Title: The Peculiars
Author: Maureen Doyle McQuerry
Published Date: May 1, 2012
Publisher: Amulet Books (ABRAMS)
Source: NetGalley
*Disclaimer: Thank you ABRAMS for providing a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.
Synopsis(from Goodreads):
This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroine, will captivate fans of steampunk, fantasy, and romance.
On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena’s father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears
Review:
The reason I requested this first was because the cover caught my eye. The letters with the gears were a nice touch and the wings intrigued me. However, as I was to find out, the wings had almost nothing to do with our main character.
The biggest drawback to this book was that it was extremely slow to the point of boring. I slogged through the beginning somehow and made it to the end, but that’s only because I always finish a book I start. I would just feel too bad not finishing it because what if it got better? For this one, the pace increased later, but it wasn’t really that exciting even in the end.
Lena, our main character, to say that she annoyed me was too much. I just didn’t care for her one way or another. This is a story of self-discovery. She’s on a journey to find her father and she’s always worried about being a Peculiar. To me, she was really impulsive and even came across as judgmental somewhat. I didn’t cheer for her nor did I really hate her. It was just blah. She found herself in the end? You better do after I forced myself to read about your slow journey.
None of the other characters stood out either. They’re all pretty much one-dimensional. I think my favorites are Mr. Beasley and the cat. There was some romance, but it felt forced, like the romance was there since all YA has romance these days. I found Lena’s jealous reactions annoying and kind of out of place, since she’s only known Jimson for a few days, and it wasn’t insta-love or anything, so why did she have to be jealous?
As for the plot, it was really predictable, especially the part concerning the marshal. This contributed to the whole boring and slow pace as well. Also, this might be too picky, but the chapter titles didn’t help either. The titles told you what was going to happen in the chapter, so there was no suspense at all.
Overall, it was a very well written book. The story flowed very well from one point to another. It just didn't make me care for it. I also really enjoyed all the technology. I haven’t read that many steampunk, but I like all the gadgetry stuff, but sometimes those technology descriptions dragged the story down. Do I really need to know how to shoot the rifle in details? It’s a cool rifle, but I don’t need an instruction on what levers to pull. But I’m glad the author didn’t skimp on the technology though, because otherwise it wouldn’t have felt like a true steampunk.
Rating: 2/5
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