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A review by christajls
Dangerous by Shannon Hale
1.0
This review originally posted at More Than Just Magic
I would like to consider myself a superhero fan. Comic books make up part of my weekly – if not daily – reading. And I love that we’re starting to see more superhero fiction. Which is why I jumped at the chance to read Dangerous by Shannon Hale.
I was initially pulled in by the fast pace of the book. The story starts right away and it is non-stop action the whole time. From Maisie’s arrival at space camp, to the space elevator, to the alien tokens and beyond, you’ll feel like you’re reading Dangerous at a run. I also loved all the science. I always wanted to go to space camp as a kid, so I felt like I was getting to live vicariously through Maisie and her friends. Hale doesn’t skimp on the details, she gives you the full experience. And even after they leave space camp the crazy inventions and technology keep coming. I felt a bit like a kid in a futuristic candy store.
One more thing that you may not know about Maisie “Danger” Brown – she only has one arm. You don’t see a lot of characters with disabilities in YA so it’s great to see some diversity added to the landscape. I appreciated that Hale didn’t portray Maisie as someone less capable because of her disability. She keeps hoping and fighting for her dream. I only wish Hale had kept it for a little bit longer. At a certain point of the story she gains a robotic arm that is so advanced you often forget she was even missing an arm in the first place. There was an opportunity here that Hale didn’t quite grasp.
There were a few other problems I had as the story moved forward as well. The romance felt topsy turvy. Maisie is torn between two guys – her long time best friend (Luther) who she seemed to forget about most of the time, and the new, cool guy (Wilder) she meets at space camp. Her feelings seemed to change in a snap leaving me reeling and confused. I was also not a fan of how Wilder treated her – he would run hot and cold and would often talk to down her because he was the “leader” of their group. I think the whole book would have been better as a straight action story with no romance at all.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review I am a big comic book fan. And while you think that would be an advantage, I think it ultimately worked against my enjoyment of Dangerous. Everything felt a little too familiar – like the Fantastic Four rolled together with the X-Men. As with every genre there are certain tropes and archetypes and you get tired of seeing them all the time. Dangerous embodied quite of few of these so it might be better for people not so steeped in the Marvel Universe.
Dangerous is a fun book that is not without it’s problems. It’s very different from the kind of books I’m used to to seeing from Shannon Hale and ultimately it fell short of my expectations. However, if you like science fiction but aren’t such an avid superhero fan you may have better luck.
I would like to consider myself a superhero fan. Comic books make up part of my weekly – if not daily – reading. And I love that we’re starting to see more superhero fiction. Which is why I jumped at the chance to read Dangerous by Shannon Hale.
I was initially pulled in by the fast pace of the book. The story starts right away and it is non-stop action the whole time. From Maisie’s arrival at space camp, to the space elevator, to the alien tokens and beyond, you’ll feel like you’re reading Dangerous at a run. I also loved all the science. I always wanted to go to space camp as a kid, so I felt like I was getting to live vicariously through Maisie and her friends. Hale doesn’t skimp on the details, she gives you the full experience. And even after they leave space camp the crazy inventions and technology keep coming. I felt a bit like a kid in a futuristic candy store.
One more thing that you may not know about Maisie “Danger” Brown – she only has one arm. You don’t see a lot of characters with disabilities in YA so it’s great to see some diversity added to the landscape. I appreciated that Hale didn’t portray Maisie as someone less capable because of her disability. She keeps hoping and fighting for her dream. I only wish Hale had kept it for a little bit longer. At a certain point of the story she gains a robotic arm that is so advanced you often forget she was even missing an arm in the first place. There was an opportunity here that Hale didn’t quite grasp.
There were a few other problems I had as the story moved forward as well. The romance felt topsy turvy. Maisie is torn between two guys – her long time best friend (Luther) who she seemed to forget about most of the time, and the new, cool guy (Wilder) she meets at space camp. Her feelings seemed to change in a snap leaving me reeling and confused. I was also not a fan of how Wilder treated her – he would run hot and cold and would often talk to down her because he was the “leader” of their group. I think the whole book would have been better as a straight action story with no romance at all.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review I am a big comic book fan. And while you think that would be an advantage, I think it ultimately worked against my enjoyment of Dangerous. Everything felt a little too familiar – like the Fantastic Four rolled together with the X-Men. As with every genre there are certain tropes and archetypes and you get tired of seeing them all the time. Dangerous embodied quite of few of these so it might be better for people not so steeped in the Marvel Universe.
Dangerous is a fun book that is not without it’s problems. It’s very different from the kind of books I’m used to to seeing from Shannon Hale and ultimately it fell short of my expectations. However, if you like science fiction but aren’t such an avid superhero fan you may have better luck.