the foreshadowing that I may or may not have picked up on and everything else under the sun.

So the book reminds me a lot of Harry Potter in it's description of the school, and how the school ran, however; I am not from England and may be oblivious...this really might be how schools in England are run, and that is why. I didn't not like this part of the book, I just noticed the similarities. And I'm sure I'm about the millionth person to point this out. So yeah.

That's okay, though. I really enjoyed this book. The idea behind it, the mystery unraveling. It did feel a little bit Scooby-Doo when the villain revealed every detail of his story. Not that I didn't want to know the whens and whys, but it is a teensy bit stereotypical villain-esk character trait to have the entire thing unraveled by the sociopathic assumption that everything is going to happen just as said villain envisioned?! BUT, somehow, from what I know of Maureen Johnson via blog/twitter stalking - this was intended and what would be right for her I think.

I like Rory...a lot. She was just pretty awesome, a risk taker, but she also has a respect for authorities and doing what is right as well. However, her small romance - I'm not sure how I feel about her and Jerome. The relationship seemed very - on the sidelines, or almost non-existent. I wasn't feeling the chemistry at all. I was actually hoping she'd drop him and go after the young hottie police guy who's name is slipping my memory at the moment...but alas I suppose there IS an age difference there, huh? Character relationship between Rory and all of her friends would be something I'd like to see better established in future books, because that sort of fell short in my opinion...which is a bit surprising to me after reading the Blue Envelope Series.