Tag: The Finisher

The Keeper – David Baldacci

November 2, 2016

Pre-warning that this is going to be a pretty negative review but reviews like this are rare on our blog so I don’t feel too guilty! I read the first book in this series a couple of years ago so I had to do a recap and I got quite excited because most of the action/adventure was going to take place in the sequel which it did but I just found it really boring. Admittedly this is more of a children’s book so I think that’s the main reason why it didn’t appeal to me!

Vega Jane was always told no one could leave the town of Wormwood. She was told there was nothing outside but the Quag, a wilderness filled with danger and death. And she believed it – until the night she stumbled across a secret that proved that everything she knew was a lie. Now just one thing stands between Vega Jane and freedom – the Quag and it’s horrors!

The thing that bugged me the most was the way that everything that could possibly go wrong did, then it all got happily resolved in a completely unrealistic way. The book was full of action and drama, but I just couldn’t take any of it seriously because whenever the author wanted the plot to move on the problems would just get instantly, conveniently resolved within a page and we’d be zooming off to deal with the next thing.

One thing however I enjoyed about this story was the characters especially Vega Jane’s journey of self-discovery and development through her past and leading to her discovering her magic. As for the rest of the characters, they were all different intriguing people, all with their own secrets and histories which made me want to read more and more about them.

Overall, I gave it 2/5 stars just because I found it really hard to read and really quite plain and predictable when I compare it to other books I’ve read and I doubt that I’ll be picking up the next book in the series. I promise our next posts will be a lot cheerier and positive!

The Finisher – David Baldacci

September 7, 2014

I have to admit the only reason I picked up this book was because it was only a pound and I needed a book to take on holiday with me!

From looking at the cover you see a young female heroine dressed in battle armour with raging battle in the background – this is my kind of story! But I was disappointed as it didn’t turn out as I planned, learning my lesson from the old phrase “never judge a book by its cover”. Apart from that I thought it was a good book and perfect for a holiday read!

The story bases itself around a young girl called Vega Jane, who lives in a town cut off from the outside world. But when a young man adventures into the unknown, it begins to make Vega wonder what’s on the other side of the wall surrounding her! From there she discovers secrets of her past and future whilst trying to survive…

The book is about 500 pages so you would expect a lot to happen but that wasn’t the case. The story built the reader up for an adventure which sounded really exciting which sadly only began at the end of the book! This made it in my opinion a terrible ending and I desperately hope he writes a sequel or otherwise I will hunt the author down and demand answers – just like Hazel Grace! But apart from that I felt there was quite a lot of enjoyable bits with a lot of action! As well as all of this David managed to add a mystery in making it addictive!

The character of Vega Jane I thought was a really enjoyable character who I personally would love to have as a friend – she’s determined, adventurous and sassy! I love her. As for her best friend Delph you really see him develop from a shy quiet character to a supportive, adventurous friend!

Overall I would give this book a 3/5 stars, it was still a good read but nothing I would get excited about as I think it lacked real adventure. However I thought the storyline was still great and I would recommend it to those who have no clue what to read next and just want something different!