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Wreckers (2011)

by Julie Hearn(Favorite Author)

3.04 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0192729292 (ISBN13: 9780192729293)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

OUP Oxford

review 1: Yes. I paid for this book, I believe it was discounted but still. I paid for this rubbish. I didn’t finish it, didn’t even half way, which says it all really.I’m not entirely sure what Wreckers was really about, the plot is fairly simple, set in Great Britain (YEY!) in a dystopian future where London has apparently been destroyed and the country is set back to a world of rations and poverty (more on this later). The book is told from the perspectives of five friends (although we hear from some more than others) who find a box in a haunted house on Halloween, so they open it.... its pandoras box and for any that know the story, all that was left after the nasties had flown was hope. But apparently not, apparently there is still one more nasty left, and these plonkers ... moreare all set to release it. The primary let down in the part of the book I read was the scene setting and the book set up, flitting from character to character gave no depth to any of them, and I couldn’t see why there were even friends. The world Hearn’s created has no validation - the country is in poverty and no-one has cars, yet they still holiday to cornwall and all the shops and cafes are open? The characters talk obsessively about getting milk shots (WTF are they?) and go and pay for them at the diner? None of it makes sense - either the country (or those we see in this story) are barely surviving or they are not really effected by it all - this half way, picking and choosing annoyed me, it was like there was no real thought going in to it, almost like a child had drawn the future and Hearn had picked things out of the picture to use as ‘gimmicks’ to prove it was the future. Like I said the characters were weak and had no like-ability at all, the plot was feeble (which is a shame as pandora’s box would have been a great story to tell). I can only comment on the bit I read obviously, but I can’t imaging that it would of suddenly got better....
review 2: I thought this book had a good premise of a box originally found in 1732 that should never be opened. In reality I thought it was rather clumsy. You have narrators of 4 out of 5 characters, Maude just got one measly paragraph. The main thing that annoyed me is it is never revealed what year it is or what this attack was. One review claims that it's 2028 and London was bombed but I'm assuming they must have had inside info from Ms. Hearn seeing as even on her own website it doesn't reveal the setting.The characters were interesting. The only one you had any real insight into is Dilly, Danzel was adequate although why was he drinking? Maude seemed very flat, her biggest storyline came from the visitors about half way through, oh and opening the box. Jenna annoyed me, she was too narrow-minded, constantly thinking about boys and sex yet for a 15-year-old she childishly referred to her breasts as "thingies" which was frustrating. Also we never given any reason for her mother's erratic behaviour. Gurnet he was just a weird potential psychopath. The way he spoke was weird (my Dilly, my Danzel etc) and I found it disturbing how much he cared for the creature.I also found the majority of the back-stories under-developed, yes Hopelessness may have amplified certain feelings e.g. Jenna's mother throwing herself at men - literally! - but what caused these behaviours in the first place?Also who the hell was the sub-narrator (in italics)? I thought it was just a non-narrator giving background info to the box until page 277: "You're wondering, aren't you, how I know all this? You've been wondering for a while, haven't you, who, or what, I am? Well, sorry. You won't know until after you die, and maybe not even then." I'm disappointed that it wasn't revealed who he or she is.Also I thought the final clash between Hope and Hopelessness was very rushed and I didn't find it very clear what was going on. less

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