The Full Review of "The Odds of Lightning" by Arya Thirodira
I just finished the book The Odds of Lightning. The book was written by Jocelyn Davies and was published in 2016. The plot revolves around Tiny, Will, Nathaniel, and Lu, a group of friends that are all faced with their worst fears and no way out. The book mainly focuses on these four friends, but the author also includes multiple side characters who each have their important role in the book.
Warning: There are some spoilers and this review will be based on the whole book even though I've already done a smaller review on the first half of this book.
The book starts off with this group of friends all meeting at a party. They've been estranged for years, and they are all excited about meeting each other again. They decide to take a trip to the roof, where they somehow get struck by lightning. They wake up with new abilities, looks, and "powers". No one knows why this has happened, but they all want to fix it so they can get back to their normal lives.
Tiny is invisible, Will can change his looks, Nathaniel has super-strength, and Lu is immune to feeling (she feels nothing physically). It is later revealed that each of their abilities pertains to their fears as well as their desires and hopes. Tiny is afraid of losing her place in the group and school, so she wants to become "invisible" to everyone. Will is constantly trying to be someone else everyday and he fears that he will eventually lose his true self. Nathaniel is afraid but also desires the power and glory that his brother once had. He wants to be a leader, and his super-strength can help him to do that. Lu has had her heart broken too many times, and now she just wants to be numb to all her personal connections.
After the lightning hits them, they soon realize that their abilities are all related to their fears and desires. Some of them are happy with their newfound power at first, but they later realize that these abilities will lead them away from their true selves. Will realizes that he's just changing faces so he can impress Lu, even though Lu appreciates Will for what he is normally. Lu realizes that being immune to feelings is not the way to go. Instead, she realizes that she should embrace all of her feelings and live with them, the good and bad ones. Nathaniel sees that having all the power is a pressure that he does not need, and Tiny finds out that being the invisible person in school is something she does not want at all. The book ends with them heading back to the place they got struck by lightning, hoping to get rid of the abilities that they have.
I would rate this book a 3.9/5 stars. It was really interesting how the author illustrated elements of teenage life into the book and how she made connections between the characters' abilities and their normal teenage life. The author takes the image of an average teenager and blows it up into this fantasy novel that tells the struggles of a teenager in an interesting and compelling way. The author describes each teenager in a way that can relate to most readers. The author also adds many side characters which each play some role in the main characters' development.
Even though the book revolves around the characters trying to get rid of their strange abilities, the underlying theme of the book is about character development. The author uses the lightning strike as a front to develop an underlying theme that guides the characters through the story. At the beginning, Davies makes the story seem like an adventure full of action and drama, but as you get to the end of the book, you can tell that the characters have changed a great deal. This is one of the parts I really like about the book, since it provides two fronts to the story which makes the novel all the more interesting.
Although there are a lot of interesting plot lines and attitudes in this story, there are also some downsides. Sometimes, the author deviates from the main plot and seems to add chapters and scenes that don't seem very relevant at the time. It was kind of confusing at first, but everything seemed to fit together in the end. Davies also jumps around in the timeline of the overall story quite a bit. She brings up scenes and events that have happened in the past and then jumps back to the present in a few pages. This was also confusing, so I had to pay special attention to the content I was reading.
This book was a really nice way to describe teenage life. It's a novel that people at this reading level can relate to and appreciate. Overall, the book was pretty good and I would strongly suggest reading it.
Warning: There are some spoilers and this review will be based on the whole book even though I've already done a smaller review on the first half of this book.
The book starts off with this group of friends all meeting at a party. They've been estranged for years, and they are all excited about meeting each other again. They decide to take a trip to the roof, where they somehow get struck by lightning. They wake up with new abilities, looks, and "powers". No one knows why this has happened, but they all want to fix it so they can get back to their normal lives.
Tiny is invisible, Will can change his looks, Nathaniel has super-strength, and Lu is immune to feeling (she feels nothing physically). It is later revealed that each of their abilities pertains to their fears as well as their desires and hopes. Tiny is afraid of losing her place in the group and school, so she wants to become "invisible" to everyone. Will is constantly trying to be someone else everyday and he fears that he will eventually lose his true self. Nathaniel is afraid but also desires the power and glory that his brother once had. He wants to be a leader, and his super-strength can help him to do that. Lu has had her heart broken too many times, and now she just wants to be numb to all her personal connections.
After the lightning hits them, they soon realize that their abilities are all related to their fears and desires. Some of them are happy with their newfound power at first, but they later realize that these abilities will lead them away from their true selves. Will realizes that he's just changing faces so he can impress Lu, even though Lu appreciates Will for what he is normally. Lu realizes that being immune to feelings is not the way to go. Instead, she realizes that she should embrace all of her feelings and live with them, the good and bad ones. Nathaniel sees that having all the power is a pressure that he does not need, and Tiny finds out that being the invisible person in school is something she does not want at all. The book ends with them heading back to the place they got struck by lightning, hoping to get rid of the abilities that they have.
I would rate this book a 3.9/5 stars. It was really interesting how the author illustrated elements of teenage life into the book and how she made connections between the characters' abilities and their normal teenage life. The author takes the image of an average teenager and blows it up into this fantasy novel that tells the struggles of a teenager in an interesting and compelling way. The author describes each teenager in a way that can relate to most readers. The author also adds many side characters which each play some role in the main characters' development.
Even though the book revolves around the characters trying to get rid of their strange abilities, the underlying theme of the book is about character development. The author uses the lightning strike as a front to develop an underlying theme that guides the characters through the story. At the beginning, Davies makes the story seem like an adventure full of action and drama, but as you get to the end of the book, you can tell that the characters have changed a great deal. This is one of the parts I really like about the book, since it provides two fronts to the story which makes the novel all the more interesting.
Although there are a lot of interesting plot lines and attitudes in this story, there are also some downsides. Sometimes, the author deviates from the main plot and seems to add chapters and scenes that don't seem very relevant at the time. It was kind of confusing at first, but everything seemed to fit together in the end. Davies also jumps around in the timeline of the overall story quite a bit. She brings up scenes and events that have happened in the past and then jumps back to the present in a few pages. This was also confusing, so I had to pay special attention to the content I was reading.
This book was a really nice way to describe teenage life. It's a novel that people at this reading level can relate to and appreciate. Overall, the book was pretty good and I would strongly suggest reading it.
Very well written review. You swiftly inform the reader of the upcoming spoilers and quickly dive into the book's main focuses as well as your opinions of the book. I like that at the end of the review you give a few extra details that could help someone make their final decision of whether or not to read the book. Well done.
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