AnnaLund2011

Well, now this was different. I loved that this was a story in which the main character was a boy, or young man, who only incidentally is gay. For once, a story that doesn’t centre on this fact, it was just a baseline, a backdrop. I really liked this. More stories could benefit from this approach.

Tucker is a fine young fellow, and when he finds he can change the weather, of course the government is interested. At first, you think, well, what’s so amazing with a little rain and snow? Then, when you sit down and think about it, you realize you can make or break any country in the world with weather. Very nice storyline, and most unusual. Kudos.

It is also a biting exposé of how the land of the free has changed in the last few decades. Especially Tucker’s parents were complete and utter push-overs, who let the Department of Homeland Security just walk all over them. No fight in them at all, which scared me more than anything in this book. The boy is only 15 years old, and the parents don’t even protest when they take him away? Yeah, scary stuff, together with all the blasé talk about the bugging devices that have been planted everywhere in everyone’s houses…it almost goes into an Orwellian state of big-brotherhood creepiness. I hope this was intentional, because if not, it scares me even more.

The language is very good, without purple prose; it flows and tells the story well. Why then three stars? Well, I felt the second half was truncated, unfinished, and quite a bit rushed at the end. As if the author got tired of writing it, and just inserted the initial synopsis-ending, instead of actually writing a proper ending. The last 20 pages were all telling, no showing, and that’s not how I want to part with characters I have grown to like.

The open-ish end could, of course, be there to make way for a second installment in a series, and that aggravates me, because I like to know beforehand if it is a series or not that I am reading. Actually, I'm not even sure there IS going to be more, so, for me, another chapter would have rounded it off nicely.

All in all a good read, recommended for young adults, with good-natured, sane young characters. I liked this book.

*** 

I was given an ARC of this book by the author. A positive review was not promised in exchange.