When by Victoria Laurie is her twenty-something book, which is a really impressive count, but at the same time, when I found out about it after reading this book, it told me that, if I didn’t know her name before this book, the first twenty-five were not excellent enough so whole world would hear about them. When was first published this year in January since which it has been on my reading list and there’s no sequel planned to turn it into series.
It is a story about girl named Maddie (it seems that main characters nowadays are obsessed with their names shortened, ‘cause full name=yuck!) who sees numbers on people’s foreheads (opposed to the picture on the book, where numbers hovering over the person’s head). After years of living with these numbers, she finds out that numbers actually show date when the person will die. She has always seen them, but sometimes, when she sees one that will die next week, she cannot stay silent – Maddie wants to help, to try and save the person and that’s where the trouble comes in.
This book took a lot of nerves from me. I am very nervous and always easy to frighten, so the tension of not knowing who is responsible for the bad things happening in the town, was really electrifying. After first few chapters, I suspected everyone – starting from all the bad guys to all the lovely grandmas and I had absolutely no idea, who’s fault is all this mess.
Unfortunately I didn’t know who’s fault was it, because the book hadn’t showed the person yet in it’s true nature, the first moment (s)he got into the picture, I knew how this all will end. I’m no Sherlock, but I thought that it was too classical and expected more from the book which managed to get such anticipation out of me. The novel had such a potential and then the last third of the book was just wasted on the solution I had already calculated.
I think that the first part of the book was really well written, it kept guessing and I would say that although it kept me so jittery, I loved it. Until the moment I unraveled the mystery and was completely sure of the result of the book, then it all went downhill for me.
Maddie was frustrating and pissed me off a lot and meanwhile Donnie was the good guy, who was just perfect and did everything right. But none of them are my favourite. I actually have to think, if I have favourite character in this book at all…
I suppose that Stubby might get the award, as he was the best character in the book and the one that I liked the most. He was kind-hearted and proved that, he kept to his optimistic character and when changes in his life came, he got emotionally wrecked and acted as, I think, any person with suck kind nature would. I think that Victoria Laurie did a good job on Stubby, the recovery was a bit fast and unexpected, but it was still fine, comparing to Ma, who was fixed up and ready to move on in no time. It is just incredibly unbelievable that a character like Ma from one edge would move onto the other in short time like few months. I do not buy it. Many bad things happen to people as well as many good, but nothing that happened in Ma’s life seemed to me logical.
I was also a bit sad that it didn’t turn out that Aiden has some special super power and they are actually made for each other to work together and save the world. I would have liked that. I really did not understand why was he in the book at all, she saw him once a year and had a crush… big deal.
Nevertheless, I appreciate the start of the book and was really happy that I at last got to this novel, I liked the beginning so much that I even ignored facts like parents searching their children when they’ve been missing only for half an hour or FBI getting straight into the case, without even knowing, if it is a lost kid, a murder, abduction or something else. It just all seems so weird, not to speak of the fact that some characters get chased during the book and never mention that to anyone who could actually help dealing with it (because the chased just forget to mention the chaser). You have to be fucking kidding me! If I would get chased, I would never ever go out alone again, especially after dark and would never forget to tell about it!
Those are just few things that I chose to ignore, but by the end they started to nag me as the story did not live up to my expectations.
The beginning of the book was scary and for neurotic people like me, it would be very jumpy, but enjoyable at the same time. I think that this is a young adult novel because of the teenage setting, but the actual action makes me say that this might be an adult novel as well. Also I think that it could be a fine book for teenage and young adult boys as well, even though it is told from girl’s perspective, I think that this number thing might be enjoyable, especially, if one has to read a mandatory book for a literature class.
This book received two stars from me on my goodreads page because of the mistakes and plot holes I mentioned above, but I have rated it higher than some three star books on my Booklist hence it kept me so vigilant at the first part of the book and made me feel like it deserves the place it got.
Have you read When? I can’t believe that a novel with such interesting idea about numbers is really so little known! Let me know about your guesses while reading the book!
July 16, 2015 at 21:26
This sounds like a really interesting read! The premise seems akin to that of the music video for Nickelback’s song “Saving Me.” I put this on my TBR list, thanks to your review! 🙂
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July 21, 2015 at 12:02
I thought of that song too!
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July 23, 2015 at 16:37
Right?! It would be interesting to read a book like this; I guess there’s another one with the same plot that isn’t as well-liked, as well, out there.
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July 23, 2015 at 17:19
I added the other one to my to-read list, but I’m not planing to read it soon. The reviews on goodreads say that it is better than When. So I guess check out, which one seems better for you when you decide to read! 🙂
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July 16, 2015 at 21:38
I listened to the song and I got the feeling in some places that could be connected to the book.
I am really happy that you got interested in it, because honestly, I do not regret reading it and even though I was a bit disappointed by the ending, I feel that the first half was definitely worth it. It’s a bit sad that the novel hasn’t gotten more attention, as the idea of seeing dates seemed genius to me. I hope you enjoy it, when you get hands on it and if you remember, let me know, how you liked it! 🙂
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July 17, 2015 at 12:10
I feel like there was a movie with a similar plot to this, perhaps an adaptation? Interesting review, and I like the idea behind the book but I don’t know that I would read it with the aforementioned plot holes and obvious ending. I agree with what you said at the beginning, that if she had written 20+ other books and you had never heard of her, that may be a good indicator as to her calibre as a writer (although that is not always the case by any stretch of imagination, there are some niche writers who are amazing ex/ Richard Matheson).
Looking forward to the next review 🙂
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July 17, 2015 at 15:05
When I first found out about this book, my boyfriend said that there’s a superhero with the same ability (though I don’t remember Marvel or DC) and also an anime called ‘Death Note’, but I was digging a bit today and perhaps you thought of this book: Number by Rachel Ward. Apparently it is very similar.
I agree about the author – breakthrough can come with the first or the twenty-sixth book, one should not just base the opinion on that. But honestly my feelings about the author changed completely few hours ago when I was reading reviews on goodreads and found one that said that the author has publicly bashed one of the people who criticized her work and was shocked. Few minutes later I got a rather mean than neutral tweet about my review. So, unfortunately I am not going to read her books anymore.
About the book, yes, the plot holes are disturbing, but at the same time I know that I have forgiven some mistakes in books that I love, just because everything else is so good, so I think that some people might be so overtaken by the story that they would miss the little things.
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July 28, 2015 at 16:09
This seems like a bit of a “curious case of Benjamin Button” effect,instead of progressing it in actual fact digresses;does it seem as-if the author thought ‘Aaagh F it,i just want to get this done’ ? I think i might want to give this a go though,it sounds pretty interesting. Lovely review dear!
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July 28, 2015 at 16:11
Oh and to add to your previous comment there was in fact a Manga/Anime title by the name of Death Note that has a similar.
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July 28, 2015 at 20:47
I actually think that the story seems really interesting, I was kind of bummed that I did not enjoy the book as much as it seemed, but, if you feel like it, give it a try and let me know what you think, perhaps you would see in a different light and get me into re-reading! 😀
Yes, I’m starting to hear about the Death Note as well, might watch it. Also I found out that there’s a similar story published earlier than ‘When’ – ‘Number’ by Rachel Ward, it has better ratings in goodreads, so I might give that a try! 🙂
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August 8, 2015 at 10:58
Great review! I’ve read When and I enjoyed it! And Number Series by Rachel Ward is currently on my TBR. Yes. This is like a YA book version of Death Note although they have a totally different story. By the way, the name of the character in the manga is Misa Amane. 🙂
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August 8, 2015 at 17:23
Yes, I hope to read that one soon as well. As far for Death Note, I’m not sure about that one though. Have you seen/read it? Recommendations?
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August 9, 2015 at 03:29
Yes! I marathoned the entire live-action series including the movies. It’s so good! I haven’t read the manga version yet. 🙂
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August 9, 2015 at 10:03
You are definitely getting me to look into that one now! 😀 My boyfriend has been trying to talk me into it, but I think that you just did!
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August 9, 2015 at 10:15
Oh, well thank you! Just let me know what you think of it once you started it. 🙂 🙂
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August 18, 2015 at 22:54
Do you mean the la murders one? Have you watched re:make yet I think it’s called w new death note scenes?
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August 18, 2015 at 22:52
Hmmm, sounds very weak compared to her psychic eye & ghost hunter series which I love! (I mean where else can you read about a ghost buster who kiss butt?) Is this a newer title of hers?
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August 21, 2015 at 13:39
I think the idea was really interesting, I haven’t started the Death Note yet (my bf has prepared everything and can’t wait to watch it), so I don’t know how similar it is to it, but, if it wouldn’t be for the silly little things, I would have loved it. I loved the idea definitely!
It is a pretty recent book, it came out this year in January! But I haven’t read anything else from Victoria Laurie! 🙂
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August 21, 2015 at 19:14
Hahahaha, death note isn’t my cup of tea so I never finished it the times it was on Adult Swim. Just way to dark for me even though i love detective/mystery genre. Psychic Eye & Ghost Hunter are my favorite series, I actually own 8 of hers in paperback that I will never get rid of. (5 Psychic eye & 2 ghost hunters)
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