started a while ago, tough read

I'm a little in-between on this book. One the one hand, it is beautifully written and it's easily seen why it has won the awards it has. The characters are well developed and their language used is dead on with the historical era the book takes place in. However, it was hard to focus on it... it never really grabbed my attention and held on. Towards the middle of the book, I merely continued reading because of the beautiful word choice and language (hoping I would maybe catch on in my own speech) but it was a rather boring book. I would still recommend it to older teens and adults. ( )

Wow. How the heck did the writer do that? It reads like fantasy, but it is deeply rooted in fact. It is a page turner, but is also a gut-twisting, consciousness-raising look at race in the period. Wow, again.

"Johnny Tremain" was my favorite book growing up and has held up when I re-read it as an adult. Well kids, this is not your father's revolutionary Boston. Not by a long shot.

Downside? This is the most difficult reading I've found in a YA book. Some of the context (Rameau, physiognomy) is way beyond the knowledge of a typical high school student. But the core of the story is accessible to anyone who sticks with it.

For an adult? Nonstop reading delight, depth without sacrificing the momentum found in the best pulps.

I was driven to finish this volume, but it is such a rich dish that I am taking a breather before reading the second. Ah, to have something that rare to look forward to. ( )

Quite good; there is still a paucity of engaging book of this type. Personally, I felt that the marketing is off. It's one of those situations like Johnathan Letham where I want to see it take a turn for the weird, but it never does. That said, the fact that it *doesn't* do this may make it a better YA book in the end. Though SF/F themes appear to be even more prevalent than it was, it might be that this is a more approachable story this way.
(I'm still thinking about this and having conversations about this; I might decide I was wrong). ( )

I was wondering if it would take a turn for the more-compelling-to-me-personally, but have perused the reviews and if anything it's just going to make me want to run for the hills. Would rather re-read Dorothy Sayer's Strong Poison, right there on the Kobo ereader next in line, so am moving on to it, with a happy heart!

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )