Half Lives - Sara Grant

Blurb

Icie is a typical teenager, until disaster strikes and she must escape to a top-secret military bunker - her only hope of survival.

Hundreds of years later, Beckett leads a community that worships the Great I AM. But Beckett and his beliefs are under attack.

Icie and Beckett must fight to survive - separated by time; connected by a dangerous secret both must protect.

My Review

The first things that struck me when reading Half Lives was the excellent first person narrative voice. Of course I'm a character girl so this was a big win for me. If I like your protagonist's narration, chances are I'll like the book whatever's going on. Icie, in my opinion, was believable and extremely readable. She was funny and sometimes down-right terrified and I think that was a great decision. Not enough of these protagonists thrown into a life-threatening situation react in a perfectly normal way. Icie does.

Unfortunately, Grant made the decision to write Beckett's half in the third person present tense whilst writing Icie in the first person past tense. I know why she's done this. Beckett's story is hundreds of years later so his narrative can be happening right now and if his narrative is happening right now, Icie's can't be. But couldn't she have written them both in the first person?

No.

That's because Beckett's half flips from this person to that person every alternative chapter. I thought this was a shame because I loved Beckett's 'voice' even if it was written in an entirely different style to Icie. However, I didn't like all the other characters that got to narrate. At times I even got bored of them and felt like crying out, "Give me Beckett instead!". I think this also comes down to how much I enjoyed Icie's narration. Most of the other points of view were tiring in comparison to the big and amusing 'voice' of Icie. Because of this, I found I was less likely to pick up the book if I was in Beckett's future. If on Icie though, I couldn't put the book down. It was like some sort of balancing act.

The plot though, I can't fault. I thought it was excellent how their two lives connected and how everything was revealed little bit by little bit. It was very clever and well thought out. I imagine all sorts of planning went into the reveals and time lines of Half Lives. 

What I most loved, other than the narration, was how bizarre I found this story. It was different from most other things I've read but that's why I've given it a high rating. Even though I found some of the narration dragging, I still think it's worth the read if you can put up with Beckett's chapters.

Evaluation

Overall 8/10

Would I recommend it? Yes. It kept me reading and asking questions.

Would I look up the author? Yes. But I don't much fancy her other YA book so I'll just sit and wait patiently to see if she writes something else I'll be interested in.

Half Lives was bizarre, but in a highly entertaining way.

Molly Looby

Author / Ghostwriter / Editor / Blogger / Reviewer / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly.looby@hotmail.com