Skip to main content

A Penny Lost

A Penny Lost - Aspen Bassett


*I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*


Synopsis (from Goodreads)
"Penelope Grace, usually forgotten under the shadow of her twin sister's perfection, tries her hardest to hide her freakish ability to see into anyone's soul. Until she senses an unusual energy like a human shaped void in the universe. When Penny investigates the source, she gets tossed through a crack in time along with the cute boy next door. The Void follows them through history, increasing the dangers as if testing Penny. But what is it testing for? And why does it claim to know her better than even she knows herself? Even as Penny searches for answers, she must fight to survive the tragedies of both the past and future in order to get back home."


Review
This story had a very intriguing premise, which is what peaked my interest in it. I love all things time-travel. I felt like the author's take on it was very unique and different, especially as we see timelines hopping around and intersecting at different points. I also really liked Penny's empathic abilities! That's something that is fresh and new and I felt like it was described really well. I liked that this book avoided many typical clichés. The story was fast-paced and kept you interested in knowing what was going to happen next. The plot set up a lot of questions, gave a couple answers that led to more questions. At times, however, the plot felt too convoluted and I wasn't sure exactly what was going on. 

I liked the character of Penny, and I felt like her frustrations, sense of humor, and bravery were shown well, though her logic was sometimes really dumb. Stranger was sweet but kind of blah, even with the hint of his tragic backstory. Ricky had the most interesting story, but he was basically there as a plot device for Penny. 

My biggest hang up was that the writing was not as polished or smooth as it could be. The tone shifted constantly, sometimes within the same scene. The dialogue often felt stilted. Plus, it may have just been the format of the copy I received, but conversation lines weren't different paragraphs, so sometimes I had to reread sections because I missed where the quotation marks ended or started because it wasn't clear.

The mystery behind the plot and the ending are interesting enough that I think I might read the next book to find out how it all fits together, and to find out who Penny really is, though I don't think I would buy it.

Rating
I give this book 2.5 stars.


Details
Genre: YA, Sci-fi.
Language: Mild.
Sex: None.
Violence: Mild.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This Savage Song

This Savage Song - Victoria Schwab Review: The newest book by one of my favorite authors, V.E. Schwab (She goes by "Victoria" for her YA novels). I love the premise for the book: violent acts create actual monsters. The two main characters are a human girl named Kate who desperately wants to be a (figurative) monster: a big, bad crime boss like her father, who runs one half of V-City. The other is August, who is a literal monster, a Malchai, one that drains the souls of his victims through his music, who desperately seeks his own personal humanity. I loved them both, and their personalities and characters and drives are so multi-faceted and real. They interact with other characters in believable and different ways. The juxtaposition of these two characters in and of itself is one of the driving things behind this story, and one of the things that makes it so compelling. Even though marketed as a YA, it really delves into the deep questions: What makes us human? W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Arcanum Unbounded

Arcanum Unbounded - Brandon Sanderson Synopsis A collection of Sanderson's "short" stories and novellas set in his Cosmere universe. Review It's no secret that Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors. His writing is stupendous, his stories are incredible and his plot twists are mind-blowing. Rarely can I figure out exactly where the story is headed, but I am always exceptionally pleased when I get there! Sanderson isn't as known for his "short" stories. Probably because they aren't short. Two of them in this collection clock in around 40k words, which is approaching the line between a novella and a novel. A few of the stories ( The Emperor's Soul, Sixth of the Dusk, Shadows for Silence ) can be read with no knowledge of his other books, and would perhaps be a good introduction to his writing. Those ones you can get individually or are published in other anthologies. I myself had already read a few of the stories, but withi...
2 comments
Read more

The Reader

The Reader by Traci Chee Synopsis (from Goodreads) "Sefia lives her life on the run. After her father is viciously murdered, she flees to the forest with her aunt Nin, the only person left she can trust. . . . But when Nin is kidnapped, Sefia is suddenly on her own, with no way to know who’s taken Nin or where she is. Her only clue is a strange rectangular object that once belonged to her father left behind, something she comes to realize is a book." Review The main reason I picked up this book was that it got a LOT of hype. I thought it was a good book, but I'd say more for younger YA. I think if I were 12-14, I would have REALLY loved this book. The premise is interesting: In a world where reading doesn't exist, Sefia has a rare book. However, I found at times the story was a bit too  meta... stories within stories within stories, and how reading is literally magic. The pacing was quite slow. I also found the feel or tone of the story jumped around. Fi...
Post a Comment
Read more