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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle

8 reviews

skylacine's review

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4.0

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tamecapless's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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izzyvioletgrace's review

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A fast moving and easy to ready book, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The relationships in the book are so deep and connectable for the reader. 
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zoeebone's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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amysreading_nook's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really wanted to love this book because i'd seen good things about it but it just fell a little bit flat for me. The concept is great but the execution doesn't quite pay off for me because I feel for about 75% of the book we get Joseph who is quite an unlikeable character and it isn't until the last 25% of the book that he really begins to change. Yes I realise he is a child in awful circumstances but the way he acts to those around him is just painful to watch. Because it took so long for me to warm up to him the ending just didn't really work for me; I think if there was more of a 60/40 split in his personality it would have been better because I would have liked him more as a character and could have appreciated his development more. Instead it just feels like a bit of an abrupt ending.

It was a good read as a whole but not one I loved completely. 
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anniereads221's review

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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rb26's review

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adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

4.0

Some v gorge writing (esp character descriptions and chapter openers) but the plot got away from me a little bit, and one of my fave characters disappeared 3/4s of the way through
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field_of_books's review

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emotional inspiring medium-paced

4.5

In 1941, 12 year old Joseph, unlike many children in the country, is moved away from the countryside and into the city, to live with a friend of his Gran’s, due to his bad behaviour. Mrs F takes him in, but won’t stand for his foul temper or destructive behaviour. Mrs F works Joseph to the bone at the city zoo, now run down and lacking in animals. At the zoo Joseph meets Adonis, the silverback gorilla who used to be the prize of the zoo, but is now just as angry and hurt by the world as Joseph. But the question arises, if Hitler were to drop a bomb that freed Adonis from his cage, would Mrs F or Joseph be able to turn a gun on him to protect the city? 

I really felt for our main character, Joseph, who had been through so much pain at such a young age. I wanted to reach through the page to comfort him so badly! The story reminded me a lot of Goodnight Mr Tom, which I used to watch when I was younger. It also reminded me a lot of A Monster Calls, I think the protagonists are similar.

I loved the writing style, whilst it’s middle grade, it’s prosaic and written in a way that it’s still enjoyable for adults.
This is definitely an emotional read, but I think it’s worth it! 

TW’s: abandonment, war, war violence, death, animal death, animal abuse, aggression, hand to hand violence, bullying, grief, child death

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