We thank the author, Marti Leimbach, for providing us with the e-ARC for this book! Dragonfly Girl will be published on February 23, 2021 by KT Books/Harper Collins.
Author: Marti Leimbach
Genre: Young Adult; Thriller
Rating:
S.R. Scribbles - 7.5/10
N.G. Rainwater - 7/10
Kira Adams is only good at one thing: Science. With her extraordinary talent, she was able to not only secure a prestigious award, but a job at the secret laboratory run by Dr Gregory Munn, a renowned scientist. But when her first project results in the successful revival of a dead lab rat, she finds that her dream job may be filled with more danger than she had anticipated.
The book is split into three sections. The first two were relatively slower-paced and were concerned with how Kira landed herself in the situation she is in, while the last was filled with more action and tension. Though the conflict came in relatively late, the set-up of the book was still enjoyable.
We definitely have to applaud the author for the amount of research she has obviously done. It was very refreshing to read a YA book that includes so much scientific knowledge that we can observe in the present-day. Though we understand that this might put off those who do not have a strong interest in science, we found it to be an intriguing aspect of the story.
“Science is about finding better ways of being wrong.”
It is also for the same reason, however, that the book felt more like a science fiction than a thriller. For the most part, there were no high stakes, nor anticipation, which you would expect from a thriller. On the other hand, there was a lot of focus on the world of science and advancement in the field. This is not a big problem–we just felt that those going into the book should know that it is pretty science-heavy.
Overall, both our reading experiences were positive, and we found the book entertaining and easy to read. There were no pressing issues that made the book problematic. At the same time–sadly–nothing (plot, characters, writing) particularly stood out and impressed us.
While the book has a solid foundation, we felt that it definitely had the room to include more details (e.g. more scenes). These details would have made the characters feel more three-dimensional, made the romance a lot more organic, and most importantly, made the progression of the story much more realistic and satisfying.
Unfortunately, we also felt that the writing seemed to have no unique style of its own. Not only was the story quite predictable, the author also made use of a lot of clichés (lines and plot points). Moreover, there were no hard hitting lines or scenes that brought forth strong emotions. It read like many other YA novels, which made the book less memorable.
The book makes use of topics which are fairly complex and mature (war, science, spies etc). We found that the writing style, genre (YA), and the execution of the book simplified the concepts, and thus made some parts of the plot seem a bit far-fetched and juvenile.
This point kind of ties in with the last one, but the main focus of this book is “what if someone discovers how to bring back the dead”. This subject warrants a lot of discussion from various angles (moral/ethical issues etc.), but the book barely brushed the surface of it. It has failed to include any enlightening insights and deep discourse.
While this book had not made our favourites list, it is nevertheless compelling enough to convince us to pick up the sequel.
Reviewed by: N.G.Rainwater (1st Reading); S.R. Scribbles (1st Reading)
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