BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break. PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.
Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.
Why I Read It: I've heard amazing things about Donnelly's other book and received this one for review.
Review: I'm going to start this review off by saying that I totally enjoyed this book. I'm starting off with this because this review is going to cover a lot of flaws that i found and I want to get the point across from the start that this book is great.
Donnelly grabbed me from page one with her writing, with the way that she can put emotions through her writing so easily, I was absolutely awestruck with how quickly I came to like Andi, the main character and how involved I was with the story. The story is told mainly from the point of view of Andi but has excerpts from a diary written two hundred years into the past, all writing is time appropriate with historic facts stated in the diary excerpts and a lot of brand-dropping in the present-day storyline.
The story itself is great, though very melodramatic. What annoyed me a lot is that I was expecting one thing and got another and the last one hundred pages seems completely different to the first four hundred (I'm attempting to be cryptic for a reason). I loved the way that Andi's story develops and interlaps with Alex's and I loved how both of their stories ended. Donnelly really gave the story her all.
My issue was that the story dragged a little, especially in the middle and I found myself begging for it to pick up because I had loved it so much up until then. It didn't pick up for a while and I forced myself through, the ending was awesomeness and I'm glad that i didn't give up, but it was difficult.
The characters are great. Andi is realistically written and whilst I was a little annoyed because she was very angsty, after hearing her story i think I can understand it. I loved watching the development the characters go through, Andi reaches closure and Alex - I won't give anything away. Virgil was maybe a little too perfect for me, but the romance was well written and didn't take over the plot.
Overall, Revolution was a deep, meaningful read which had a few pacing issues. I loved the story and the characters.
Overall Rating: B
Stand alone/Series: Stand Alone
UK Release: 8th October 2011
UK Publisher: Bloomsbury childrens
Book sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
awww this one sounds brilliant and is sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. I LOVED A Gathering Light so I was expecting to love this one too... hopefully I will even if some bits drag a little and stuff!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the honest review