Scan barcode
jlrmac's review
2.0
Not worth reading. Further bummer is I damaged the library book and have to pay for a book I wouldn't recommend.
jennstans's review
3.0
"Above" by Leah Bobet is a really good book... in the last 3-4 chapters. But before I get into that let me give you a synopsis of what the book is about.
"Matthew has loved Ariel from the moment he found her in the tunnels, her bee’s wings falling away. They live in Safe, an underground refuge for those fleeing the city Above—like Whisper, who speaks to ghosts, and Jack Flash, who can shoot lightning from his fingers.
But one terrifying night, an old enemy invades Safe with an army of shadows, and only Matthew, Ariel, and a few friends escape Above. As Matthew unravels the mystery of Safe’s history and the shadows’ attack, he realizes he must find a way to remake his home—not just for himself, but for Ariel, who needs him more than ever before."
Thank you goodreads.com for that lovely synopsis.
When I first started to read this book I was extremely confused as to what is going on. It took me about 3 weeks to read it's 368 pages. Now I have to give Leah Bobet some credit, this is her first book. But it lacks organization and drive to keep the reader pushing further into the book. If I didn't have a drive to never not finish a book I wouldn't have gotten passed chapter 1 simply because I had no idea what what going on.
As I said earlier the last 3-4 chapters are probably the best out of all 10 chapter + epilogue. Now, I understand that the last few chapters are usually the best in the book regardless. But, the rest of the book leading up to that have to be good and the reader will never get to those last good bits.
Leah Bobet has the potential to be an excellent writer. If the book had a bit more editing and was organized a bit better it has the potential to be an amazing book. I look forward to reading more of Leah Bobet's books in the future. But if all of her books are this disorganized she won't last long as a known writer. She'll fall into the cracks along with Stephanie Meyer, who is destined for oblivion (all you twilight fans might as well face that fact now).
What do I rate this book? 3 sets of bee's wings out of 5. I suggest you read it but I would get it second hand or when it's online. Don't bother paying full price for it.
"Matthew has loved Ariel from the moment he found her in the tunnels, her bee’s wings falling away. They live in Safe, an underground refuge for those fleeing the city Above—like Whisper, who speaks to ghosts, and Jack Flash, who can shoot lightning from his fingers.
But one terrifying night, an old enemy invades Safe with an army of shadows, and only Matthew, Ariel, and a few friends escape Above. As Matthew unravels the mystery of Safe’s history and the shadows’ attack, he realizes he must find a way to remake his home—not just for himself, but for Ariel, who needs him more than ever before."
Thank you goodreads.com for that lovely synopsis.
When I first started to read this book I was extremely confused as to what is going on. It took me about 3 weeks to read it's 368 pages. Now I have to give Leah Bobet some credit, this is her first book. But it lacks organization and drive to keep the reader pushing further into the book. If I didn't have a drive to never not finish a book I wouldn't have gotten passed chapter 1 simply because I had no idea what what going on.
As I said earlier the last 3-4 chapters are probably the best out of all 10 chapter + epilogue. Now, I understand that the last few chapters are usually the best in the book regardless. But, the rest of the book leading up to that have to be good and the reader will never get to those last good bits.
Leah Bobet has the potential to be an excellent writer. If the book had a bit more editing and was organized a bit better it has the potential to be an amazing book. I look forward to reading more of Leah Bobet's books in the future. But if all of her books are this disorganized she won't last long as a known writer. She'll fall into the cracks along with Stephanie Meyer, who is destined for oblivion (all you twilight fans might as well face that fact now).
What do I rate this book? 3 sets of bee's wings out of 5. I suggest you read it but I would get it second hand or when it's online. Don't bother paying full price for it.
morgandhu's review
4.0
Deep under the city, there's a place called Safe. A place for Freaks, Sicks. Beasts. But it's built on a lie, and it will be torn down by the lie and the person it was told of, and rebuilt by the truth, and the one who learns that you can't save. Everyone, sometimes not even yourself.
This might be a parable, about what happens to The Other - the one who isn't normal enough to be part of the world Above, who is pushed into the darkness because of issues of colour, or gender, or disability, or mental illness, or - because this is science fiction - mutancy. And about how the Other comes to see and interact with the world that casts them into darkness. And how the cycles of causing pain, and learning fear and hate, that bind both the Other and the ones who cast the Other out can be - no, not broken, it's never that easy - cracked a little by finding and telling and sharing truths about each other.
It might be a coming of age YA novel, but then again, it might be a lot more than that.
This might be a parable, about what happens to The Other - the one who isn't normal enough to be part of the world Above, who is pushed into the darkness because of issues of colour, or gender, or disability, or mental illness, or - because this is science fiction - mutancy. And about how the Other comes to see and interact with the world that casts them into darkness. And how the cycles of causing pain, and learning fear and hate, that bind both the Other and the ones who cast the Other out can be - no, not broken, it's never that easy - cracked a little by finding and telling and sharing truths about each other.
It might be a coming of age YA novel, but then again, it might be a lot more than that.
insipidurbanism's review
2.0
I did not like Above. I had high expectations for Above before I began reading it, and I enjoyed reading it at first. But the writing style and the way nothing made sense turned me off. It was difficult for me to finish, and I disliked the ending. The cover art is gorgeous, though.
bookmaddie's review
I could not get in to this book. The writing is much too choppy to me, and didn't seem to flow very well. It really annoyed me, as I couldn't get into this fantastic story that I knew was taking place right before me, on the page.
hmalmal's review
1.0
I really just didn't like this book.
The characters were eh. The Plot was eh. And the writing was ick.
The Characters
The story is told in first person by Matthew, a boy of undetermined age, race, or ethnicity, or really anything. All we know about him is his English sucks, he's a he, and he has no living parents. That's it. That wouldn't be a bad way to start a book, but by the end we still have no idea of the physical nature of Matthew...only that he has to be under 47...
The other characters aren't that great either. I think Leah Bobet wants yo to feel sorry for Matthew's love interest, Ariel (or Ari for short), but she hardly speaks, she doesn't let Matthew hold her hands (or anything affectionate) even though he basically saves her life numerous times, and she's constantly running away. Oh, and all we really know about her physical appearance is that she has blonde hair. Which basically makes the book feel kind of awkward.
The Plot
So, basically Leah Bobet takes us on this journey of a bunch of "mythical creatures" trying to stay safe from "the whitecoats" which are just your average "we want to figure out what makes this bomb tick" kind of scientists. I'm not really sure if this was supposed to be in the future, but there wasn't a whole lot of information to go off of as far as the setting was concerned. I don't even think it was mentioned where this was. But, the characters never really fight the whitecoats off...they just hide which makes the ending not feel very satisfying. What I did like about the plot were the added in stories about the other characters.
The Writing
Matthew's broken English basically ruins the book. The narrator makes the plot confusing to understand and difficult to read. Half the time I would find myself rereading a sentence just to try and understand what he was trying to say.
In The End
The book just fell short. I didn't care about the characters. I didn't even want to, since it was so hard to understand what was going on, and the plot just didn't seem to be going anywhere.
The characters were eh. The Plot was eh. And the writing was ick.
The Characters
The story is told in first person by Matthew, a boy of undetermined age, race, or ethnicity, or really anything. All we know about him is his English sucks, he's a he, and he has no living parents. That's it. That wouldn't be a bad way to start a book, but by the end we still have no idea of the physical nature of Matthew...only that he has to be under 47...
The other characters aren't that great either. I think Leah Bobet wants yo to feel sorry for Matthew's love interest, Ariel (or Ari for short), but she hardly speaks, she doesn't let Matthew hold her hands (or anything affectionate) even though he basically saves her life numerous times, and she's constantly running away. Oh, and all we really know about her physical appearance is that she has blonde hair. Which basically makes the book feel kind of awkward.
The Plot
So, basically Leah Bobet takes us on this journey of a bunch of "mythical creatures" trying to stay safe from "the whitecoats" which are just your average "we want to figure out what makes this bomb tick" kind of scientists. I'm not really sure if this was supposed to be in the future, but there wasn't a whole lot of information to go off of as far as the setting was concerned. I don't even think it was mentioned where this was. But, the characters never really fight the whitecoats off...they just hide which makes the ending not feel very satisfying. What I did like about the plot were the added in stories about the other characters.
The Writing
Matthew's broken English basically ruins the book. The narrator makes the plot confusing to understand and difficult to read. Half the time I would find myself rereading a sentence just to try and understand what he was trying to say.
In The End
The book just fell short. I didn't care about the characters. I didn't even want to, since it was so hard to understand what was going on, and the plot just didn't seem to be going anywhere.
spaceyfaerie's review
4.0
Very difficult writing style to get into, but once you're in, you can't get out until you're finished. I adored the subtle magic of this story versus the dark realism of both Safe and Above. It's a story that feels all to real; like you could find people like Matthew and Ariel and Jack and Whisper in any street corner. I loved it.
peddlerofpages's review
5.0
Amazing! I loved this book so much. It is different and interesting and not just about romance as so many books seem these days. I see a message behind this story and it makes me think harder about myself and the people around me. Matthew, the main character, is probably my favourite male character of all time! Please, please, please read this book and please love it as much as I did. Leah Bobet has got a new fan and I hope she brings out more books, her style of writing is one that I think I will appreciate for a while.
reader_fictions's review
1.0
Originally reviewed on A Reader of Fictions.
What on this crazy, polluted planet did I just read? Seriously, I just finished reading this and I have no freaking clue. If this book were a person, it would likely end up in a straitjacket, trapped in the sorts of institutions many of its characters have been at one point or another. Mix together One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Dust Girl, and I think you've got something that roughly approximates Above.
The world depicted herein does have interesting features. For example, there are people with powers, like Jack and his lightning hands. Others are part animal, like Matthew and his scales. Some of these Freaks, those that aren't normal, have formed a community, hidden beneath the earth in tunnels, safe from the doctors and the institutions. They call their community Safe, and Atticus is their leader.
This basic premise could have made an outstanding book, but it didn't. The lack of explanation caused me to get stuck in questioning mode, unable to suspend disbelief. So far as I noticed, there was never once any sort of description of HOW society came to be this way. People don't just suddenly get born with lion feet for no reason. I'm not even asking for much. Just give me something! Really, I would have been a bit more positive towards the book had their been just a sentence telling me that these changes were the result of drugs, chemicals in the food, pollution, SOMETHING.
The character of Ariel, pictured on the book's cover, proved to be another insurmountable obstacle for me as a reader. While I can easily accept some of the curses (or so they call them) that the people of Safe possess, like wielding lightning or speaking with ghosts, I had major difficulty with the animal hybrids. Still, I could accept to some degree at least Atticus' claw hands and Matthew's dad's lion feet. Fine. Ariel, though, I could not fathom. You see, she is not precisely as pictured. She looks completely normal sometimes, entirely human. However, she can TURN INTO A BEE. Her ability differs from everyone else's greatly, and I couldn't deal with the whole conservation of matter issues. Sure, I've read books where I wasn't bothered by things like that (Harry Potter, for example), but this aspect just seemed out of place within Bobet's own world. Why was Ariel so unique?
Matthew is a meh main character, which is unfortunate, especially considering that I still found him to be the most interesting character. Everyone feels flat and I don't get a sense of any real emotion anywhere, even in the scenes that I know were meant to be gut-wrenching. Perhaps this stems from the way Bobet chose to tell the story, as Matthew's autobiography, thus creating a sense of removal from those moments?
Matthew has a momentous crush on Ariel, although it's never put into those terms. I will give the romance credit for not being remotely like any other YA romances. However, that does not make me ship them any more. Again, it's hard to root for them when I have no sense of who they really are. Ariel, especially, does not seem to much care for anyone and would probably be best off alone.
The writing teetered on the edge of dialect but, except for one brief section, remained normal enough that I didn't want to stab my eyes out with one of my stiletto heels. Her long (mostly about forty pages) chapters made my eyes cross. I was constantly flipping ahead to see how many pages of the chapter remained, and the answer was usually too many. Additionally, I did not care for the Tales told at the end of each chapter, a brief story of how some of the key characters came to be in Safe. The characters chosen seemed entirely arbitrary, with some important ones having been skipped and some we never even meet getting a section. Many of these didn't add to the book for me at all. I feel like it would have been stronger to integrate them into the rest of the text.
There were some ideas in Above that I really liked, some shining possibility from amidst the weirdness. I really wish that Bobet hadn't made this a paranormal. As an issues book set in a dystopian future with a crackdown on crazy people (like The Glimpse), this could have been so powerful. The paranormal elements detracted from the serious themes, like the abuse Ariel has suffered and the inhumane treatments perpetrated by the Whitecoats.
About all I can say having finished Above is that I didn't completely hate it. However, I have so little positive to say that I cannot even rate it a meh. Some readers surely exist who can appreciate Bobet's vision, but I am not that reader.
What on this crazy, polluted planet did I just read? Seriously, I just finished reading this and I have no freaking clue. If this book were a person, it would likely end up in a straitjacket, trapped in the sorts of institutions many of its characters have been at one point or another. Mix together One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Dust Girl, and I think you've got something that roughly approximates Above.
The world depicted herein does have interesting features. For example, there are people with powers, like Jack and his lightning hands. Others are part animal, like Matthew and his scales. Some of these Freaks, those that aren't normal, have formed a community, hidden beneath the earth in tunnels, safe from the doctors and the institutions. They call their community Safe, and Atticus is their leader.
This basic premise could have made an outstanding book, but it didn't. The lack of explanation caused me to get stuck in questioning mode, unable to suspend disbelief. So far as I noticed, there was never once any sort of description of HOW society came to be this way. People don't just suddenly get born with lion feet for no reason. I'm not even asking for much. Just give me something! Really, I would have been a bit more positive towards the book had their been just a sentence telling me that these changes were the result of drugs, chemicals in the food, pollution, SOMETHING.
The character of Ariel, pictured on the book's cover, proved to be another insurmountable obstacle for me as a reader. While I can easily accept some of the curses (or so they call them) that the people of Safe possess, like wielding lightning or speaking with ghosts, I had major difficulty with the animal hybrids. Still, I could accept to some degree at least Atticus' claw hands and Matthew's dad's lion feet. Fine. Ariel, though, I could not fathom. You see, she is not precisely as pictured. She looks completely normal sometimes, entirely human. However, she can TURN INTO A BEE. Her ability differs from everyone else's greatly, and I couldn't deal with the whole conservation of matter issues. Sure, I've read books where I wasn't bothered by things like that (Harry Potter, for example), but this aspect just seemed out of place within Bobet's own world. Why was Ariel so unique?
Matthew is a meh main character, which is unfortunate, especially considering that I still found him to be the most interesting character. Everyone feels flat and I don't get a sense of any real emotion anywhere, even in the scenes that I know were meant to be gut-wrenching. Perhaps this stems from the way Bobet chose to tell the story, as Matthew's autobiography, thus creating a sense of removal from those moments?
Matthew has a momentous crush on Ariel, although it's never put into those terms. I will give the romance credit for not being remotely like any other YA romances. However, that does not make me ship them any more. Again, it's hard to root for them when I have no sense of who they really are. Ariel, especially, does not seem to much care for anyone and would probably be best off alone.
The writing teetered on the edge of dialect but, except for one brief section, remained normal enough that I didn't want to stab my eyes out with one of my stiletto heels. Her long (mostly about forty pages) chapters made my eyes cross. I was constantly flipping ahead to see how many pages of the chapter remained, and the answer was usually too many. Additionally, I did not care for the Tales told at the end of each chapter, a brief story of how some of the key characters came to be in Safe. The characters chosen seemed entirely arbitrary, with some important ones having been skipped and some we never even meet getting a section. Many of these didn't add to the book for me at all. I feel like it would have been stronger to integrate them into the rest of the text.
There were some ideas in Above that I really liked, some shining possibility from amidst the weirdness. I really wish that Bobet hadn't made this a paranormal. As an issues book set in a dystopian future with a crackdown on crazy people (like The Glimpse), this could have been so powerful. The paranormal elements detracted from the serious themes, like the abuse Ariel has suffered and the inhumane treatments perpetrated by the Whitecoats.
About all I can say having finished Above is that I didn't completely hate it. However, I have so little positive to say that I cannot even rate it a meh. Some readers surely exist who can appreciate Bobet's vision, but I am not that reader.
natverse's review
3.0
I cannot hate this book, as much as I was confused by it and tried to really, really love it. Firstly, it was just the right amount of dark for me; and just the right amount of sacrifice and survival, but alas, it didn't really speak to me.
This book is VERY well written and has a great story too (including all those little tales added at the very end of each chapter), but I found myself itching to finish and not because I was captivated.
This is one of those absolutely hate or absolutely love books. Although I have chosen to be indifferent, it is only because I cannot fairly give this a rating (good or bad) because it just didn't work for me.
That being said, I highly recommend it for those who like soft urban fantasy/dystopian reads. :)
This book is VERY well written and has a great story too (including all those little tales added at the very end of each chapter), but I found myself itching to finish and not because I was captivated.
This is one of those absolutely hate or absolutely love books. Although I have chosen to be indifferent, it is only because I cannot fairly give this a rating (good or bad) because it just didn't work for me.
That being said, I highly recommend it for those who like soft urban fantasy/dystopian reads. :)