Dan Smith (3)

Boy X by Dan Smith (274 pages), started off terribly slow. I picked this book solely off of its cover because the main character looked like a person of color. I am always ecstatic for some diverse fiction.

"It might help if there is someone to share it with you, someone to strengthen you, but sometimes you have to accept things for what they are- learn to live with them" (pg 51).

STORY:
I was not super enthused with the beginning. It felt like a lot of telling and not enough showing. Also, show more Isabel just magically appeared like, "Hey boo, I'm 'bout to be a main character." I understand Ash, the actual main character, did not know anyone, and the first person he saw was her, but I wish their introduction would have been more imaginative.

This is a really dark book for kids due to all the deaths, viruses, and again that dystopian flavor. For me, it teeters between Young Adult and Children's Fiction because the subject matter is mature, but the writing itself seems like it's catered to a younger audience than teens.

CHARACTERS:
Ash starts out as a confused kid who does not know anything or himself, really. To be honest, nothing jumped out to me about Ash's personality. He was somewhat like a reader-insert because he behaved how the average person would with his circumstances. With that being said, I did not dislike them and I thought his "I am Ash McCarthy" mantra was cute.

Besides Isabel's boring uneventful introduction, I liked her. She's been dealt a crazy situation and tries to maneuver through it while being Ash's emotional support. She was not a damsel-in-distress either.

OVERALL:

"Like a superhero?"

"No." He felt embarrassed at the suggestion. "Not like that. More like..." He tried to think of a way to explain it. "More like when you play a video game for the second time and it lets you keep all the upgrades" (pg 124).

It took at least a hundred pages for this book to become exciting. I almost dropped it on page 83, but I am glad I stuck with it.

The reveal of what Ash's mother was really working on in the laboratory, from the mouth of the least-expected person, kept my interest. I think Boy X's strength was in its climatic moments, which is ironic because most books have better build-ups and bad climaxes show less

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn. I talk about two different covers for the book, so it might not make much sense unless you read the original review.


I originally learned about this book at Becky's Book Reviews, and thought it sounded intriguing. It also sounded right up my alley. A World War II novel about English children harboring a German in the woods? Now that's a story I want to read!

This is really more of a message/story book than it is a character book - or at show more least, that's what it felt like to me. I felt like both main characters were very unrealistic, and their friendship became too deep and too lasting too fast. It was like insta-friendship instead of insta-love! The characterization of the German, Erik, was very well done considering he didn't actually speak English. I really liked him, and was probably more emotionally invested in him than I was in either Peter or Kim. He wasn't a picture on a propaganda poster, or a German solider-clone. He was a real person, with parents and a little brother back home, forced into a war he didn't want to fight and stuck in a miserable situation with little hope of evading discovery.

As I was getting the cover image off of Goodreads, I discovered that there were two different versions of the cover. They are practically identical except for one thing: the model. In the version I read (which I put to the right so you can see what I'm talking about), Peter is much younger and fresh-cheeked. In the other cover, which I like better and put next to the synopsis, Peter looks older and more serious. These two different covers are a great illustration of the big quandary with this book: who is the target audience? After a lot of hard thought, I'm still not sure.

You see, the young age of the main characters implies a younger audience, but the honest depiction of scenes such as the crash and the carnage inside the plane make it a bit too much for younger readers. The story line with Erik (the nineteen-year-old injured German they hide in the woods) is a great tale of impossible, forbidden friendship against the odds. I also love the way Smith explores the idea that there is a difference between what war propaganda says about the enemy, and what the enemy is really like. The most obvious example of this is the scene where Peter is comparing the Germans on the war posters to Erik, and he decides that Erik doesn't look anything like a German because he isn't blond and menacing. More subtle messages about the humanity of the enemy are scattered throughout the book, making for a very touching and thought-provoking story.
But then there's the side story where Peter's father is off at war, and his dad's friend Mr. Bennett hangs out around the house giving Peter's mom presents. Peter wrestles with Mr. Bennett's intentions (which are never really clearly explained) and his mother's reception of this attention throughout the book, and is taunted by the village bullies about this. It's probably subtle enough kids wouldn't understand it unless someone went out of the way to explain it to them (which I definitely don't advise), but that combined with a few gory descriptions keep me from wholeheartedly recommending it to everyone.

What do you think? Have you read My Friend the Enemy, and if so who would you recommend it to?

Note: after writing this review it occurred to me that the brown-haired, older model might not be Peter - maybe he's Erik, instead. Ah, well, my opinion of the book still stands. show less

Delivering harrowing adventure and suspense set against an unforgiving landscape, the new novel by Dan Smith will leave you chilled to the bone . . .

1920, central Russia. The Red Terror tightens its hold. Kolya has deserted his Red Army unit and returns home to bury his brother and reunite with his wife and sons. But he finds the village silent and empty. The men have been massacred in the forest. The women and children have disappeared.

In this remote, rural Russian community the folk tales show more that mothers tell their children by candlelight take on powerful significance, and the terrifying legend of Koschei, The Deathless One, begins to feel very real. Kolya sets out on a journey through dense, haunting forests and across vast plains against the bitter winter, in the desperate hope he will find his wife and two boys-and find them alive. But there are very dark things in Kolya's past. And, as he strives to find his family, there's someone-or something-following his trail . . .

Chilling both in setting and subject, the creepy folktale of Koschei the Deathless adding an extra layer of discomfort. Kolya trudges through the snowy wilderness in search of his family, he is escaping a war that destroys everything and everyone who is unfortunate to be in its path.

Well paced with excellent characters but the novels strength is in its subtly and the descriptions of an Eastern European winter: cruel and uncompromising, the haunted forests and the crunch of hooves on the frozen ground that stayed with me. Excellent show less

Russia. November 1920. The Red Terror. Nikolai Levitsky has returned to his home town to find it empty. The men have been tortured and killed and the women and children are missing. He finds himself on the trail of Korschei the Deathless One, a story told to children that has come to life. But Nikolai is not alone on his search and there are others on his trail.

While I didn’t consider the book very suspenseful, there were moments of heightened emotion. The writing was good and the show more description of the cold and bleak landscape left you feeling as if you were really there. Good characterization.

A definite recommend show less