Nerdly Book Review:
The Perils of Quad
June 7, 2009 by Kyle BradyTags: Book, Carl Joglar, Review, The Perils of Quad
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I was contacted by Carl Joglar himself, as I sometimes am by budding authors, seeing if I was interested in reading his book. My previous experiences with this effort haven't been overly amazing, although Christopher Mahoney's "Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun" would have been good if I was a little younger - but this was intriguing to me, as a YA SciFi novel with a unique concept, so I agreed.
After receiving the book in the mail, I was still skeptical because of the larger font and book format... but I started reading it. And was "hooked" before the end of the first chapter.
Personally, I think the book description gives a little too much of the plot away, but there are a few twists throughout that were completely unexpected, and made for a fun read.
The tone of the book is somewhere between true SciFi and a YA novel... the dialogue and emotional situations tend to be oversimplified (likely because of the children), but the ideas and descriptions of scenes, people, etc. are rather complex. There are even a few moments in reading where the word choice astounded me - I would have understood it at the target age, but not many would.
The overall feel of the book is kind of like a SciFi "Harry Potter" - I hate to use this comparison, and I do so in a kind way. The first HP novel managed to introduce a new world, many characters, big ideas, and dangerous situations in a simplified way, without appearing to pander to the children. Joglar manages to do much of the same. The other comparison to the HP novels are the writing style... it hooks you in, curious and excited, wanting to keep reading.
I only have a few real criticisms, which I'm going to pass on to him as well:
- any sequels should mature noticeably with characters, plot, and style... or the audience might lose interest.
- the plot moves a little too quickly, with sometimes only a few sentences given to a big action moment. This should be drawn out more.
- the characters are a bit over simplified and would benefit from being emotionally deeper and having more realistic interactions - the conversation between Nix and Bodi at the end of the novel is a perfect example.
Other than that, I really enjoyed it and hope the sequel is even better... I wouldn't be surprised if this gets picked up by Scholastic or another such targeted-audience publisher.
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