I finished this book in one day--not because it was necessarily good but because I didn't have anything else to do. I'm not sure that the standard numerical or star rating scale will work to rate this story either, because I'm not sure how I feel about it. I decided to explain my outlook on Neil and Jarrod Shusterman's newest title by viewing them through two separate lenses: Reader and Writer.
Writer:
As a writer, I appreciate and applaud the idea of personifying the various drugs. It worked well with the idea of each described narcotic acting as a supernatural influence on all the mortals they come in contact with. I can also appreciate how difficult it was to come up with human psuedo-names (don't worry, I coined that word for emphasis) for each of the drugs described. I'm currently working on a story where I need to come up with names for places and things that need to be cleverly similar to their everyday counter-parts. It's a challenge and to do it well takes care and time. The authors also are telling two stories that run parallel but also overlap/interact with one another.
Where the story falls short, is that almost every drug was assigned a personality that was too in line with the cliched or misunderstood opinions that society has. There were too few examples or explanations of how these drugs actual purposes. There were too few or no examples of people who were capable of using the medication as directed without abusing it. I feel the story lacked balance. For that reason, the story gets an execution score of 3.5 stars.
As A Reader: [WARNING...CONTAINS SPOILERS]
As a reader, as a parent, I can understand the intent of this story. While it provides a very superficial look at drug addiction, Roxy brings attention to real issues that we need to be aware of and prepared to discuss. Unfortunately, the only character I was able to connect to was Isaac Ramey. His character reminds me so much of myself when I was young--talented, kind, focused, innocent. To see all his potential wasted did bring me to tears. Even though the first chapter warns the reader that Isaac won't survive this story, it was devastating to watch his vibrant future and all the infinite possibilities come to an abrupt end.
Watching Isaac struggle with normal things to a point where he felt he needed drugs to escape (for lack of better phrasing) made my heart hurt. It was hard to see him struggling and feeling like he needed to solve his problems on his own. When you're standing at the border between childhood and adulthood, it is hard to recognize that you're still a child and have the right to ask for help.
Unfortunately, attachment to one character when there's 36 chapters and 377 pages means that for me, this story fell flat. I wholly acknowledge the level of creativity for certain story elements. I tip my hat to the authors for daring to shine a light on a can of worms most people would like to pretend isn't festering in society's kitchen. However, I failed to connect with this story. While I wasn't bored, I was not captivated in any meaningful way.
I also would not recommend this particular story for anyone under the age of 15. Given the subject matter and the way it was presented, this is not something I would let my younger children read.
