Are all books
just trying to trick me now?
Hello again,
readers, I have returned—all married and stuff! I hope I’m not getting back to
you too late, but my return to the working world has been a busy one. Plus, my
wife and I have been binge-watching episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender. She has
seen fit to introduce me to this classic, another of the many reasons I love
her.
Anyway, while
travelling all over the place for wedding- and honeymoon-related reasons, I
brought along a new book to read: No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz. I snagged it at random
off the library shelves, and judging by the cover and the inside-cover
synopsis, I thought it was a YA sci-fi book.
Boy, did I feel
like an idiot when—about a quarter of the way through the book—I looked at the
spine to note the total lack of sci-fi marker. “Oh well,” I said to myself, “as
long as I’m this far, I might as well get a taste of realism-setting YA,
right?”
I hope that, when
you read the synopsis, you’ll forgive me for mistaking this book for sci-fi.
The upshot of No Safety in Numbers’ plot is at least the start of a
tasty mystery. A mysterious bomb is found in the air ducts of a giant suburban
mall on a Saturday, prompting the authorities to lock down the mall. After days
of being stuck in this maze of stores, people begin getting seriously sick. The
reader follows the exploits of two boys and two girls in their desperate
situations, trying to piece together what’s going on—and trying to survive.
Let’s skip right
to my biggest beef with the book: They never do figure out what’s going on.
The bomb, the
supposed source of the contagion? It vanishes. One character sees it in the
first chapter, and it’s gone, poof, for the rest of the book. We never learn
where it is, where the authorities moved it (if they did), and—most
importantly—who put it there and why. We don’t even get a hint (unless
my hunch about a casual line in Chapter 18 means something…). The bomb is a
MacGuffin to the highest degree, and nobody seems interested in tracing its
origins in hope of reverse-engineering a solution or something. Instead of
focusing on that, our four main characters focus half on basic survival stuff
and relationship angles.
And…
Um…
They do a good
job of it?
I can’t tell you
with authority here. I’m more into the books of a sci-fi bend, remember—books
where more things happen and a plot advances. In No Safety in Numbers,
the plot is more of a backdrop, a corral made of basic lumber to herd the MCs
into the same mall. This book worries more about character than plot, and it
seems to do OK there. No one protagonist really lit my shorts on fire, but I still
developed a favorite character—because he was the one who seemed to be actually
doing something. Also, the teens aren’t as horny as the characters in,
say, Rise of Renegade X, which is a welcome relief.
But, even if
we’re supposed to focus on the characters as the main picture, an iffy frame
can still detract from the quality. Plot is the frame, and its devices aren’t
great. The maneuvers of the Vague Yet Menacing Government Organization (that
one’s for you, Welcome to Night Vale fans,) keeping everyone in the mall seem weird at
best and stupid at worst. Adult figures, with the possible exception of
someone’s Nani, aren’t much more than plot devices. Because we’re focusing on
character, the plot developments aren’t as dramatic as they could be; the
revelation of the disease seemed rather lackluster, for example.
Then there’s the
arc. No Safety in Numbers is the first in a series, but it feels like
the story was cut off at the wrong point, at the moment of rising action. The
story even ends on a dramatic revelation we really could have used, say,
two-thirds of the way into the book rather than at the conclusion. Characters
are in random places doing random things, not in a stable location where we can
pick them up later. Worst of all, it seems like there’s no reward for reading
the book. No main characters achieve a significant victory (except maybe Marco).
Nothing is answered; we just have a pile of extra questions we need to remember
for next time. The book just…stops. It feels like an amateur’s division of a
story that’s taking long to finish—and trust me, I speak from personal writing
experience.
My recommendation?
If you’re a character-relationship-obsessed person, you might want to give this
book a try. If you’re more like me, you should pass. Sorry, Dayna, but I’m not
looking for the next book in the series. I can see it’s at least a trilogy,
which means I’ll probably get little satisfaction out of the second book too.
Now, everyone
hold on to your seats; just like I did in my last review, here are the reading
notes I took for No Safety in Numbers. Enjoy!
Note: the
book’s chapters aren’t actually numbered, I just did that myself.
***
Chapter 1: Fast
start, and it looks like we’re exploring modern issues.
Chapter 2:
Probably a relatable family setup for some people. Also…I see this is a 2012
book, but if the end of this chapter leads where it sounds like it will, it
could get pretty progressive up in here.
Chapter 3: Beginning
of chapter: SLOW DOWN! End of chapter: OK, I know more about Shay
than Ryan—why?
Chapter 4: Beginning
of chapter: I didn’t, say, accidentally skip a few chapters, did I? End
of chapter: OK…again, still pretty fast.
Chapter 5: Getting
somewhere. I hope this book wasn’t lying about being sci-fi.
Chapter 6: Oh,
that’s who those guys were! I need to stop spacing out chapters.
Chapter 7: Carry
on…
Chapter 8: Thank
you, author, for interrupting that forming love triangle. Also, I’m an idiot—it
says nothing about sci-fi on this book’s library tag.
Chapter 9: Mall
plot is getting padded out.
Chapter 10: OK,
security is ramping up, but I still don’t have a good enough idea of the
severity of the shutdown to justify their actions! Please tell me this book
isn’t going to make security and the senator the villains…
Chapter 11: So…was
there a point to that chapter?
Chapter 12: Beginning
of chapter: No no no, page 125, you do NOT summarize that conversation;
turn it into meaningful, character-building dialogue! End of chapter: I
wish there was a joke attached to the following phrase, but…that escalated
quickly.
Chapter 13: Uh…it
would have been nice to have a better picture of the rock wall before we
started talking about potentially kinky harnesses.
Chapter 14: Come
on—just say you heard there’s a fever going around, made more potent by the
close-proximity confinement! You wouldn’t technically be lying!
Chapter 15: WHOA,
MARCO, PETTY MUCH? In one page, I lost all respect for you!
Chapter 16: Can
something non-relational happen and be, you know, significant to the plot? I’m
suffering from major-development deficiency.
Chapter 17: Yes,
Lexi, it’s all your fault. Plus, the bomber reveal had better be hella
surprising, heaven knows the disease wasn’t.
Chapter 18: Beginning
of chapter: Whoa whoa whoa—the bomb threat started on a Saturday, but that
guy said he hadn’t slept since Friday…is he the bomber? End of chapter:
Taking that death pretty well, ain’t’cha…
Chapter 19: Yay!
Things are happening!
Chapter 20: It’s
official, I like Ryan the best. At least he seems to be an active agent, even
if he’s only being dragged along by Mike and Drew.
Chapter 21: Beginning
of chapter: Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to this new
character who has materialized before us: Horny Marco. End of chapter: Ooo,
plot things…
Chapter 22: Beginning
of chapter: I like the word “crapaclysm”. End of chapter: Unless I
get more reasons, I’m going to label this the dumbest quarantine ever.
Chapter 23: Good
going, keep it up…
Chapter 24: Oh,
come on! Him, really?
Chapter 25: The
medical/government forces of this world are morons. Plus, am I a bad person for
being grateful one character has finally passed away?
Chapter 26: Look,
I’m glad my favorite character is still alive, but can’t we at least have a
clever plan that GOES SOMEWHERE?
Chapter 27: Really,
a fire extinguisher? Plus, while I appreciate this chapter’s subject actually
doing stuff, I still think he’s the villain here.
Chapter 28:
Nothing like trauma to reunite a family. But…where did the stampede go?
Chapter 29: Beginning
of chapter: Hey, something new! End of chapter: Nice twist—BUT WHY
THE F*** WASN’T THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BOOK? WHY ISN’T ANYTHING TIED OFF IN
A SATISFACTORY MANNER? THIS ISN’T AN ENDING; THIS IS AN AUTHOR KILLING A
PROJECT AFTER WRITING HERSELF INTO A CORNER! AND WHAT ABOUT THAT GUY WHO HADN’T
EATEN SINCE FRIDAY? Also, why the bomb? Who put it there? Is that massively
important device a mere MacGuffin to make the character-relationship study
happen? RRR!
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