Scan barcode
A review by artsybry
The Line by Teri Hall
2.0
"The Line took me 'away' in one page-turning gulp. Hall's writing is seamless, smooth, and compelling..." Review by Mary Pearson
What book was she reading and where can I get a copy of it?? At the very least tell me which single page took her away because for most of the book I was still waiting for some sort of action to arise out of the multitude of pages that consisted of nothing but info dumps poorly masked as history lessons for the main character. And finally when the action really did get under way (around page 180 of 220) and I totally got into the plot THE BOOK ENDED. (Yes, all publishers seem to want series or at least trilogies so they can milk them for every penny they are worth but at least make the books full length and not just 220 pages with no ending whatsoever.) Seriously the cliffhanger totally pissed me off, and it wasn't even about the main character but a secondary character that I cared for much more than Rachel. Just when I was interested it was over.
The writing is seamless? Smooth? Compelling?
REALLY?
More like choppy. Juvenile. Boring.
You have a main character so sheltered she barely speaks to more than 3 people for the majority of her life. Her mother whose past makes her wanted by the government but instead of teaching her child to fit in, not makes waves, etc teaches her all about the corruptness and injustices. Does she want Rachel to get arrested???
You get a plot that while not original is different since it applies to a country modeled after the US - making a nation whose foundation is based on individual freedoms into a martial law type government after near world destruction from world wide wars. But instead of taking this idea of a future dystopia and making it succeed like [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267255754s/2767052.jpg|2792775] you get a a book full of potential that fails to deliver.
Also, I needed a freaking map to explain the geography to me! The US was the only country name that was familiar (except I didn't realize for most of the book that whenever they said the U.S. they weren't referring to the United Stated but the Unified States!) Furthermore, the Line consisted of coastline, forest, and seemed like every terrain in the US, so what part of the country was it actually surrounding?? The called the area outside of the Line 'Away' (and was supposedly affected by weapons of mass destruction) yet all the foreign countries were outside the Line yet weren't affected like 'Away' was. So were they really far away from 'Away'? Do you see how confusing this is?! I feel like I am playing Who's on First with a book!!
Who knows maybe I went into this book with the wrong mindset, or expecting to much, or....I don't know. I really thought I would love it but that just didn't happen. I have to read the second book in the series though (since it will actually be like the end of the first book) because I really want to know what happens. So annoying. The plot didn't grab my interest till the end but now I am hooked. (Yeah, yeah, you win Mr. Publisher man - but I still won't buy it! Yay for libraries!)
Basically this book had so much potential that I want to rate it higher based on that alone. The plot ended with so many posibilities, but because of the lack of characterization and setting detail (oh and lets not forget the agonizing info dumps) I just couldn't give it 3 stars.
My review in one word: Disappointment.
What book was she reading and where can I get a copy of it?? At the very least tell me which single page took her away because for most of the book I was still waiting for some sort of action to arise out of the multitude of pages that consisted of nothing but info dumps poorly masked as history lessons for the main character. And finally when the action really did get under way (around page 180 of 220) and I totally got into the plot THE BOOK ENDED. (Yes, all publishers seem to want series or at least trilogies so they can milk them for every penny they are worth but at least make the books full length and not just 220 pages with no ending whatsoever.) Seriously the cliffhanger totally pissed me off, and it wasn't even about the main character but a secondary character that I cared for much more than Rachel. Just when I was interested it was over.
The writing is seamless? Smooth? Compelling?
REALLY?
More like choppy. Juvenile. Boring.
You have a main character so sheltered she barely speaks to more than 3 people for the majority of her life. Her mother whose past makes her wanted by the government but instead of teaching her child to fit in, not makes waves, etc teaches her all about the corruptness and injustices. Does she want Rachel to get arrested???
You get a plot that while not original is different since it applies to a country modeled after the US - making a nation whose foundation is based on individual freedoms into a martial law type government after near world destruction from world wide wars. But instead of taking this idea of a future dystopia and making it succeed like [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267255754s/2767052.jpg|2792775] you get a a book full of potential that fails to deliver.
Also, I needed a freaking map to explain the geography to me! The US was the only country name that was familiar (except I didn't realize for most of the book that whenever they said the U.S. they weren't referring to the United Stated but the Unified States!) Furthermore, the Line consisted of coastline, forest, and seemed like every terrain in the US, so what part of the country was it actually surrounding?? The called the area outside of the Line 'Away' (and was supposedly affected by weapons of mass destruction) yet all the foreign countries were outside the Line yet weren't affected like 'Away' was. So were they really far away from 'Away'? Do you see how confusing this is?! I feel like I am playing Who's on First with a book!!
Who knows maybe I went into this book with the wrong mindset, or expecting to much, or....I don't know. I really thought I would love it but that just didn't happen. I have to read the second book in the series though (since it will actually be like the end of the first book) because I really want to know what happens. So annoying. The plot didn't grab my interest till the end but now I am hooked. (Yeah, yeah, you win Mr. Publisher man - but I still won't buy it! Yay for libraries!)
Basically this book had so much potential that I want to rate it higher based on that alone. The plot ended with so many posibilities, but because of the lack of characterization and setting detail (oh and lets not forget the agonizing info dumps) I just couldn't give it 3 stars.
My review in one word: Disappointment.