Book Review: Shift by Em Bailey
Feb. 8th, 2013 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: Shift
Author: Em Bailey
Published: New York: Egmont, 2011
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 207
Total Page Count: 128,191
Text Number: 373
Read Because: personal enjoyment, e-book borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Olive has stayed under the radar ever since her Incident turned her from a popular girl to an outsider, but there's something strange about Miranda, the new girl, that she can't ignore—something dangerous, perhaps supernatural. Shift has an engaging ambiguity: an unreliable narrator, a premise that hovers on the edge of the fantastic, and a few plot twists to force the story forward; Olive's voice can be annoyingly teenage and her narrative occasionally pushes the boundaries of belief, but there's enough compelling uncertainty in her experience to make the reader eager for potential answers. Yet the book never excels. It's bogged down by an obligatory romance, not as trite as a love triangle but still boring, but its true sin is that it doesn't push its premise far enough: the plot becomes cyclical rather than progressive, wearing thin the ambiguity and failing to provide much in exchange. For a day's entertainment, Shift is pretty good—it's compelling and avoids many of the genre's typical weaknesses. But in retrospect, it's far from memorable; I don't particularly recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Em Bailey
Published: New York: Egmont, 2011
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 207
Total Page Count: 128,191
Text Number: 373
Read Because: personal enjoyment, e-book borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Olive has stayed under the radar ever since her Incident turned her from a popular girl to an outsider, but there's something strange about Miranda, the new girl, that she can't ignore—something dangerous, perhaps supernatural. Shift has an engaging ambiguity: an unreliable narrator, a premise that hovers on the edge of the fantastic, and a few plot twists to force the story forward; Olive's voice can be annoyingly teenage and her narrative occasionally pushes the boundaries of belief, but there's enough compelling uncertainty in her experience to make the reader eager for potential answers. Yet the book never excels. It's bogged down by an obligatory romance, not as trite as a love triangle but still boring, but its true sin is that it doesn't push its premise far enough: the plot becomes cyclical rather than progressive, wearing thin the ambiguity and failing to provide much in exchange. For a day's entertainment, Shift is pretty good—it's compelling and avoids many of the genre's typical weaknesses. But in retrospect, it's far from memorable; I don't particularly recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
