Jigsaw Beginnings (David Alyn Gordon)

 

I have to admit this book is not what I thought it was from the title, but for good reason.

The first part of the book captivated me. It drew my interest straightaway to keep me reading. For around one-third, the plot hops back and forth between the modern era and the war period, where the characters are transported into. I am a fan of jumping narratives for storytelling. Although it doesn't work for every book, it works here. I also appreciate relevant historical facts and how they are worked into the story, which goes for a refreshing take on their objective for history changing.

There are two twists that I didn't see coming in the story; I appreciate the first one but still struggle with the reasoning and the necessity of the second. I am not into the modern era of the story because the young adult's interactions feel jaggy and unnatural. It's hard for me to get into and root for the characters because some of the connections and relationships felt forced or rushed into. There are good moments, but there could be more.

Sometimes, it feels like the book is trying to tackle too many things with too few words that both significant parts of the story, plot and characters, don't have time to shine and are just moving along. Overall, I think the story idea is solid, and the author creates an intriguing theory about time travel to the past.

3.5 rounded up

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The Great Contagion (Jeff Chapman)

Fantasy is not my forte, but I find this book enjoyable. It follows a story through a cat, well, not exactly a cat. It carries us through her daily life, going around the town when a great sickness kills like a wind sweeping through a sand castle.

The vibrant and imaginative language is the strongest element of this book; readers can visualize the scene vividly, just like a snake releases itself from the tree coil by coil. On the other paw, some scenes also felt longer than they should have, based on the following reasons.

The title misleads me for a bit; I was not prepared to read a book heavy on fantasy and magic when I saw The Great Contagion as the title. I relate it to more modern and more scientific settings. Imho, some more archaic term would be more fitting to the story. I also expected the story to lean more about the disease or, at the very least, have more proportion and direct connections to the overall plot. Instead, I frequently needed to remember about it during the story while it wanders among other things. 

The other things are great. I just wish that the relevance would be more prominent, or they should be the primary focus instead because if the story omits them, there wasn’t much left about the great contagion. I was left with questions about how fast it came and went, wondering about the beginning of it all (which should be one of the most intriguing elements in a story about contagion), and how the folks got their conclusion for the finale scene. 

There could be more than what I caught on; maybe I missed them. 

Having said that, the book is very well written, and I feel like a cat. I can imagine every scene and every move. The characters are great, and I like all the fantasy elements. I should be very suspicious from now on. I think my neighbor’s cat is always looking at me funny.

4 Sly Grins out of 5 Pookas

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