There's plenty of big world building and magic rules and all the things that you love in fantasy. I even like the way it ended, though I am trying hard not to give spoilers here.Īlso, just because I say that Brennan's book changes one little thing and then lets it ripple, don't think that means that there aren't lots of fun magical things going on here. And for both of them, the person they once trusted most with all their deepest, scariest thoughts, has now become someone they can't trust, they can't share with, and is all too complicated to know what to do with.
Kami, meanwhile, thinks Jared is hot and would like to date him, but he can't even stand to touch her. Jared thinks of Kami as "some annoying Asian girl" and Kami hears his thoughts. Sarah Rees Brennan doesn't do that.īecause when Kami and Jared meet-wow! It isn't the fantasy that they would have imagined. Too often writers focus on the fancy clothes and miss the rest of a great story.
I want really good writing and great characters, and they don't have to be dressed up in fancy clothese necessarily. Sometimes I yawn when I hear these elements, though. Sure, you can do epic fantasy where there are elves and dwarves and magic spells, and special magic objects to search for, and a secret history of the kingdom. Really, if you change on thing and you do it well, you will be changing everything, but just slightly, and the genius is in showing how those small changes ripple through everything. I tell writers all the time that the best kind of speculative fiction uses our world as a template and changes one thing. In fact, Kami and Jared meet in person for the first time in the early chapters of the book.Īnd this is where I started to love the book. He talks to her back, and while at first you might not be sure, you realize not too long after that Jared is no ordinary imaginary friend. It turns out Kami has an imaginary friend named Jared, whom she has talked to all her life in her mind. The introduction of the speculative element in the book is so understated you might not even notice it for a little while.
I love it when any character has a plan, but especially a girl, because there are so many female characters who seem to wander around waiting for life to happen to them, instead of for them to happen to life. She has a family, friends, go to school in a regular town, has a plan for her life including becoming a reporter, and she is working toward that plan. I loved how this book opened, with Kami in a regular, everyday situation.
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