Nick Lake takes on the challenging situation of being a hostage aboard a yacht where the pirates are only interested in your monitory worth:
Amy has spent the past year trying to get her father to notice her, whether it be her clothing or the piercing that she has gotten, she is trying anything to make him notice something, anything about her. Well she got his attention when she was kicked out of school in the very last day of her very last exam, meaning that she would not graduate. But the last thing she though would happen would be to find herself, her step mother and her father aboard a yacht setting sail. Amy was looking forward to ignoring her step mother and father and loosing herself in her music but their vessel is taken by pirates. Amy become known as hostage number 3 and as she spends what are possible her last few moment alive she tries to understand what drives someone to become a pirate and with this information Amy hopefully will be able to get out alive
The prologue grabs your attention right away and you feel the need to know what has lead up to that point, what has happened before. Will she die, will she survive. It was an interesting place for Lake to begin the novel, but I believe it was the right one. If he had chosen to start off the novel with Amy being in school and the antics that she pulled I am unsure if I would have continued reading this novel.
I was not a fan of how the book was written as it was strictly from Amy's point of view. As this is a YA book I found her thought process was a little hard to follow and at times immature even for a 17-18 year old. This immaturity could have been due to circumstances from her past, however, part of me thought that due to her past circumstances she would be more mature. Not being able to relate to Amy and her thoughts did put a hindrance me completely liking the novel, but I think that Lake succeeded in other areas that I was able to proceed in reading and finishing this the book. Additionally, due to the fact that the book is told in past tense from the prologue there is a bit of jumping around as Amy remembers things from her past with her mother. Amy's mother was a very interesting, frustrating and well ready for the loony bin type of character, which I think explains many reasons in regards to Amy's personality. Therefore, I think that some individual may have additional challenges in not only reading this book but at times following the story as there are times where it seems a bit disjointed.
While I was unable to connect to Amy as a character for the most part, I found her story very interesting and did not want to put it down especially the last 100 pages, I powered through them. I needed to know how the story would end This book probably wont end the way you think it will, not quite the happily ever after that you think is coming. I really like that Lake did not take the "easy" way out with this novel as he very well could have. The ending actually made me like the book more. The story that Lake has created with its sense of realism, that this could happen to anyone traveling that route, was really well done and engrossing
It was also interesting to read the attempt of the pirates (or coast guards as they like to be called) to distance themselves from the hostages, but yet still allowing them quite a bit of freedom. Lake does a good job in exploring the capturer/captive mentality that Amy, her family and the pirates go through. I think I would also have liked to have some parts from the point of view of the pirate Farouz, which we kind of get when he tells Amy about his past, but I think it would have been interesting to be inside his head to see his point of view. It was also interesting to see how the pirates (coast guards) had turned it into a business and seemed to know all the ins and outs associated with that business, even having fines if one of the pirates hurt a hostage without permission. It was also interesting to witness the pirates "playing" with the captives minds with their riddles and mind games, you can feel the uncertainty in Amy each time this happens and you feel her thinking is this going to be the end. This definitely added to the suspense aspect of the novel.
This is the first book that I have read in the YA genre that was not paranormal in nature so it is a little bit different in that it is a contemporary novel but I still enjoyed it. I think the storyline will hold this story together for adults, and I think that Amy's though process is that to what is similar to a teenager (though I do not think that of a 17/18 year old but that is just my opinion) so I think that young adults would enjoy it as well.
Enjoy!!!
Amy has spent the past year trying to get her father to notice her, whether it be her clothing or the piercing that she has gotten, she is trying anything to make him notice something, anything about her. Well she got his attention when she was kicked out of school in the very last day of her very last exam, meaning that she would not graduate. But the last thing she though would happen would be to find herself, her step mother and her father aboard a yacht setting sail. Amy was looking forward to ignoring her step mother and father and loosing herself in her music but their vessel is taken by pirates. Amy become known as hostage number 3 and as she spends what are possible her last few moment alive she tries to understand what drives someone to become a pirate and with this information Amy hopefully will be able to get out alive
The prologue grabs your attention right away and you feel the need to know what has lead up to that point, what has happened before. Will she die, will she survive. It was an interesting place for Lake to begin the novel, but I believe it was the right one. If he had chosen to start off the novel with Amy being in school and the antics that she pulled I am unsure if I would have continued reading this novel.
I was not a fan of how the book was written as it was strictly from Amy's point of view. As this is a YA book I found her thought process was a little hard to follow and at times immature even for a 17-18 year old. This immaturity could have been due to circumstances from her past, however, part of me thought that due to her past circumstances she would be more mature. Not being able to relate to Amy and her thoughts did put a hindrance me completely liking the novel, but I think that Lake succeeded in other areas that I was able to proceed in reading and finishing this the book. Additionally, due to the fact that the book is told in past tense from the prologue there is a bit of jumping around as Amy remembers things from her past with her mother. Amy's mother was a very interesting, frustrating and well ready for the loony bin type of character, which I think explains many reasons in regards to Amy's personality. Therefore, I think that some individual may have additional challenges in not only reading this book but at times following the story as there are times where it seems a bit disjointed.
While I was unable to connect to Amy as a character for the most part, I found her story very interesting and did not want to put it down especially the last 100 pages, I powered through them. I needed to know how the story would end This book probably wont end the way you think it will, not quite the happily ever after that you think is coming. I really like that Lake did not take the "easy" way out with this novel as he very well could have. The ending actually made me like the book more. The story that Lake has created with its sense of realism, that this could happen to anyone traveling that route, was really well done and engrossing
It was also interesting to read the attempt of the pirates (or coast guards as they like to be called) to distance themselves from the hostages, but yet still allowing them quite a bit of freedom. Lake does a good job in exploring the capturer/captive mentality that Amy, her family and the pirates go through. I think I would also have liked to have some parts from the point of view of the pirate Farouz, which we kind of get when he tells Amy about his past, but I think it would have been interesting to be inside his head to see his point of view. It was also interesting to see how the pirates (coast guards) had turned it into a business and seemed to know all the ins and outs associated with that business, even having fines if one of the pirates hurt a hostage without permission. It was also interesting to witness the pirates "playing" with the captives minds with their riddles and mind games, you can feel the uncertainty in Amy each time this happens and you feel her thinking is this going to be the end. This definitely added to the suspense aspect of the novel.
This is the first book that I have read in the YA genre that was not paranormal in nature so it is a little bit different in that it is a contemporary novel but I still enjoyed it. I think the storyline will hold this story together for adults, and I think that Amy's though process is that to what is similar to a teenager (though I do not think that of a 17/18 year old but that is just my opinion) so I think that young adults would enjoy it as well.
Enjoy!!!
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