A review by zombiemom54
Alyzon Whitestarr by Isobelle Carmody

3.0

Ok so this was a tough book to review. I liked the framework of the story but I didn't like the underlying tone of it. It started out great with the main character able to smell people's essences or souls. And also smell how and what they felt. I thought that was really interesting. Especially when the heartthrob of her high school smells like death warmed over. Seems plausible that someone with a dark spirit would smell like rotten food. Unfortunately the author took it a whole different direction with the claim that this " wrongness" was an infection that some weird guy with the absence of a smelly soul, was passing to as many people as possible. If it had been introduced as a metaphor it would have been a great book. In the end there was a good message ..... the only one who can break your spirit enough to allow the "wrongness" to enter is yourself. But again the push on the fictional infection was a put off for me. There was also a strong protest theme that I didn't care for. Obviously the author has an agenda and used her book as a catalyst. Not a bad summer read and I really liked the characters.