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A review by dani_reviews
The Silver Child by Nancy Norbeck
Did not finish book.
DNF @ 10% because I was having to force myself to read.
I received a copy of this book for review. This does not affect my rating or the contents of my review.
There was plenty of potential here, but I think this book could have done with some tighter editing. So much should have been explored more.
I think the story completely lost me when Martus, the doctor, decided that finding a piece of silver in the mouth of a newborn was not worthy of further investigation. Telling someone that the baby was healthy when they were born with a foreign object inside them is just... nonsensical. But the baby had to have it for the story, and the doctor had to say it for the story.
That actually sums up what reading the first 10% felt like. Things didn't happen naturally; everything read as forced to push the story along.
I also didn't connect with either of the narrators. Time was passing and things were happening, including people potentially dying, but the two seemed very unphased by it all. There should have been a lot more emotion involved, especially in Maia's case. She was suddenly sleeping rough and had lost her home, and yet her feelings were barely touched upon! Also, it felt like I was told she was going through these things, but I didn't feel like I was there. Her experiences were just washed over, like it's so easy to survive your first month living on the streets.
Like I said, I think there was potential in the idea, but I think the story needed to go through some more stringent editing, possibly changing it to a single POV (Maia; the doctor was boring) and delving into her experience on the streets more.
I received a copy of this book for review. This does not affect my rating or the contents of my review.
There was plenty of potential here, but I think this book could have done with some tighter editing. So much should have been explored more.
I think the story completely lost me when Martus, the doctor, decided that finding a piece of silver in the mouth of a newborn was not worthy of further investigation. Telling someone that the baby was healthy when they were born with a foreign object inside them is just... nonsensical. But the baby had to have it for the story, and the doctor had to say it for the story.
That actually sums up what reading the first 10% felt like. Things didn't happen naturally; everything read as forced to push the story along.
I also didn't connect with either of the narrators. Time was passing and things were happening, including people potentially dying, but the two seemed very unphased by it all. There should have been a lot more emotion involved, especially in Maia's case. She was suddenly sleeping rough and had lost her home, and yet her feelings were barely touched upon! Also, it felt like I was told she was going through these things, but I didn't feel like I was there. Her experiences were just washed over, like it's so easy to survive your first month living on the streets.
Like I said, I think there was potential in the idea, but I think the story needed to go through some more stringent editing, possibly changing it to a single POV (Maia; the doctor was boring) and delving into her experience on the streets more.