Scholastic A Flash of Blue
3 ratings
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Price: £7.99
Brand: Scholastic
Description: Amber is convinced that her brother's death is her fault. Weighed down with grief, guilt and pressure to be the perfect daughter, only with her life having crashed around her will Amber find a way to rebuild it, and to finally find out what part she really paid in her brother's death. Scholastic A Flash of Blue - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: Scholastic
Product ID: 90304
ISBN: 9781407138176
Author: Mrs S A Lewis
Rating: 5
Review: Excellent very pleased with service
Author: Arkham Reviews
Rating: 3
Review: Actual rating: 2.5 out of 5 This was a difficult book for me to review, especially I don't often pick up contemporary novels. The story itself, while not terribly original, presents a rather bleak portrayal of a family coping with the sudden death of a child. As the story succinctly puts it, "sometimes tragedy brings out the best in people and sometimes the worst". In the case of Amber's family, the latter is certainly true. No member of the family comes to terms with Liam's death in a healthy way. Although a short book, it was surprisingly hard for me to get through purely because life for Amber just gets worse and worse. Yet the story did carry a strong and very important message about the importance of organ donation. While I wish this had been more of a running theme (it was kind of shoe-horned in during the final act), I do really believe that this is an important thing for young readers to think about. No body likes to think about dying, especially when they're young, yet terrible things can happen without warning and filling out a simple online form can help to save the lives of others. Yet something about the story felt lacking. Despite its strong moral, there was definitely something missing in the characterisation. I hated the level of victim blaming in this story. Everyone blames everything on Amber, often without any reason to whatsoever. It wasn't just Amber's overactive guilt complex. Her friends and family (her father and Simon in particular) went to great lengths to accuse her of everything, even things that were beyond her control. This left a really bad taste in myself. Then, there was "the thing". For me, the inclusion of Tyler's awful friends made the middle section of this book almost painful to read. Declan (and the things he gets away with) are particularly awful. My biggest issue with the book is, there doesn't feel like there is any catharsis for these horrible people. The climax of this novel is too quick and clean, with the fates of a lot of the characters summed up in a single sentence. It felt as though the novel was suddenly cut short. Tyler, for his part, seems to get away scott free and even Amber's father's adultery is brushed away with a comment. For me, this made the book feel almost incomplete. Yet I did really like Amber. She made some really bad decisions in the story but she felt wholey realistic. I found I could really sympathise with her as she had a depth that the other characters in the story lacked, and I loved how her character arc help to bring her out of depression and grant a positive outlook for her future. While I didn't hate this novel, I did find it to be a very average read on the whole. The story felt a little weak and there are better YA novels out there with this premise. All in all, not one for me but fans of contemporary fiction may enjoy it.
